Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander

The BN-2 Islander was Britten-Norman's second original design, work on which began during 1963. Developed as a Dragon Rapide replacement, the emphasis was on producing a rugged and durable aircraft that had good field performance, low operating costs and was easy to maintain. One unusual feature is that there is no centre aisle between seats in the main cabin, instead there are three doors along each side of the fuselage for passenger boarding. The prototype BN-2 Islander was powered by two 155kW (210hp) IO-360s and first flight was on June 13 1965. The first production machines were powered by 195kW (260hp) IO-540s and were simply designated BN-2, the first flew in 1967. A small number were built before production switched to the BN-2A which introduced fairings to the main undercarriage legs, wing leading edge and flap droop, and an increased max takeoff weight. From 1970 the base A model was the BN-2A-6 and the BN-2A-7 had extended wingtips, while the BN-2A-2 and BN-2A-3 were powered by the 225kW (300hp) IO-540, the latter with the extended wingtips. Appearing in 1972 were the 195kW (260hp) powered BN-2A-26 and extended wingtips BN-2A-27, and the 225kW (300hp) BN-2A-20 and extended wingtips BN-2A-21, all four models having higher weights. Further improvements came with the BN-2B range with higher weights, improved interior and instrument panel and shorter diameter props. The 26, 27, 20 and 21 variants were available as before. The 27 and 21 were later dropped while the BN-2B-20 and BN-2B-26 remain in production. The turboprop (Allison 250) powered BN-2T has been built since 1981. In September1979 Britten-Norman became Pilatus Britten-Norman, in July 1998 it was renamed back to Britten-Norman, and from April 2000 it became B-N Group.

The backbone of this section is from the The International Directory of Civil Aircraft by Gerard Frawley and used with permission. To get your own copy of the book click here.