Avro 642 Eighteen

Eighteen
Avro 642/2m (VH-UXD), c.1936
Role	Airliner
Manufacturer	Avro
First flight	1934
Introduction	6 April 1934
Number built	2

The Avro 642 Eighteen was a 1930s British monoplane airliner. Only two were built — one twin-engined and the other four-engined.

As a follow-on to the Avro 618 Ten the Eighteen was a larger aircraft but used a modified Avro Ten wing. The wing was moved to the shoulder position with the engines mounted on the wing and a new larger fuselage was used. When the design was completed in February 1933 it was the largest aircraft designed by Avro. The new fuselage was a fabric-covered welded steel structure with seats for 16 passengers, a baggage area and a toilet. The nose section was made of wood and originally had a semi-circular glazed front, although this was later changed to a more conventional-type windscreen. The wooden wing was designed to use any of the engines in the Armstrong-Siddeley family and the first aircraft was built with two Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar VID engines with four-bladed propellers.

With an order from the Midland and Scottish Air Ferries the first aircraft was nearly complete by December 1933.Registered G-ACFV the aircraft performed official performance trials at Martlesham Heath and was then returned to Woodford Aerodrome when the nose was modified. On 6 April 1934, G-ACFV was handed over to the customer and was then flown to Castle Bromwich to pick up Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and the Secretary of State for Air Lord Londonderry. With these important passengers on board, G-ACFV was flown to Speke Aerodrome so that they could declare open a new air service between Glasgow, London and Belfast. At the same time Lord Londonderry named the aircraft The Marchioness of Londonderry. Following the ceremony the Prime Minister and party were flown to Heston Aerodrome in London.

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