Well done
Tophe! I could never find any info on a 'Real World' Avro 774
'Planes from Portugal - Projetos do PortoThe Corporação Aeronáutica do Porto (CAP or simply 'Porto') had its origins in the British Auster lineage. When the British Government bought Beagle in 1964, a product rationalization was initiated. Work continued at the Rearsby plant on Beagle civilian types but the future of the Shoreham plant was less obvious to planners at DH Group (the new management overseers). The Auster brand name remained an asset but its product line had become decidedly passé.
On forming, Beagle had seen a number of Auster types being produced under license in Portugal by government-owned Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronáutico (OGMA) outside Lisbon. Since Portugal was an EFTA member in need of financial assistance. The British Government decided to make a 'gift' of the Auster name and tooling to the Portuguese Government. Since the object of this exercise was to broaden the Portuguese manufacturing sector, one stipulation was that the military-controlled OGMA should not be the producer of future Portuguese Austers. [1]
After a brief survey, the Portuguese Government concluded that the best location for this new manufacturing business was the northern city of Porto (often 'Oporto' in English). Under the financial assistance agreement, Britain would ship tooling for the Auster A.61
Terrier and A.109
Airedale from Shoreham to a new facility at Porto. Meanwhile, OGMA would also transfer Auster D.4, D.5, and A.113 Husky production to the new plant. OGMA would continue to service Auster airframes for the Força Aérea Portuguesa (FAP) but new production was concentrated exclusively at Porto. [2]
Enter Embraer - Porto Products ProliferateBeginning in 1973, Porto became the European distributor for the products of Brazil's Embraer. The Força Aérea Portuguesa was the first European customer for the Embraer EMB 110
Bandeirante twin-turboprop utility transports. [3] These aircraft were Brazilian-made but final fitting-out was done by Porto or OGMA, in the case of government-supplied military equipment. (Porto also acted as a distributor for the products of an Embraer partner firm - Indústria Aeronáutica Neiva Ltda.)
In late 1974, Porto and Embraer agreed to co-develop more radical derivatives of the
Bandeirante. One concept which was to be overtaken by events was the EP 112 - a large-cabin EMB 110 derivative powered by twin 750 shp PT6A-34s or Napier equivalents. The EP 112 project was abandoned when the '-34 variants engines became standard fits on the Bandeirante itself. Two slightly later joint projects would have happier outcomes.
For Porto, both of the surviving joint projects were aimed at making further inroads into the European commercial aviation market. A secondary concern was satisfying a FAP requirement for a smaller utility transport which would be more economical to operate than the EMB 110PM
Bandeirante. To this end, Porto led in the development of the single-turboprop EP 114
Douro [4] while Embraer was project lead for the EP 124
Carajá powered by two piston engines. [5]
(
Top) Camouflaged Embraer/Porto EP 124PM in FAP service in the Azores
Projetado de Porto - The Embraer/Porto EP 114 DouroFrom Porto's perspective, things did not go according to plan. In a surprise move, the FAP rejected the EP 114
Douro in favour of Embraer's EP 124
Carajá as its EP 124PM '
Açores' second-string utility transport. Funding difficulties meant that the first of six FAP EP 124PM '
Açores' did not enter service until the early '80s ... by which time, Porto had assembled and fitted-out numerous
Carajá airframes for the civilian market.
Porto persisted with development for their EP 114
Douro turboprop. Progress was slow but the prototype EP 114 finally flew from Francisco Sa Carneiro (OPO) Airport in the summer of 1982. While the originally intended customer had shown no interest, the
Douro was well-timed for an emerging market in small, often nocturnal parcel carriers where low noise-emission was critical. In the end, the EP 114
Douro would prove a modest but lasting commercial success while the twin-engined EP 124
Carajá would remain overshadowed by its larger, turboprop ancestor.
(
Bottom) Third prototype Porto EP 114 prior to application of display livery for its US tour
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[1] OGMA coordinated with Porto on Austers for the Portuguese military - including some prototyping - but all production work would be undertaken at the new facility in Porto.
[2] Porto was jointly-owned by the Portuguese Government and a local industrial combine, Altri SGPS SA. Initially, the new firm operated as 'Auster' while being legally named as the Corporação Aeronáutica do Porto. The shortened form of 'AeroPorto' caused more than a little confusion and, outside of its homebase city, CAP became known simply as 'Porto'.
[3] FAP took on three distinct EMB 110 variants (all powered by Napier-built engines), these were the transport EMB 110PM (
Portugual, Militar) '
Carga' equivalent to the FAB C-95/C-95A; the EMB 111PS (
Portugual SAR) search-and-rescue variant equivalent to the FAB SC-95; and the EMB 111PP (
Portugual, Patrulha) maritime patrol aircraft equivalent to the FAB P-95 '
Bandeirulha' (but fitted with a GEC-Ferranti search radar in place of the Brazilian version's APS-128 set).
[4] The city of Porto is located in the Upper Douro River region. In assigning this name, Porto was also following a new FAP policy of naming transport aircraft types for major rivers.
[5] For Porto-assembled EP 124s, engines were 300 hp BAE B6G
Bothas. Brazilian
Carajá (usually listed as 'EMB 124s') had a choice of that Blackburn powerplant or US Lycoming IO-540s.
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