Armstrong Whitworth A.W.19

Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft

Industry	Aerospace, Defence
Founded	1912
Headquarters	Coventry , United Kingdom

The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.19 was a single-engine biplane designed to accommodate two or three crew members, intended for multiple military roles during the mid-1930s. Despite its development, preference shifted towards more modern monoplane designs, resulting in only one unit being constructed.

Development

During the early 1930s, the British Air Ministry showed strong interest in versatile "general purpose" aircraft capable of fulfilling various military functions across the extensive Empire. Aircraft manufacturers were eager to secure substantial contracts by responding to these demands. In July 1931, the Air Ministry issued Specification G.4/31, seeking a replacement for the Westland Wapiti that could perform as a light bomber by day or night, serve as a dive bomber, conduct army co-operation tasks, reconnaissance missions, and casualty evacuation. Later that October, the specification was expanded to include torpedo bombing and maritime reconnaissance roles. This broadened requirement attracted significant attention from British firms, resulting in thirty design submissions from twelve different manufacturers. Ultimately, three companies received contracts for prototypes directly from the Air Ministry, while an additional five produced private venture prototypes; the Armstrong Whitworth A.W.19 belonged to this latter group.

The A.W.19 featured a single-engine, single-bay biplane configuration with straight-edged wings of constant chord and slight stagger. Its wings were fabric-covered over a framework made from rolled-steel strip spars combined with aluminium alloy ribs. Both upper and lower wings were fitted with ailerons, while automatic leading-edge slots were incorporated on the upper wing to enhance control. The lower wing had a distinctive cranked design with negative dihedral over a short centre section; this section also served as the attachment point for the split main undercarriage legs—a necessary arrangement to accommodate carrying a torpedo beneath the fuselage. A small tailwheel completed the landing gear setup.

The fuselage had a square cross-section constructed from steel tubing, with aluminium panels covering the forward section and canvas fabric enveloping the rear portion. Unusually for its time, the fuselage filled the gap between the upper and lower wings, providing ample space for an observer/navigator's cabin equipped with windows. This cabin was positioned between both wings and separated from two other crew positions: the pilot's cockpit located ahead of the upper wing with his head protruding above it, and an aft gunner's station situated well behind the trailing edge of the upper wing. The gunner operated a ring-mounted .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun and benefited from an innovative metal sliding cowling that could be retracted to shield him from weather when not manning his weapon. The pilot controlled a single forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) machine gun.

At the nose, the fuselage tapered to house an Armstrong Siddeley Tiger IV engine delivering 810 hp (600 kW), equipped with a supercharger and enclosed within a long-chord cowling.

The prototype A.W.19 took to the air for its maiden flight on 26 February 1934. It demonstrated satisfactory flying characteristics but experienced engine overheating issues, compounded by reliability problems inherent to the Tiger engine when compared with competitors powered by Bristol Pegasus engines. Although the Air Ministry acquired the prototype in 1935, no further production ensued for either this model or any other designs submitted against Specification G.4/31.

While an initial order of 150 Vickers Type 253 aircraft was placed in August, Vickers had independently developed their monoplane design—the Vickers Wellesley—during the intervening three years. Consequently, in September 1935, the original order for Type 253 was cancelled and replaced with one for 96 Wellesleys classified as medium bombers, effectively abandoning all previous general-purpose criteria outlined in G.4/31.

Following its evaluation role, Armstrong Whitworth retained the sole A.W.19 prototype as an engine test platform for various Tiger variants; it was fitted with Tiger VI and later Tiger VII engines during 1935 and continued serving as a testbed until June 1940.