Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Three-seat cabin monoplane

Power Plant:

One 97 kw (130 hp) de Havilland Gipsy Major four-cylinder in-line inverted air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

The BA Eagle was designed as a high-performance low-wing cabin monoplane of wooden construction seating a pilot in front and two passengers side-by-side in the rear. It was fitted with a manually-operated outward retractable undercarriage. Known initially as the British Klemm Aeroplane Company (BK), the manufacturer was re-named the British Aircraft Manufacturing Co Ltd (BA) in 1935.

The prototype (G-ACRG – c/n 1) flew for the first time at Hanworth in Middlesex in early 1934, and its exceptional performance of 236 km/h (148 mph] on 97 kw (130 hp) from a Gipsy Major engine attracted attention from a number of well-known pilots.

One aircraft (G-ACVU – c/n 30) was prepared for the 1934 MacRobertson Race to Australia. Named ‘The Spirit of Wm Shaw & Co Ltd’, the aircraft was withdrawn when its undercarriage was damaged. It eventually crashed off Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, on 13 April 1936.

Two major variants of the Eagle were built. One example G-ADJS (c/n 119) was based at Heston in the Hounslow district in 1936 and was used as a flying test-bed fitted with the 93 kw (125 hp) Amherst Villiers May inverted four-cylinder engine. The other variant was the fixed undercarriage model, of which only one example was built (c/n 138) which is referred to below.

Adastra Airways Ltd at Mascot, NSW, was the Australian distributor for the type, and the first machine seen here was VH-USI (c/n 25 – ex G-ACTR) registered on 14 December 1934 to Mr J N Lawrie of Gloucester, NSW. On 14 September 1936 it was sold to Mrs F Shepherd of Mascot. However, this aircraft crashed at Mascot on 24 January 1937 and was destroyed by fire.

The next was VH-USP (c/n 106) which, like VH-USI, was built as a BK Eagle. It was registered on 29 January 1935 by Adastra Airways Ltd. It was sold to W M O’Hara of Malang, Java, Netherlands East Indies on 11 February 1935 and named ‘Zeelandia’. The Australian registration expired on 19 February 1936 and it went to New Zealand. The aircraft was flown across the Tasman Sea from Richmond, NSW, to Mangere on 18 October 1935 in 12 hours 47 minutes. It was registered as ZK-AEA, but was shipped back to Sydney the following month. It eventually was destroyed when it crashed on 24 May 1936 at Eumangeria, NSW.

With the name change and re-organisation of the manufacturing company, a new version of the Eagle appeared, known as the Eagle II. A total of 37 examples of this model was built, and these proved quite successful in record-breaking flights and racing. Four appeared on the Australian register, VH-UTI (c/n 109) being extant and airworthy. Imported by Hannan Bros for Percy Knapman of Parafield, SA this aircraft was dismantled and stored in a brick kiln during World War II. It was later retrieved by Lloyd Dunn in 1944 who used it for servicing generating sets until 1949 from Adelaide. It eventually passed to Australian wine producer Glenn McWilliam of Griffith, NSW who used it for survey work, cameras being installed behind the rear seat.

In July 1961 it was withdrawn from use and stored by Mr J D Hodder at Parkes, NSW. It was again restored at Murwillumbah by the Challinor family in 1980 and then sold to Joe Drage, being occasionally flown and beong placed on display for some years in his museum at Wodonga, VIC. After the closure of that museum it was obtained by the Wangaratta City Council and placed on display at Airworld at Wangaratta, VIC. It was later obtained by Roy Fox, restored, is airworthy, now is based in Sydney, NSW.

VH-UTG (c/n 113) was first registered to Adastra Airways on 24 April 1935. It had landing accidents at Oodnadatta SA, and Beltana, SA in July and October 1935. It was sold to R T Vincent of Geelong, VIC on 16 May 1936; and to Aircrafts Pty Ltd of Brisbane on 25 July 1940. Subsequent owners included H J Hughes of the Queensland Flying Training School, QLD in May 1944; Queensland Flying Service in March 1946; A C Cameron and D Scott of Tenterfield, NSW in July 1947; and East West Airlines Ltd of Tamworth, NSW in April 1950 but crashed on 27 July 1950 at Moree, NSW whilst making a forced landing.

VH-UUY (c/n 128) was first flown at Feltham in Greater London in the UK on 30 October 1935, was imported to Australia and was registered to Adastra Airways Ltd on 16 April 1936. It was fitted with an aerial camera in the fuselage in August 1936 for survey work, and in the following months up to November was engaged in photo survey work from Cairns, QLD. It made a forced landing on Meachams Beach, QLD on 9 August 1937, after the engine seized. In April 1938 it was performing survey work in the Coffs Harbour, NSW area. In June that year it was shipped on board the ‘SS Montoro’ to Port Moresby, PNG where it made survey flights on behalf of Papua Apinaipi Petroleum Co.

The aircraft returned to Sydney and was used on a Sydney – Bega service but force landed on a beach at Shell Harbour, NSW on 22 August 1940. On 25 November 1941 it was obtained by Eric McIlree of Sydney but on 24 February 1944 it was damaged landing at Mudgee, NSW. Ownership was transferred to Mr E H Loneragan of Mudgee, on 21 April 1944. In December 1964 ownership was transferred to I G Hope of Oberon, NSW. On 12 July 1965 it was damaged landing at Bathurst, NSW due to the undercarriage only being partially extended. Eventually due to weather, lack of maintenance, and being left out in the open, it rotted away at Bathurst, the remains of the aircraft being obtained by Mr Roy Fox. Some parts are believed to have been used in the restoration of VH-UTI.

VH-ACN (c/n 138) was built in 1937 as G-AFAX and was the only BA Eagle with a fixed undercarriage. It was owned for many years by Mr J D Hodder, who flew it to Rangoon in Burma. However, with the imminent Japanese invasion the aircraft had a 90 litre (20 Imp gal) long-range tank installed on the hat rack in the rear of the cabin. It was then flown to Australia and was registered VH-ACN on 1 March 1940, eventually ending up at Parkes, NSW. In 1972 it was obtained by Cliff Douglas at Tallabudgera, QLD and overhauled. It was withdrawn from service on 16 May 1974 and placed in storage. It was sold in the United Kingdom in 1992 and has been restored to airworthiness as G-AFAX.