Belfast XR365 "Hector"(old thread 2005)

Thanks TheTexPat for the great photo. All I have to do now is remember what I needed it for 😮

If you want scale then might as well use the tower!

Above picture is “a scan of an official airport photo of Belfast G-ASKE, (which became XR362) at the terminal presumably on its first visit”. Details and picture link taken from www.nwan.co.uk

There is also this one of 365 dated 14th September 1967 on the net –

http://kenfielding.fotopic.net/p45130118.html

Jon

Excellent photo. The figure near the open door gives good scale to the sheer size of the Belfast.

Ron Cuskelly

It’s been quite a while but here’s a pic of XR365 on the ramp at Speke Airport, Liverpool in Nov.1967.
I believe that Shorts were using it for flight testing at the time?!

NOV1967: I believe it was being used by Shorts Bros. for flight testing. This aicraft became G-HLFT with HeavyLift Cargo Airlines, then as 9L-LDQ and now RP-C8020. it is currently (November 2010) sitting on the Cairns International apron to where it was moved prior to the scrapping of the remaining company Boeing 727 (RP-C8016), in Cairns, at the end of September 2010. Per Wikipedia, it is understood that the aircraft cannot be started and could possibly be a candidate for the second scrapping of a HeavyLift aircraft in Cairns.

Cheers,
thetexpat

Ron,

I will ask Peter Brown, B-17 Sally B crew cheif, he was Heavylifts Line man on the Belfasts for years.
I’ll see if he knows anything.

Bomberboy