The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a short range turboprop powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Dart engines. Designed as a Douglas DC-3 replacement, it offered seating for 40 to 58 passengers on regional routes.
First flying on 24 June 1960, it was offered to airlines at a price of £176,000 for the initial version and £196,000 for the slightly upgraded version. While that may seem cheap, £176,000 is equivalent to about £4 million today. The HS 748 was the last aircraft designed by Avro, and was initially known as the Avro 748.
Hawker Siddeley HS 748 Video
Following on from the last video about the Aviation Traders Carvair, we stay in the United Kingdom this week to look at the Hawker Siddeley HS 748. First up is an interesting video showing a landing on a dirt strip in Bitam, Gabon from Just Planes.
You can see some on board service and the cabin from 1:25. The approach and landing kick off from 2:47 and it shows the HS 748’s short take-off and landing (STOL) capabilities quite well. Next up is a video of one of the aircraft doing touch and go training at Liverpool Airport in the UK.
You get to hear the unique sound of the Rolls-Royce Dart engines very well here. These engines were also used on other aircraft such as the Vickers Viscount, the Japanese NAMC YS-11 and the Dutch Fokker F27 Friendship. In fact, this engine first ran in 1946 and was still being produced in 1987!
Overall Thoughts
There were 380 Hawker Siddeley HS 748s produced between 1960 and 1988, with 312 produced by 1976. The launch customer was Skyways Coach-Air, who put the aircraft into service on 17 April 1962 on the Lympne to Beauvais service. This airline, incidentally, is the world’s first low cost airline apparently.
Aerolineas Argentinas was the other main customer of the first version of the HS 748, and Indian Airlines turned out to be the largest operator, with 26 aircraft. Other operators included VARIG, Thai Airways, LAN-Chile and the Royal Australian Air Force among others. The successor to the 748 was the BAe ATP.
Yesterday our Hawker Siddley 748 C-FCSE made its final departure from Whitehorse. Congratulations to our talented team, past and present, who worked with this aircraft. The Hawker was a wonderful vehicle that served Yukon communities with pride. pic.twitter.com/ubf8DwSqMe
— Air North (@flyairnorth) January 22, 2021
Today, there are a number of aircraft in service in Canada. Wasaya Airways and Air Creebec have three each but they are all freighters. The last Air North passenger HS 748 was retired on 21 January 2021, which you can see in the tweet above. That means almost 59 years in passenger service, which is a great achievement!
Have you ever flown on board a Hawker Siddeley HS 748? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Jan Heistermann on Flugzeug-Fotos.de via Wikimedia Commons.
In response to have you ever flown in a 748?? My father Captain Gary L. Swafford, in the late seventies and early ’80s flew for air Virginia out of Lynchburg Virginia, he flew the Metro Merlin and the HS 748 that had the Rolls-Royce engines in them 48 passenger. I remember one day I was between the ages of 10 to 12 we are on our property and I was on my three wheeler and I knew my daddy was doing a check ride that particular day as I was in the yard I heard a distinctive buzzing sound which I knew were the engines of his plane which I could hear before I saw him as I was looking in the distance towards Lynchburg I saw a DOT getting bigger above the treetops and here comes my daddy flying over cockpit window was open captain of the airplane and he did a wing wave at me as he flew right over the tree tops and I could see my daddy you talk about a really cool experience as a kid. That was my daddy. He went on to fly for People’s Express and Continental and then transgressed into his final 27 years of flying for UPS. He flew the 707’s, 727, 747, 757, 767, and finished his career on the md-11. Out of 3,000 pilots at UPS he was number 23 from the top. My father finished 42 years of flying with a spotless FAA record a high security level clearance and still has his first log book as well,and his approximate hours total in his career war 28, 737 flight hours behind the yoke. He lives in Pikeville Tennessee and drives a school bus just to stay busy. Imagine that in retirement he’s still a workaholic LOL. I’ll never forget the times growing up as he started at Clearwater airport in Florida we were jockey airplanes around so my daddy would get flight hours and we would pick up the next plane get something to eat and fly back at night those are some of the best times in my life growing up.
Sounds like your father has had an amazing career and he certainly racked up an impressive amount of hours. Great to hear he is still working today! You have some great memories there, it must have been so cool to see him fly over the house. Fantastic that he had so many aircraft under his belt too. Amazing! Thanks so much for sharing that, I love hearing things like this.
I flew one for Calm Air out of Winning 1998/99. It would never be accused of being over powered. Learned a lot while on it. Other than doing a freighter and us crew unloading 10,000+ pounds of 2-litre soft drinks in some remote community at 30-40 below I have fond memories of it.
There are other British aircraft that would be described the same way, the Trident was nicknamed the Gripper by pilots as it took an age to get off the ground. Sounds like you had some good times there – can’t say I’d be too happy with all that unloading in those temperatures either! Thanks for sharing that, I always enjoy reading people’s memories.
I flew in the cockpit of a HS-748 – takeoff and landings at VIBR VICG and VIDP. My Dad was the chief pilot and Instructor for an airlines in India. HE also flew the type in the Indian Air Force which still has a few squadrons!
How awesome would that have been! Sounds like some very memorable experiences there. Wonderful stuff, thanks for sharing that!
I flew a Bahamas Airways HS-748 from West End, Grand Bahama (WTD) to West Palm Beach, FL (PBI) about 1971, Typical prop-jet sound but a comfortable ride especially since the aircraft was about half full.
Nothing makes a flight much nicer than having plenty of free seats. Sounds like a great flight in a lovely part of the world. Thanks for the comment!
Flew the HS-748 in1969- Barbados/St Vincent/Barbados on LIAT. Still can remember the sound of the Dart engines!
That would have been a flight with decent views, I imagine. Sounds wonderful!
No mention of it’s affectionate nickname “The Budgie”? You’re slipping Trent! (Joking). Here in the US we had a few examples, some with Cascade (Pacific Northwest) and Air Illinois (can you guess where??). Maybe a few other operators but not 100% sure. A unique operation at the time was the Air Illinois (sometimes operated in conjunction with the Twin Otter) was Air Illinois’ operation between the former Meigs Field on Chicago’s Lakefront and Springfield, Illinois, the capitol of the state. Very convenient for politicos and lobbyists and the biz folk as well. Never got to fly on one but I did see The Budgie a few times in St. Louis, as it went from STL to Springfield and on to Meigs. Air Illinois suffered a well publicized loss of the 748 on a flight from Springfield to Carbondale, Illinois, due to an electrical failure and the crew not taking the situation seriously enough. It eventually caused the downfall of Air Illinois, 3 crew and 10 passengers lost their lives. But I do wish I had managed a flight on that aircraft, as I know it served the Highlands well for years.
I remember Meigs Field, mainly because it was in Microsoft Flight Simulator for many years, before it was closed. I hadn’t heard about the accident, but I will look that up. Never knew the aircraft was referred to as The Budgie, either! 🙂 Good to know though! Thanks for all of that, good info there.