MR.B – Could you give me chapter and verse on the fate of the former Boscombe Down ‘Team Spirit’ which ended up in Africa?
Sure David, no problem. Not sure how much info you want so here goes (all note that this is extracts taken from the text of a book I’m writing about Britannia operations in Zaire):
XX367 and all the spares holding was sold to Katale Aero Transport of Zaire Winter of 1983. Following some work at Cranfield, she was placed on the Zairean register as 9Q-CHY and left Cranfield for Zaire in her basic Boscombe colour scheme in March 1984. When she left Cranfield, the pilot (name escapes me) carried out a very low flypast and hard bank to the left which according to all onlookers placed the left wingtip extremely close to the ground! If memory serves me right, a certain Mr Piercey of “Propliner” fame was aboard.
Katale’s home base was Goma, on the far eastern edge of Zaire and all of Katale’s Britannias (including 9Q-CHY) were used to pick up loads of coffee from many rural airstrips, although loads such as general farming produce, consumer goods, machinery and even passengers was not uncommon. During the latter years of Katale’s operation, a company called Business Cash Flow Aviation (known as BCF) which had often purchased space on the Britannia’s began to charter whole aeroplanes.
During 1987 Katale decided to take the Britannia’s out of its fleet, and by this time along with one other machine, 9Q-CHY was the only aircraft that remained airworthy. Since arriving in Zaire it had been repainted white overall with black doors and titles. Following her last service for Katale, 9Q-CHY was put up for sale at Kinshasa sometime in 1988.
After having witnessed first hand how successful the Britannia could be used as a business tool in Zaire, the owner of BCF, a local Zairean known as Dr.Mayani, agreed to purchase the 2 grounded Katale Britannia’s plus spares inventory. It was reported at the time that this deal cost him less than £200.000! Whilst the other Britannia was never flown again as it remained grounded at Kinshasa as a source of spares, 9Q-CHY was once again placed back into revenue service.
BCF flew a once daily service between Kinshasa and Mbuji-Mayi that typically took 2 hours each way and carried both freight and passengers. Unlike earlier times when passengers used to have to either sit or stand on the floor of the cabin, BCF fitted 17 passenger seats to 9Q-CHY affording the wealthy Zairean passengers that could pay for internal passenger flights an unheard of level of comfort!
A hybrid BCF colour scheme was applied for a short period before Dr.Mayani decided to have her fully repainted to match his 707 in 1990. Right up until this point, the aircraft had flown around proudly wearing the old British Eagle name ‘Team Spirit’. During the repaint though the aircraft’s name changed to ‘Mwenye Mikebwe’, the name of the grandmother of Dr.Mayani. Just a few months later at the end of January 1991, mounting spares shortages and engine problems led Dr.Mayani to ground the aircraft at Kinshasa. Although Dr.Mayani put the Britannia up for sale; knowing the commercial advantages of operating a Britannia in Zaire, he was reluctant to sell it to a competitor and so 9Q-CHY remained parked at Kinshasa until late 1993, when she was sold to Transair Cargo to help repair the damaged Transair Cargo Britannia 9Q-CJH (XM496 at Kemble) which had landed at Kinshasa with her nose gear retracted. I’m still searching for an exact date but following spares recovery by Transair, 9Q-CHY was broken up and scrapped late ’93, early ’94. A sad end to a once magnificent machine…
Sign In
