The speed of arithmetic operations was about the same as the Elliott 402 computer, which could add in 204 microseconds and multiply in 3366 microseconds. The Pegasus basic instruction cycle time for add/subtract/move and logical instructions was 128 microseconds. Multiply, divide, justify and shift instructions took a variable time to complete. Transfers to and from the drum were synchronous. The layout of blocks on the drum was interleaved to allow some processing between transfers to/from consecutive blocks. The computer was advertised as weighing . To what extent Strachey's third objective was reached, depends on how one views a price of £50,000 for Pegasus 1, which did not have magnetic tape drives, line printer or punched card input and output. The modular design with plug-in units of hardware did, however, make it very reliable by the standards of the day, and maintenance was "a doddle of a job". The initial version of Pegasus, Pegasus 1 was intended for scientific and engineering applications. Its input was "via" 5-hole paper tape with output on tape. The variant for business data processing was called Pegasus 2 and could equipped with punched cards, magnetic tape and line printer. In 1956 the first Pegasus was used to calculate the stresses and strains in the tail plane of the Saunders-Roe SR.53; the results were used to check the manufacturers figures; the programmer was Anne Robson. Because of the importance of a computer it was housed in the drawing room, complete with an Adam's ceiling, of Ferranti's London office in Portland Place. A Pegasus 1 was installed at Cyber House, Sheffield by Stafford Beer for the use of United Steel. It was the first computer installed for management cybernetics. The Pegasus at Southampton University was used for analysis of ground resonance data for the Saro P.531 helicopter that eventually entered production as the Westland Scout and Westland Wasp. In 1957 a Pegasus computer was used to calculate 7480 digits of pi, a record at the time. In 1959 Handley Page Ltd were advertising for experienced Pegasus programmers to join their aviation design team at Cricklewood, London   The University of Leeds had a Pegasus computer, run by Sandy Douglas. This was used, among other things, for a project to process the University's matriculation records. Other people who worked on the Pegasus included Hugh McGregor Ross and Donald B. Gillies.