Business: Last of the Tudor IVs

In the first lap of the postwar international air race, Britain had bet on the long-beaked Avro Tudor. Britain hoped the Tudor would help the nation get by without using U.S. planes until its jet transports were ready. The Ministry of Supply, which buys all aircraft for the government’s three big international lines, ordered 16 Tudor Is for British Overseas Airways Corp. When the Tudor Is were tested, their performance was so poor that BOAC refused to accept them. Eventually British South American Airways took four Tudor IVs for its South Atlantic run and Avro kept on building them.

The Tudor IVs stayed in service until B.S.A.A.’s Star Tiger, flying from the Azores with 31 aboard, disappeared in January 1948. Last Jan. 17 a sister ship disappeared off Bermuda with 20 aboard.

Last week Britain admitted it had lost its Tudor bet. In the House of Lords, Civil Aviation Minister Lord Pakenham solemnly intoned: “I have regretfully come to the conclusion that this type of aircraft should not continue to be used for carrying passengers.”

That meant that the remaining 32 Tudors were grounded except for overland freight hops, experimental work and gasoline tanker duties on the Berlin airlift. The Civil Aviation Parliamentary Secretary gave a stark but realistic reason for the exceptions: “Those that have crashed have disappeared under the sea and there is no story to tell. If one crashes on land, there can be an examination of what is left of the aircraft, and those skilled in these matters may find some reason for the failure . . .”

This was small consolation to airmen or British taxpayers who had paid an estimated $28 to $40 million for the governmental bungling that had caused the flop. Said Avro Managing Director Sir Roy Dobson: “I will have to have a contract written in rock before I will build another civil aircraft. I would like to see the whole lot [of Tudors] swept out and burned so that we can forget this ghastly chapter and start again.”