Welcome back to another aircraft overview. Today we are having a peek at the Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 - A flying wing that never quite made it to success, but left its mark on aviation history nonetheless. (Note: This video is a re-upload of a video that I have migrated over from my other channel).

The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 was an attempt by Britain in the late 1940s to dabble with the possibility of using a flying-wing aircraft for commercial, rather than military use. Armstrong Whitworth put forward a proposal for a flying-wing airliner powered by either four or six jet engines.

The A.W.52 was intended for high speeds and was an all-metal turbojet powered aircraft. The A.W.52 was shown off to the public on December 16th 1947. Members of the government, press and the aviation industry gathered at RAF Bitteswell to watch Whithworth's Chief test pilot – Squadron Leader Eric Franklin – take the aircraft up for a demonstration flight. Despite the aircraft's impressive looks and warm reception, there were indeed problems. Whilst putting the aircraft in a dive at 320mph test pilot Joe Lancaster encountered a pitch oscillation caused by the dreaded wing flutter.

Expecting imminent and fatal structural failure, Joe Lancaster ejected using the aircraft's Martin-Baker ejection seat. In doing so, Joe Lancaster became the first British pilot to eject in an actual emergency.

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Producing these videos is a hobby of mine. I have a passion for history, and personally own a large collection of books, journals and other texts, and endeavor to do as much research as possible. However if there are any mistakes, please don't hesitate to reach out and correct anything :)