Eastern Express 144117 Civil aircraft Short SC.7 Skyvan

The Short SC.7 Skyvan was a British high-wing transport and passenger plane from the post-war period. The drive - in the Skyvan 3 version - was provided by two turboprop engines Garrett AiResearch TPE-331 with 715 hp each. The prototype flight took place in 1963. Serial production was carried out in the years 1963-1986. In total, about 150 examples of this aircraft were built. The unit price of the plane was estimated at 650,000. dollars by 1972 prices.

The Short SC.7 Skyvan was developed as a light, as simple as possible in construction and operation, transport plane, externally confusingly similar to the Miles Aerovan plane. A lot of attention was paid to the economic aspects of operation and production. Several variants of this aircraft were created, including: Skyvan 2 (version powered by Astaz engines), Skyvan 3 (version powered by Garrett engines - the most widely produced version of Skyvan) or Skyvan3M (military version). Short SC.7 Skyvan aircraft were or are still used in both civil and military versions by many operators, including: Argentina, Austria, Finland and Oman. In the military version, they also took part in the Falklands War in 1982 in the colors of the Argentine Air Force.