AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 225 / 272

Plate 225 of 272 · Cold War · Light twin and communications aircraft

Beagle B.206Z

B.206Z, XS743, painted as XS743, the second of the two pre-production Beagle B.206Z aircraft built in 1964 for Ministry of Aviation evaluation ahead of the RAF’s Basset CC.1 order, flown at Boscombe Down by the Empire Test Pilots’ School until 2014 and now held by the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection at Old Sarum: the light twin of the 1960s British light-aircraft revival, a low-wing all-metal monoplane with two 310 hp Rolls-Royce Continental GIO-470-A flat-six engines in underslung nacelles driving two-bladed propellers, a long pointed nose with a baggage bay, a five-window cabin for up to six passengers, square wing tips and a retractable tricycle undercarriage, shown standing level on its wheels with the nose air-data boom and the pod under the forward fuselage it carried as an ETPS test aircraft: the Empire Test Pilots’ School’s red, white and blue scheme, white cabin and upper fuselage over a red cheat line and gloss blue lower fuselage, a black anti-glare panel on the nose, red wings, nacelles, rear fuselage and tail, black de-icing boots, white spinners, a Type D roundel and white ‘XS743’ on the rear fuselage, a fin flash, and roundels and serials under the wings, as photographed at Northolt in 2006 and in later years (shape fitted to side-on photographs of XS743 and the Airfix Basset plan view, scaled to the published 13.96 m span and 10.26 m length; no photograph shows the upper wing surfaces, so they carry no roundels); it stands for the Beagle B.206 and Pup in the gazetteer’s museums, from the 206X prototype G-ARRM at the East Midlands Aeropark to the Pup cockpit at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as XS743, the second of the two pre-production Beagle B.206Z aircraft built in 1964 for Ministry of Aviation evaluation ahead of the RAF’s Basset CC.1 order, flown at Boscombe Down by the Empire Test Pilots’ School until 2014 and now held by the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection at Old Sarum: the light twin of the 1960s British light-aircraft revival, a low-wing all-metal monoplane with two 310 hp Rolls-Royce Continental GIO-470-A flat-six engines in underslung nacelles driving two-bladed propellers, a long pointed nose with a baggage bay, a five-window cabin for up to six passengers, square wing tips and a retractable tricycle undercarriage, shown standing level on its wheels with the nose air-data boom and the pod under the forward fuselage it carried as an ETPS test aircraft: the Empire Test Pilots’ School’s red, white and blue scheme, white cabin and upper fuselage over a red cheat line and gloss blue lower fuselage, a black anti-glare panel on the nose, red wings, nacelles, rear fuselage and tail, black de-icing boots, white spinners, a Type D roundel and white ‘XS743’ on the rear fuselage, a fin flash, and roundels and serials under the wings, as photographed at Northolt in 2006 and in later years (shape fitted to side-on photographs of XS743 and the Airfix Basset plan view, scaled to the published 13.96 m span and 10.26 m length; no photograph shows the upper wing surfaces, so they carry no roundels); it stands for the Beagle B.206 and Pup in the gazetteer’s museums, from the 206X prototype G-ARRM at the East Midlands Aeropark to the Pup cockpit at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.1 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (B.206, 206X/Z, Pup); engine, crew and dimensions are for the B.206Z, XS743 modelled here.

History

The B.206

Beagle, British Executive and General Aviation Ltd, was formed in 1960 to revive the British light-aircraft industry, and the B.206 was its first new design: a low-wing, all-metal twin for business flying, with two Continental flat-six engines and a retractable tricycle undercarriage. The prototype, the 206X G-ARRM, first flew at Shoreham on 15 August 1961, and production aircraft were built at Rearsby in Leicestershire.

In 1963 the B.206 was flown against the de Havilland Devon in a competition at RAF Northolt, and the RAF ordered 20 as the Basset CC.1, after two pre-production B.206Z aircraft had been evaluated for the Ministry of Aviation at Boscombe Down. The first Bassets reached RAF communications squadrons in May 1965, and most were withdrawn on 2 May 1974 and sold for civil use. The civil Series 1 was followed by the turbocharged Series 2, with 340 hp engines.

Beagle never made a profit. The Government bought the company in December 1966 and put it into receivership in 1969, and production of the B.206 ended after about 80 had been built. The single-engined Pup, Beagle’s other main type, lived on as the Bulldog military trainer, built by Scottish Aviation. The gazetteer’s museums hold a B.206Z at Old Sarum, the 206X prototype at the East Midlands Aeropark, a B.206 at the Midland Air Museum and a Pup cockpit at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum.

This airframe

B.206Z XS743

XS743The airframe modelled

XS743 is one of the two pre-production B.206Z aircraft built in 1964 for evaluation at Boscombe Down ahead of the RAF’s Basset order. It stayed at Boscombe Down for fifty years, flying with the Empire Test Pilots’ School until it was retired from flying in 2014, and it is now kept by the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection at Old Sarum, near Salisbury. The model shows it as photographed at Northolt in 2006 and in later years, standing level on its wheels with a long air-data boom on the nose and a pod under the forward fuselage: the school’s red, white and blue scheme, with a white cabin over a red cheat line and gloss blue lower fuselage, a black anti-glare panel, red wings, nacelles, rear fuselage and tail, white spinners, a Type D roundel and white ‘XS743’ on the rear fuselage, and roundels and serials under the wings. The shape is fitted to side-on photographs of XS743 and a Basset plan view, scaled to the published span and length. The model stands for the Beagle B.206 and Pup in the gazetteer’s museums.

See it at Boscombe Down Aviation Collection

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the B.206 in 4 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 272 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.