Airspeed Courier

what is it?

The Airspeed AS.5 Courier was a British six-seat single-engined light aircraft, designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Airspeed Limited at Portsmouth. It was the first British aircraft fitted with a retractable undercarriage to go into quantity production. Development work on the Courier started in 1931, envisioned as an advanced aircraft intended primarily for private owner-pilots.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 14.3 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 246 km/htop speed
• size 1,769 kgmax take-off weight
• built 16made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 93 years ago, in 1933.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 14.3 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1933

number built

16

role

5/6-seat light transport

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Airspeed Ltd.

engines

1× Armstrong Siddeley Lynx IVC

crew

1

length

8.7 m

wingspan

14.3 m

height

2.7 m

max take-off weight

1,769 kg

top speed

246 km/h

cruise speed

212 km/h

range

—

ceiling

4,115 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.