Armstrong Whitworth Apollo Department at RAE Farnborough. The aircraft fuselage was used at Farnborough for water tank pressure testing until it was scrapped in the 1970s. Armstrong Whitworth Apollo The Armstrong Whitworth AW.55 Apollo was a 1940s British four-engine turboprop airliner built by Armstrong Whitworth at Baginton. The aircraft was in competition with the Vickers Viscount but was beset with engine problems and only two were built. The requirement resulted from the Brabazon Committee's Type II design, calling for a small, medium-range pressurized aircraft to fly its less-travelled routes which became Air Ministry Specification C.16/46 for an aircraft able to carry 24-30 passengers
Airliner submissions they had made during the war for a "100 ton bomber". This evolved into the creation of the Bristol Brabazon. The Type II process was complicated by the proposition of Vickers that a move to the newly developed turboprop power should be made. The specification was, therefore ,split in two, with the conventional piston design going to the eventual de Havilland Dove and Airspeed Ambassador. The revolutionary VC.2 Viceroy, first flown in 1948, was the first turboprop design anywhere. The Type III requirement was developed as the Avro Tudor. The Type IV for the jet-powered aircraft went to de