Avro Ashton

The Avro 706 Ashton was a British prototype jet airliner built by Avro in the 1950s as an experimental research programme and never intended for commercial use. Originally the Tudor 9, it was a four-jet research aeroplane based on the Tudor 2 piston airliner and drew on the Tudor 8, which first flew with Rolls-Royce Nene jets on 6 September 1948. Its Nene engines were paired in wing nacelles faired into the wing, which greatly reduced asymmetric effects with an engine out, and later aircraft had an enlarged square-shaped tail fin and tricycle landing gear. Six were built by Avro at Woodford from surplus Tudor 2 airframes, test flights began in 1950 with jet operation and navigation trials, and one Ashton also tested bombing equipment.