Skyvans were used during the infamous death flights at the depths of Argentina's Dirty War in 1977, during which around 4,400 detainees were thrown to their deaths onto the Río de la Plata. Skyvans served widely in both military and civilian operations, and the type remained in service in 2009 with a number of civilian operators, and in military service in Guyana and Oman. The larger Sherpas were developed from the earlier models. The United States Air Force operated Sherpa Skyvans in Europe for spare parts and cargo delivery. A total of 149 Skyvans (including the two prototypes) were produced before production ended in 1986. Consequently, in 1968, production switched to the Skyvan Series 3 aircraft, which replaced the Astazou engines with Garrett AiResearch TPE331 turboprops of 715eshp. In 1967, it was found that the Astazou XII was temperature limited at high altitudes. Later in 1963, the prototype was re-engined with the intended Turbomeca Astazou II turboprop engines of 520eshp the second prototype (the first Series 2 Skyvan) was initially fitted with Turbomeca Astazou X turboprop engines of 666eshp but subsequently the initial production version was powered by Turbomeca Astazou XII turboprop engines of 690eshp. Skyvan 3 converted for survey work by Questor Surveys, 1975Ĭonstruction started at Sydenham Airport in 1960, and the first prototype first flew on 17 January 1963, powered by two Continental piston engines. Its fuselage resembles the shape of a railroad boxcar for simplicity and efficiency. It was popular with freight operators compared to other small aircraft because of its large rear door for loading and unloading freight. The Skyvan is a twin-engined all-metal, high-wing monoplane, with a braced, high aspect ratio wing, and an unpressurised, square-section fuselage with twin fins and rudders. They developed their own design for a utility all-metal aircraft which was called the Short SC.7 Skyvan.
After evaluating the Miles proposal, Short rejected the Caravan. Short acquired the design and data gathered from trials of the Miles Aerovan based H.D.M.105 prototype.
Miles Ltd (successor company to Miles Aircraft) which was seeking backing to produce a development of the H.D.M.106 Caravan design with a high aspect ratio wing similar to that of the Hurel-Dubois HD.31.
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