in a French magazine,I found this; AW.12 and AW.13 were a light bombers, but I don't remember it now or its name.
After finding the selfsame article, I concluded that it is simply
wrong: indeed, according to the author, the "A.W.12" was the
Tadpole and the A.W.13 was the
Wolf. That doesn't make any sense in terms of chronological order. Of course we can only speculate as to what A.W.1 to 13 (or rather, I to XIII) may have been, but working from the order of the constructor's numbers, contracts,
and RAF serial numbers, I've come up with this
new list that is still entirely tentative, although more logical than the previous attempts:
Early types, no A.W. designations
(produced by the Aerial Department of Armstrong Whitworth in Gosforth*, or Siddeley Deasy in Parkside)
- F.M.4 Armadillo * (License No.18 / first flown April 1918 / first serial X19)
- Ara * (contract 35a/1221/C1134 — 1918? / first flight 1918 / first serial F4971)
- Sinaia (contract 5553/18 — 1918 / first serial X21 / all cancelled)
- R.T.1 (contract 7903 — first flight 1917 / first serial B6625)
- S.R.2 Siskin (contract 11537 — 1918 / first flight Spring 1919 / first serial C4541)
Later types, likely A.W. designations (first hypothesis)
(produced by Armstrong Whitworth in Whitley)
- A.W.I — may have been the Tadpole (contract unknown — 1920 / early c/n serial J6585)
- A.W.II — may have been the Sinaia I (contract 55143/21 — 1921 / early c/n / first serial J6858)
- A.W.III — may have been the Siskin II (no contract ; registered 1922 / first c/n 10)
- A.W.IV — may have been the Siskin III (contract 217448/20 — 1920 / first c/n 12 / first serial J6583)
- A.W.V — may have been the Awana (contract 306069/20 — 1920 / first c/n 13 / first serial J6897)
- A.W.VI — may have been the Wolf (contract 195547/21 — 1921 / first c/n 15 / first serial J6921)
- A.W.VII — may have been the Siskin IV (first registered Nov. 1923 / first c/n cancelled / second c/n 143)
- A.W.VIII — may have been the Siskin IIIDC (first contract 439840/23 — 1923 / first c/n 64 / first serial J7180)
- A.W.IX — may have been the Siskin V (cancelled Romanian order / first c/n 68)
- A.W.X — may have been the Atlas I (registered 1925 / first c/n 139 / contract 735668/27 — 1927)
- A.W.XI — may have been the Ape (contract 437548/23 — 1923 / first c/n 144 / first serial J7753)
- A.W.XII — may have been the Argosy (first c/n 154 / first registration May 1925)
- may have been the Siskin IIIA (first contract 625304/25 / first c/n 160 / first serial J8048)
- A.W.XIII — may have been the Ajax (contract 743656/27 — 1927 / first c/n 273 / first serial J8802)
It should be noted here that I have purposely omitted all the early types (F.K. and such), which were conceived under the Aerial Department of the A.W. company in Gosforth, and also the R.T.1, S.R.2
Siskin, and
Sinaia I types, conceived under the Siddeley Deasy Motor Car Co. in Parkside. The subcontracted work on the Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.7 and R.E.8, and the Bristol Fighter has also been left out. I've also considered the
Atlas TM trainer version as just a variant of the basic
Atlas I.
Alternately, if we consider the
Siskin IIIDC as just a variant of the
Siskin III that may not have received a separate A.W. designation, then the list can still contain 13 types with the Siskin I becoming A.W.I:
Later types, likely A.W. designations (second hypothesis)
(produced by Armstrong Whitworth in Whitley)
- A.W.I — may have been the Siskin I (modified from first S.R.2 Siskin / first flown March 1921)
- A.W.II — may have been the Tadpole (contract unknown — 1920 / early c/n serial J6585)
- A.W.III — may have been the Sinaia I (contract 55143/21 — 1921 / early c/n / first serial J6858)
- A.W.IV — may have been the Siskin II (no contract ; registered 1922 / first c/n 10)
- A.W.V — may have been the Siskin III (contract 217448/20 — 1920 / first c/n 12 / first serial J6583)
- A.W.VI — may have been the Awana (contract 306069/20 — 1920 / first c/n 13 / first serial J6897)
- A.W.VII — may have been the Wolf (contract 195547/21 — 1921 / first c/n 15 / first serial J6921)
- A.W.VIII — may have been the Siskin IV (first registered Nov. 1923 / first c/n cancelled / second c/n 143)
- A.W.IX — may have been the Siskin V (cancelled Romanian order / first c/n 68)
- A.W.X — may have been the Atlas I (registered 1925 / first c/n 139 / contract 735668/27 — 1927)
- A.W.XI — may have been the Ape (contract 437548/23 — 1923 / first c/n 144 / first serial J7753)
- A.W.XII — may have been the Argosy (first c/n 154 / first registration May 1925)
- may have been the Siskin IIIA (first contract 625304/25 / first c/n 160 / first serial J8048)
- A.W.XIII — may have been the Ajax (contract 743656/27 — 1927 / first c/n 273 / first serial J8802)
Concerning constructor's numbers, the earliest known is c/n 10
(Siskin II). Leaving out the pre-1918 types, and following the order of contracts and serial numbers (and assuming the cancelled aircraft didn't get a constructor's number), I come up with this tentative list:
First hypothesis
- c/n 1 — may have been the first F.M.4 Armadillo (c/n X19; first flown April 1918)
- c/n 2 — may have been the first Ara (RAF s/n F4971 / first flown late 1918)
- c/n 3 — may have been the second Ara (RAF s/n F4972)
- c/n 4 — may have been the first S.R.2 Siskin (RAF s/n C4541; ff-Spring 1919 / rebuilt as Siskin I; ff-March 1921)
- c/n 5 — may have been the second S.R.2 Siskin (RAF s/n C4542)
- c/n 6 — may have been the third S.R.2 Siskin (RAF s/n C4543)
- c/n 7 — may have been the Tadpole (RAF s/n J6585; first flown February 1921)
- c/n 8 — may have been the first Sinaia I (RAF s/n J6858; first flown June 1921)
- c/n 9 — may have been the second Sinaia I (RAF s/n J6859)
Second hypothesis
Alternately, if we decide to leave out the Gosforth products, consider the
Siskin as the first Whitley product (since the S.R.2 became the
Siskin I) and consider that the cancelled examples received constructor's numbers, we come up with this alternate (and equally tentative) list:
- c/n 1 — may have been the first S.R.2 Siskin (RAF s/n C4541; ff-Spring 1919 / rebuilt as Siskin I; ff-March 1921)
- c/n 2 — may have been the second S.R.2 Siskin (RAF s/n C4542)
- c/n 3 — may have been the third S.R.2 Siskin (RAF s/n C4543)
- c/n 4 — may have been the fourth (cancelled) S.R.2 Siskin (RAF s/n C4544)
- c/n 5 — may have been the fifth (cancelled) S.R.2 Siskin (RAF s/n C4545)
- c/n 6 — may have been the sixth (cancelled) S.R.2 Siskin (RAF s/n C4546)
- c/n 7 — may have been the Tadpole (RAF s/n J6585; first flown February 1921)
- c/n 8 — may have been the first Sinaia I (RAF s/n J6858; first flown June 1921)
- c/n 9 — may have been the second Sinaia I (RAF s/n J6859)*
I'll readily admit I find this second hypothesis more likely, as it seems logical to me that both model numbers AND constructor's numbers would have started from #1 after setting up the new
Sir W.G Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Co. Ltd.
As usual, I'd appreciate any comments, criticism and insight on these matters!