r/aviation • u/mikemac1997 • 11h ago
History The last preserved complete Avro (Hawker Siddeley) 748 in Europe
After its maiden flight in 1962, JD flew for Aerolíneas Argentinas before returning to the UK in 1977 to join Dan-Air Services, where it was later converted into a freighter. In 1992, the aircraft was acquired by Emerald Airways, flying cargo across Europe until its final retirement in the mid-2000s.
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u/Traditional_Sand_466 8h ago
Used to fly on these in northern Canada with air north until relatively recently (maybe 2018?). Was always cool to look out the window and see the Rolls Royce badge on the side. Other than that cold enough to see your breath in the winter and loud enough to drown out the barking dogs immediately on the other side of the bulkhead (they flew it as a combi)
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u/mikemac1997 8h ago
I'm gutted to have never heard that whistling in person. From the guys that used to maintain them including this one, it was incredibly loud.
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u/sloppyrock 8h ago
I did some work on one of the RAN's HS748s many, many years ago. I believe there's one in the Point Cook RAAF museum
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u/mikemac1997 8h ago
Very nice, that one looks like an Andover though. They are mostly the same but the Andover came later with a slightly extended fuselage and a modified rear to accommodate the ramp.
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u/sloppyrock 7h ago
They were always known as HS748s here but I dont know the technicalities or the differences.
Not sure which is at Point Cook but these were the 748s flown by the RAN. A lot of EW mods on them. Turned it into an antenna farm. https://www.faaaa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/HS748HeritageArticlev4-2.pdf
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u/Specialist_Reality96 2h ago
I think it's RAAF ones used for aerial navigation training up until the 2000's at point cook, some odd arrangement where based at Nowra for the Nav course but the RAAF operated them. I'd expect the RAN ones to be at the museum at Nowra.
The RNZAF ran Andovers they had the ability to kneel for the rear ramp that the RAAF ones didn't have, we did differentiate between the two.
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u/Kanyiko 9h ago
There's one mostly complete, but not-preserved HS 748 Andover in Emblem, Belgium, being used as an exercise object at a safety training school.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/nexfS5A8n9j5Wabx6
It's an Andover C.1, formerly XS604 of the RAF (1966-1975) and NZ7623 of the RNZAF (1977-1996), it was sold as 9Q-CDY to then-Zaïre (present-day Congo DRC) but ended up at Antwerp Airport, Belgium, where it stood from 1998 until 2006. It's been at the Campus Vesta in Emblem near Lier since 2006.
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u/mikemac1997 8h ago
The Andover is a different airframe, designated the HS 780. There's a couple of 780s being preserved that I know of but there are no other 748s in Europe
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u/Ordinary_Degree_4213 11m ago
Northern Canada First Air used to have a small fleet of these … got to ride in one … very loud .. great little plane
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u/post-explainer 11h ago edited 10h ago
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