Shorts Belfast

‘Course, a counter argument might point out that, after our withdrawal and given the number of commitments we had left , a rapid deployment capability was essential.; getting rid of the Belfasts in particular left the RAF with no long range heavy lift aircraft. And a few years later the MOD was hiring back the self same aircraft to service the Falklands War. One suspects the real reason was cost and cost alone. Government parsimony is nothing new.

Because they were surplus to requirements once we withdrew from east of Suez.

I could never understand why the RAF had all those huge transports and withdrew them all within a decade…

They only sold 10 in the first place!

Don’t worry, I don’t think Kermit Weeks wants it. 😀

I point you to my post above will deffo leave these shores if got airworthy again……..

A225HVY

hopefully if this one does get airworthy, it will stay based in the uk!!!!!!

Don’t worry, I don’t think Kermit Weeks wants it. 😀

Looks to me like there’s still a considerable amount of work needed to put her back into the air.

Indeed…do we really think she’s going to fly again? Any body know how long has she’s been dormant now?

Guess a weekly looksie to see if anything’s happening will give us an idea, unless you can find a freindly engineer who’ll give you the ‘low down’!

Doubtful as it belongs to Heavylift Australia it will go there to join its playmate!!

A225HVY

hopefully if this one does get airworthy, it will stay based in the uk!!!!!!

Jamie, I beat you to it – G-BEPS taken this afternoon, but only got a couple of shots before the camera bettery went.

Looks to me like there’s still a considerable amount of work needed to put her back into the air.

I had herd this also some months ago, if i get chance tomorrow i`ll pop over towards the firedump, with me digi cam & have a look….if i can find me wellies

Apart from being slow, despite its appearance, the Belfast couldn’t do air drops. Apparently it was never flown with the ramp open.
I had a brief association with the Belfast when they first arrived at STN & SEN. One of the guys who had crewed the Belfast’s in RAF service told me a tale of a flight carrying scrap ambulances that suffered a double engine failure. Unable to maintain height serious consideration was given to air dropping the cargo, in the end they made landfall & were able to land before the situation became critical.

I’d suggest anyone that points the finger of blame over defence cuts solely at Labour’s door evaluate the Conservative’s record- the ‘Party of defence’ has spent many a happy hour trimming ‘waste’ 😡

‘Frontline First’, ‘Options for Change’ ‘The Nott review’ and binning the military hospitals are just a few ‘savings’ that that spring to mind.

Duncan Sandys anyone? :dev2: :diablo: 😡

usual military problem evoked during times of peace

labour goverment cut backs

the poor old girl needed a upgrade but in usual labour style it was cheaper to axe her and then talk of a replacement for the next twenty years

a deluded daily mail reader

Not only did the ‘BELSLOW’ carry freight, but also passengers, on an upper deck just behind the flight deck. Reached by a narrow spiral staircase if I remember correctly. My brother and I spent just over 8 hours flying from Akrotiri to Brize Norton in a fully loaded ‘BELSLOW’ (XR367/Heracles) on an indulgence flight returning from a summer holiday in 1976. £8 return – flew out in a VC-10.
The ‘SLOW’ bit of the name being the operative word, for those unlucky enough not to have experienced (see below) a flight in a ‘BELSLOW’, as I think it took about 5 hours in a VC-10.
Sitting in a leather (felt like plastic) seat that you had to peel yourself off because the aircraft had no air conditioning.
Eating a ‘Pack Meal’ from a white cardboard box courtesy of the Akrotiri Catering Flight, (sandwiches, crisps (Cypriot), three biscuits (NAAFI) and an apple a napkin and a compliment slip. Didn’t care much for the last two but you eat anything when you are hungry) and a drinking warm orange juice from a large thermos. Military flight so nothing stronger.
From the constantly monotonous droning one pitch note of the 4 Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprops, having to shout to the passenger next to you because there was no soundproofing or insulation the entire 60-foot length of the fuselage hold.
Having not been issued with ear plugs, shouting even louder when we get into the quiet and deserted customs hall at about 2.30 in the morning, stone deaf, wide awake and with your body still tingling from the vibrations of the aircraft.

I would not trade that experience for anything.

(XR367/Heracles first flew in Nov 65 and became G-BFYU of HeavyLift and was eventually scrapped in Aug 01)

IIRC, wasn’t the Shorts Belfast derived from the Bristol Britannia ???

Or – at least it used the Britannia’s wing ??

Am I totally wrong in thinking that it was an ex-Bristol design – called the Britannic ??

‘ere ya go……………

From ‘Bristol Aerospace Since 1910’ by Geoff Green…..

“Orginally intended to be named Britannic, the Belfast was based on Filton ideas but for political reasons was built by Short Brothers & Harland in Northern Ireland. The fuselage was similar to the proposed Bristol Type 179B and it used a Britannia-derived wing built at Filton”

The old brain cells didn’t let me down!

Ken

As I grew up under the Stansted flightpath, I used to see the Heavy Lift Belslows quite often – amazing how long they used to take to come over!

IIRC the line about their capacity was “a cement mixer to Singapore or a box of eggs to Hong Kong – so long as you want your cement set and your eggs addled!”

I’m sure I recall the RAF borrowing them on several occasions, not just in 1982.

What a shame the last two will both be down under soon – still, at least they’ll be rumbling slowly through the air!

Adrian

And – having just ‘sold’ them, didn’t the RAF have to go cap-in-hand to Heavylift for some much-needed cargo capacity during the Falklands episode ?

Yes – they took stuff down to Ascension Island. I would like to say they carried Wessex and other aircraft, but the old memory is playing up. – Nermal

I also remeber seeing an RAF example flying over Shannon at about 28,000 ft one sunny day in (probably) 1975. I last saw one a few years ago overflying Farnborough at about 15,000 ft.

The Mighty Belfast

I remember these giants quite well, as an air cadet I visited Brize Norton regularly and recall seeing them on the “pan” along with 99 and 511 Sqns’ Britannias and 10 Sqn’s VC10s. I was fortunate enough to get a short flight in one, XR365, in May 1970, after our ATC Wing Parade at RAF Abingdon. I seem to recall that they managed to get loads of us inside! IIRC the Belfast was powered by 4 RR Tyne turboprops (similar to the Vanguard airliner) and it was very slow! One took away the airfield fence at Brize after crossing the Bampton road on a particularly bad undershoot – at least that is the myth/urban legend that pops up when the Belfast is mentioned in our crew room these days! 😀