Avro York
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Avro 685 York (1945)
The Avro York was a descendant of the British Lancaster Bomber. SAA leased nine (some sources state eight) aircraft from BOAC from 1945 until 1947 to operate its first intercontinental route, known as the Springbok Service to London. The service was inaugurated on 10 November 1945. The Johannesburg-London route had stops in Nairobi, Khartoum, and Tripoli. The inaugural flight was flown by ZS-ATP “Springbok”.
Travelling time between Johannesburg and Great Britain was 68 hours.
The York did not remain in first line service long and was quickly superseded by the DC-4 but was there when needed.
Normal passenger load: 16
ZS-ATP, ATR, ATS, ATT, ATU, BGU, BRA, BRB, BTT
Avro York |
ZS-ATP ZS-BGU ZS-BRA ZS-BRB ZS-BTT |
Springbok Impala Sable Macduff Mandalay Madras Manchester Monmouth Melville |
Modelling
The following kits have been produced over the years that will allow the modeller to build a model of this aircraft.
Many years ago Contrail released a 1/72nd scale vac-u-form conversion fuselage to allow a modeller to build an Avro York based on the wings from a suitable Avro Lancaster donor kit. This conversion kit was one of the more basic vac-u-form types.
In recent years CMR resins have released a 1/72nd scale resin fuselage to allow the modeller to achieve the same results. It is expensive though. CMR have also listed a full 1/72nd scale resin kit of the Avro York as well although to date this has not been released.
Welsh Models have a 1/144th scale multimedia kit available.
Colours
Natural metal overall with blue trim on cowlings and a fuselage cheat line below the windows. The tail fins had a blue band on the outer fins. The fuselage cheat line appears to have been carried at a level of the wing root on these aircraft. It is also interrupted by the fuselage registration code. As the York’s seating was very low slung the SAA logo was carried in line with and just behind the cockpit windows. Aircraft name was carried on the nose under the cockpit. There was no national flag carried on this scheme and the aircraft registration was carried in large letters on the rear fuselage as well as above and below the main wings.
Decals
At the time of writing no dedicated decals have been produced to allow the modeller to build an SAA operated aircraft. Although being plain black registration codes and airline titles it should not be too difficult to reproduce them. The modeller will have difficulty with SAA’s badge though as to date no decal manufacturer produces the early SAA winged wheel with a Springbok in it.