The Avro Atlantic was a proposed civilian airliner version of the British Avro Vulcan

Avro Vulcan

The Avro Vulcan, sometimes referred to as the Hawker Siddeley Vulcan, was a jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber, operated by the Royal Air Force from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A V Roe & Co designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. Of the three V bombers produced,...

 medium jet bomber. In early June 1953, Sir Roy Dobson C.B.E. then Managing Director of A.V. Roe and Company revealed the company was working on a project for a 100 ton airliner based on the Vulcan planform

Planform

In aviation, a planform is the shape and layout of a fixed-wing aircraft's fuselage and wing. Of all the myriad planforms used, they can typically be grouped into those used for low-speed flight, found on general aviation aircraft, and those used for high-speed flight, found on many military...

. The aircraft as envisaged, would have carried a flight crew of five (Pilot, Co-Pilot, Navigator and two Engineering Officers) as well as between 76 and 113 passengers in three separate configurations (luxury, basic and tourist) at speeds in excess of 600 mph (492.7 kn; 965.6 km/h) or Mach 0.9 in a pressurised cabin with an equivalent altitude of 8000 ft (2,438.4 m) at 45000 ft (13,716 m).

The Atlantic would have been powered either by Bristol Olympus

Rolls-Royce Olympus

The Rolls-Royce Olympus was one of the world's first two-spool axial-flow turbojet aircraft engines, originally developed and produced by Bristol Aero Engines. First running in 1950, its initial use was as the powerplant of the Avro Vulcan V Bomber...

 or Rolls-Royce Conway

Rolls-Royce Conway

The Rolls-Royce RB.80 Conway was the first by-pass engine in the world to enter service. Development started at Rolls-Royce in the 1940s, but it was used only briefly in the late 1950s and early 1960s before other turbofan designs were introduced that replaced it. The Conway powered versions of...

 engines. Artists illustrations at the time show passengers in a 12 in 6 in (3.81 m) diameter fuselage, seated in two rows, two abreast, with a single central aisle facing towards the rear of the aircraft for safety reasons. The aircraft was initially depicted in illustrations and 1/24th scale models as using the original Vulcan wing planform with a straight-line, swept back leading edge, but a 1955 design revision showed the later Phase 2 `kinked' leading edge to overcome buffet during flight. It was anticipated that the Atlantic would be complete by 1958, and initial discussions were held with BOAC regarding the viability of the proposal. Avro is reported to have considered a civilian version of the Vulcan as `inevitable' in 1954-55, and insisted on an initial order of at least 25 aircraft before it would commence production; these orders were not forthcoming. Civilian models of the Vickers Valiant

Vickers Valiant

The Vickers-Armstrongs Valiant was a British four-jet bomber, once part of the Royal Air Force's V bomber nuclear force in the 1950s and 1960s...

 and Handley Page Victor

Handley Page Victor

The Handley Page Victor was a British jet bomber aircraft produced by the Handley Page Aircraft Company during the Cold War. It was the third and final of the V-bombers that provided Britain's nuclear deterrent. The other two V-bombers were the Avro Vulcan and the Vickers Valiant. Some aircraft...

V-bombers were also planned by their respective manufacturers.