Armstrong Whitworth AW . 660 Argosy The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy was a British post - war military transport / cargo aircraft and was the last aircraft produced by Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft . Although given different type numbers , the AW . 650 civil and AW . 660 military models were both called " Argosy " and for practical purposes are basically the same design . Development and design . The Argosy came from the Air Ministry " Operational Requirement 323 " ( OR323 ) which resulted in a specification issued in 1955 for a medium - range freight aircraft capable of lifting 25 , 000 lb ( 11 , 340 kg ) and that had a range of with . This led AW to develop a twin - engine design for the military , the AW . 66 . The potential for civil sales led to a civil design AW . 65 , which differed by having full section doors at each end of the fuselage to allow quick loading and unloading . A lack of funds led to abandonment of the military requirement , but Armstrong Whitworth had already decided to go ahead with the civil variant as a private venture , it being redesigned with four Rolls - Royce Dart s as the AW . 650 . The AW . 650 was a high - wing four - engined general - purpose transport aircraft , powered by four Rolls - Royce Dart turboprop engines driving Rotol four - blade propellers . The tailplane was on twin booms from the inner engine nacelles , leaving the cargo doors at the rear of the fuselage clear for straight - in loading , while sideways - opening doors were fitted at both ends of the fuselage , with the flight deck high up in the nose . This gave an unobstructed cargo space measuring with a sill height corresponding to that of a normal flatbed truck . This unusual " pod and boom " structure would earn it the nickname " The Whistling Wheelbarrow " . It had a maximum weight of 88 , 000 lb ( 39 , 915 kg ) and a payload of 28 , 000 lb ( 12 , 700 kg ) . Cruising at 276 mph ( 444 km / h ) , it had a range of 1 , 780 mi ( 2 , 865 km ) and could seat 89 passengers . The first Argosy made its maiden flight on 8 January 1959 , receiving Federal Aviation Administration type certification on 2 December 1960 . 10 of the initial civil version , the Series 100 , were built . While the RAF had lost interest in the original AW . 66 , it still needed to replace its obsolete piston engineed Vickers Valetta s and Handley Page Hastings , and in 1959 the British Air Ministry drew up a specification for a military derivative of the AW . 650 to serve as a medium - range transport , paratroop and supply aircraft . The resultant design , the AW . 660 , was significantly different from the AW . 650 . It had the nose door sealed to take a weather radar radome , the rear doors were changed to ' clam shell ' style with an integral loading ramp , a stronger cargo floor was fitted . Two doors were fitted , one each on the starboard and port sides , to enable paratrooper s to exit . The military Argosy had four Rolls - Royce Dart 101 turboprops and had twice the range of the civil Series 100 . The new clamshell doors were tested on the second Argosy Series 100 from July 1960 , while the first of the RAFs 56 Argosies flew on 4 March 1961 . British European Airways was interested in the Argosy as a replacement for its piston engined freighters , but the payload capacity of the Series 100 meant that it would not be profitable . In order to save money , the wing had been based on that of the Avro Shackleton , built by another part of the Hawker Siddeley Group , but to meet BEAs requirements , a new wing was designed , of the same aerodynamic design , but with a more modern " Fail safe " structure rather than the Safe - life design of the earlier wing . This produced a wing that was both stronger and lighter , while the new wing did not have a limited fatigue life . The revised version , the Series 200 , also had larger cargo doors , integral wing fuel tanks and a modified landing gear . The first Series 200 flew on 11 March 1964 , being followed by six more Series 220s , with more powerful engines . A final Series 220 was not completed and was scrapped . Operational history . Civil use . The Argosy Series 100 entered service with the American cargo airline Riddle Airlines , who planned to use them to meet contracts to provide logistics support to the United States Air Force within the United States , at the end of 1960 , Riddle purchasing seven Argosies . When Riddle lost the logistics contract in 1962 , its Argosies were repossessed by Armstrong Whitworth and sold on to other airlines who had taken over the contracts from Riddle . BEA ordered Armstrong Whitworth ' s three remaining Series 100s as a stopgap until it could receive its definitive Series 220s , for which it placed an order for five in 1964 . It lost two Series 220s in crashes and purchased another to replace the lost aircraft . The small fleet of Argosies remained unprofitable , even when BEA received the more capable series 220s , and BEA withdrew its Argosy fleet in April 1970 , replacing them with a freighter conversion of its Vickers Vanguard s . Two aircraft operated later by SAFE Air in New Zealand as the main link between the Chatham Islands and the mainland , were fitted with a pressurised " passenger capsule " . One of these aircraft was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident in April 1990 , and a third Argosy was leased by SAFE Air from Mayne Nickless of Australia for five months during 1990 as a replacement . The last flight by a New Zealand Argosy was made by operator SAFE Air in September 1990 , that aircraft now being preserved at Woodbourne Airport , Blenheim , New Zealand . The last Argosies , operated by American cargo airline Duncan Aviation , were withdrawn in 1991 . Military use . The Argosy was used by the Royal Air Force for its capability to accommodate 69 troops , 48 stretcher cases or of freight . This meant it could carry military equipment such as the Saracen or Ferret armoured cars , or artillery such as the 105 mm ( 4 . 13 in ) howitzer or Wombat . Design changes to the Saracen and the mainspar running through the top of the freight bay subsequently precluded the use of the Argosy as a Saracen transport . The earliest deployments were in 1962 to 105 Squadron in the Middle East and 114 and 267 Squadrons at RAF Benson . The following year , 215 Squadron received its Argosies when based at RAF Changi , Singapore . The squadron was disbanded on New Year ' s Eve 1967 , and the aircraft went to 70 Squadron at RAF Akrotiri , Cyprus . This was the last squadron to operate the aircraft in the transport role when it retired the last aircraft in February 1975 , they had been replaced by Lockheed Hercules from December 1970 . The E . 1 version of the Argosy was with 115 Squadron from 1968 to 1978 , most of the time based at RAF Cottesmore and used in the calibration role . Variants . Armstrong Whitworth AW 650 Argosy ( 1959 ) . A total of 17 were built for civil operators Riddle Airlines ( Series 101 ) and British European Airways ( series 102 and 222 ) . 10 Series 101 and 102 aircraft were built . Eight Series 200 aircraft were built , the series 200 had a larger freight hold and enlarged front and rear doors to enable it to carry standard size cargo pallets . The series 200 also had a lighter redesigned wing increasing the maximum range and Rolls - Royce Dart 532 / 1 turboprops . Armstrong Whitworth AW 660 Argosy / Argosy C Mk 1 . 56 aircraft were produced for the RAF with the designation Argosy C Mk 1 ( C . 1 ) and served in six squadrons ; three in the UK and one each in Aden , Cyprus , and the Far East . The Argosy was withdrawn from service in 1975 as an economic measure . Those aircraft not scrapped or retained were sold to commercial operators . Hawker Siddeley Argosy E Mk 1 . In 1963 , Hawker Siddeley Group dropped the names of its component companies , rebranding its products under the Hawker Siddeley banner . To meet a requirement for a RAF flight inspection aircraft , nine Argosy C . 1s were modified in 1971 as the Argosy E . 1 . These were a regular sight at British airfields operated by 115 Squadron until replaced by the Hawker Siddeley Andover in 1978 . Hawker Siddeley Argosy T Mk 2 . After the removal of the Argosy C . 1 from the cargo / transport role , it was decided to modify several aircraft as Navigation Trainers for the RAF Training Command . Two aircraft were modified as the Argosy T . 2 , but they were not successful and the programme was abandoned due to defence cuts . " XP411 " ( see below ) was one of these .