Hawker Siddeley Argosy Available to Purchase

THE origins of the Argosy freighter lie in Operational Requirement No. 323, issued just ten years ago, for a medium transport aircraft for R.A.F. Transport Command which would be capable of carrying payloads up to 10,000 lb. over stage lengths up to 1,500 nautical miles. Since the Ministry was not prepared to pay the total development costs of the rear‐loading, twin‐Eland AW.66 proposal, Armstrong‐Whitworth (now an integral part of Hawker Siddeley Aviation Ltd.) investigated the civil potential of the aircraft only to find that a four‐engined aircraft with forward end loading was much preferred. A few months later, the company was informed that the Treasury could not support the military requirement and so the company revised the project completely to meet the needs of the growing civil air freight market.