The Sarum Panopticon......a brief account.

[Rheged]

Your Royal Highnesses, your excellencies , my lords,  ladies,  gentlemen, unspecified alien beings and  the unique and honourable Radish (who deserves a category especially for himself);  may I present to you an orphan backstory just crying out for a more competent whiffer than myself to render in styrene.   Should anyone wish to use this material, I'm not territorial and perfectly happy for you to alter, amend, improve or modify  it to suit your requirements.  In the words of  BBC  radio "Listen with Mother "....."Are you sitting comfortably?......then I'll begin"

The Sarum Panopticon

History

After the fire at Old Sarum airfield  in 1987, and the  consecutive collapse of  various companies that owned the  rights to the Edgley Optica, Old Sarum Flying Club  acquired the design rights in lieu of rent payments for hanger space and landing fees. These they assigned to their workshop team who set about recovering some value from them.   Three half-completed Optica airframes were relatively undamaged in the fire,  the workshop team   set up  Sarum Aviation as a limited company and completed these. All three were sold to  the  Metropolitan Police  and operated from North Weald airfield from 1992 to 2012.   This sale provided working capital to build a further 12 Opticas; 6 went to other police forces throughout the UK, 4 to MoD at Boscombe Down and two to Railtrack UK.  Old Sarum Flying Club had in its membership several staff from Boscombe Down and other similar locations; these people set up a small design office that in 1997 launched the Sarum Panopticon. The Panopticon is a logical development of the Optica, with improvements to its range, robustness, reliability and capabilities.

The Panopticon described.

The aircraft is a twin boom ducted fan  machine, with a large "bubble" cabin.  The bubble seats four, with the pilot in the centre of three abreast seating, leaving space for port and starboard observers. A fourth crew member, the systems technician, is seated behind the pilot and operates  the sensor outfit, including TV, nightsun searchlight, infra-red scanner and other equipment.  The wingspan is greater than that of the Optica, the booms holding the tail plane set wider apart and the undercarriage capable of semi-retraction into the booms.  Engine power and fuel load are sufficient to allow an eight hour mission at loiter speed (75 mph)  with a stall speed of 50 mph and  a ceiling of 12,000 feet.   The maximum speed of 150 mph is considered sufficient for most police operations. Fifty nine Panopticons have currently been supplied to customers, with orders for another thirty eight  recorded and a further forty options .  Production presently stands at the rate of seven aircraft per month. The aircraft has operating costs of approximately one third those of a comparable helicopter and at least twice the endurance.

Current Users

The UK National Police Air Service has  twenty four Panopticons in its fleet, with eighteen usually available  at any one time. These aircraft are Prussian blue, with "Battenberg" markings on the underside of the wings, the ducted fan cowl and lower fuselage  The UK Border Force has eight in use, and the fishery protection services of the UK are  operating three, with twelve more on order.  HM Coastguard is trialling four aircraft to police the traffic separation  scheme in the English Channel.

   The first foreign sale was to the  French Gendarmerie Maritime, who bought ten.  Belgium,  the Netherlands and Denmark have also expressed interest and are all trialling Panopticons.  The New Jersey Police Department were the first US operators, having taken delivery of  five aircraft in 2015. Further sales in the USA are being negotiated; the latest enquiry being from Cascade  Aerospace  who are seeking observation and patrol  airframes for fire-watching duties.

Future Developments and Variants

The Sarum Panopticon  is subject to continuous modification and improvement, and can be equipped to the operators specifications. The standard aircraft has been modified in some respects to meet  Federal Aviation Authority requirements.

Tophe-Aero, a French aero development office, have collaborated with Sarum to build a single asymmetrical Double-Panopticon. Two units are joined by a central wing portion, with triple booms. There is only one bubble  cockpit, to the port side, with the comprehensive sensor fit in  an unwindowed starboard pod. This is a dual control airframe, with two sensor operators  in the rear of the port pod. Further modifications and developments are under consideration.

There you have it, people.  I'd very much like to see this previously undescribed machine rendered in styrene/resin.  If anyone knows anything more about the Sarum Panopticon, please add to this material.

[The Rat]

Hmmm... Sounds like a nice idea.