WINGS From Portugal, joined May 2005, 2784 posts, RR: 76 Posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 2982 times:
Bristol Britannia (175) A Tribute By Wings.
The Bristol Type 175 Britannia was a medium/long-range turboprop airliner, built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Nicknamed the 'Whispering Giant', the Bristol Britannia main aim was to provide British airlines the ability to fly a number air routes across the British Empire. Despite the Britannia being considered the high point in turboprop airliner design in it's era, the Britannia would suffer from various circumstances that would seal it's rather premature death, with only 85 frames being built between 1952 and 1960.
In 1942, during World War II, the US and UK agreed to split responsibility for aircraft construction; the US would concentrate on transport aircraft while the UK would concentrate on their heavy bombers. This would leave the UK with little experience in transport construction at the end of the war.
Lord Brabazon of Tara
In 1943, the UK government set up a committee to examine the need for commercial airliners in the post war years. Chaired by Lord Brabazon of Tara, the committee outlined the requirements for seven distinct aircraft.
With peace in 1945, BOAC formulated their requirements for a Medium Range Empire (MRE) airliner - the Brabazon Type III, and five companies entered the bidding in 1946. The closest to BOAC's requirements was the entry from the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the Bristol Type 175 Britannia. Negotiations with BOAC were slow, as they were not looking to replace their Constellation fleet until 1954, and the Ministry of Supply stepped in 1948 for an order for three prototypes to prevent the project from stagnating. BOAC finally placed an order for 25 aircraft in mid-1949. Most of the aircraft were built by Bristol at Filton Aerodrome but 15 aircraft were built at Belfast by Short Brothers and Harland.
Construction
Proteus Vs Centaurus.
The Proteus, primarily used on the four-engined Bristol Britannia airliner, was rather radical design. The revolutionary turboprop engine has a reversed-flow' layout - the air enters through in-lets at the back of the engine, is passed forward, and doubles back through the combustion chambers. The original Mk.600 produced 3,780 brake horse power (bhp), but the 700 series became the production standard. The Mk.765 delivered 4,445 bhp.
The Bristol Centaurus has 18 cylinders in two rows, and is a sleeve-valved radial air-cooled engine. The first version produced 2,000 bhp, and the most powerful variant produced 3,200 bhp. It was the ultimate radial engine, and was developed primarily for heavy bomber and transport aircraft. Over 8,000 were produced.
In the end the Proteus would become the sole supplier to the Britannia.
Bill Pegg
First Flight
On the August 16th, 1952 with Chief Test Pilot Bill Pegg at the controls, Model 100 (G-ALBO) Lifted off from Filton runway. From the very beginning of the test flights the Britannia would be haunted by numerous incidents. During the first test flight, the undercarriage bogies refused to lock down, and smoke emerged from the floor. Test Pilot Bill Pegg was able to safely land the aircraft, but this incident was just the first of a series of incidents to haunt the project.
Service:
The original target for entry into commercial service for the Britannia suffered additional delays due to the Air Ministry demanding additional lengh test, brought on by loss of three the De Havilland Comets in 1953 and 1954.
Further delays were caused by a series of engine problems, mostly related to icing. This delayed the in-service date until February 1957, when BOAC put their first Britannia 102s into service on the London to South Africa route, with Australia following a month later.
Bristol then upgraded the design as a larger transatlantic airliner for BOAC, resulting in the Series 200 and 300. The new version had a fuselage stretch of 10ft 3 in (3.12m) and upgraded Proteus engines, and was offered as the all-cargo Series 200, the cargo/passenger (combi) Series 250, and the all-passenger Series 300.
The first 301 flew on July 31, 1956. BOAC ordered seven Model 302s but never took delivery of them - instead they were taken on by several other airlines including Aeronaves de México and Ghana Airways. The main long range version was the 312, of which BOAC took 18 and, after deliveries began in September 1957, put them into service between London and New York. In total 45 Series 300's were built, the first airliner to enter regular non-stop transatlantic service in both directions.
The Britannia also served a role with the RAF. Which operated the models 252/253 (C.1, C.2)
General Characteristics:
General characteristics Flight Crew: 3 Length: 124 ft 3 in (37.9 m) Wingspan: 142 ft 3 in (43.6 m) Height: 37 ft 6 in (11.4 m) Wing area: ft² (m²) Empty weight: 82,500 lb (37,400 kg) Max takeoff weight: 185,000 lb (84,000 kg) Powerplant: 4 Bristol Proteus 765 turboprops, 4,440 hp (3,410 kW) each Maximum speed: 397 mph (345 knots, 639 km/h) Cruise speed: 357 mph (310 knots, 575 km/h) Range: 4,270 mi (3,710 nm, 6,870 km) Service ceiling: 24,000 ft (7,300 m) Rate of climb: 2,220 ft/min (11.3 m/s)
Accidents:
Fourteen Type 175s were lost to accidents with a total of 365 fatalities between 1954 and 1980. The worst single accident was the April 20, 1967 crash of a Globe Air Britannia, near Nicosia Airport, Cyprus, which resulted in 126 fatalities. Of the Fourteen accidents two of them occurred during flight trials which, created some doubt over the whole program.
The second prototype, (G-ALRX), on February 4th 1954, took off from Filton. During the flight the no. 3 engine exploded, which started a fire, so Pilot Bill Pegg elected to return to Filton immediately. The flames were so big that the no. 4 engine had to be shut down too. Engines 1 and 2 also shutdown and had to be relit. Pegg noticed that the tide was out on the Severn estuary, revealing the mud flats, and decided that that was the safest place to land. With the gear and flaps up, it landed on the flats and slid for 400 yards before coming to rest. No-one was seriously injured, but when the tide came in, the sea water damaged the aircraft beyond repair.
November, 6th 1957, a prototype Type 301 Britannia (G-ANCA) , retained by Bristol for further development, suffered an incident during a routine test flight, the aircraft suddenly dived into woods at Downend, Bristol, while on approach to Filton, with the loss of 15 crew and technicians on board. The cause was never fully established, but was suspected to be faulty wiring which affect the autopilot. Modifications were made to all other Britannias.
Other Tributes By Wings
Boeing 727- A Tribute By Wings
L-1011 A Tribute By Wings by WINGS
Tupolev Tu-144 - A Tribute By Wings
Dassault Mercure- A Tribute By Wings
I hope that everyone has enjoyed my lattest tribute.
Well after receiving various request for me to make a tribute to the "Whispering Giant" I felt that it would be the perfect aircraft for my first Tribute to a British built aircraft.
I have to admit that personally I knew little about the history of this magnificent classic. But while I researched it's history I became more fascinated with it. It's a shame this beauty had such a short life. Hopefully when I visit the UK I will manage to visit one.
Vc10 From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2001, 1189 posts, RR: 20 Reply 5, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 2785 times:
The aircraft was originally envisaged to be a two pilot crew and no Flight Engineer, but a flight engineer's seat was added to the flight deck prior to service entry. Even so on the earlier aircraft all the F/Es controls were on the right hand side of the Co-pilot or to his rear.
The G-ALRX incident had a pilot from KLM on board as KLM were thinking of buying Brits however they never did,nothing to do with his report I am sure!!
Flew as a F/E on Britannias with British Eagle for a short time, and enjoyed both the airline and the aircraft [[top picture]
GDB From United Kingdom, joined May 2001, 11088 posts, RR: 84 Reply 6, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 2715 times:
Very nice work.
Another post war airliner, that hoped to circumvent the massive advantages the US aircraft had, with their huge modern facilities, better capitalisation, huge home market and not having commercial/transport aircraft production suspended during WW2-in fact this provided a great boost for Lockheed and Douglas, by being radical, advanced. Trying to leapfrog the US large piston airliners.
It worked for the first short haul turboprop, the Viscount, but the delays to Britannia made it's service entry too close to that of the definative first generation jets in the late 1950's.
It's service with BOAC was short even by the standards of the time.
Shorts in Belfast, would use their licence production-an unemployment preventing political move, as a stepping stone to their Belfast large military freighter.
Belfast produced Britannias were for the RAF, who had two Sqns of what we now call 'combi's, between 1959 and 1976, when they fell to a round of RAF transport cutbacks.
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 10921 posts, RR: 13 Reply 7, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 2665 times:
In addition to the 85 Britannias, another 72 airframes based on the Britannia were built by Canadair in Montreal, including 39 cargo/pasenger CL-44s and 33 CL-28 Argus maritime patrol/surveillance aircraft.
The Royal Canadian Air Force ordered 12 CL-44s,known as CC-106 Yukon by the RCAF. They were basically the Britannia 300 airframe with higher gross weight, 2 side cargo doors, and Rolls-Royce Tyne engines replacing the Britannia's Bristol Proteus. The Yukons were in RCAF service from 1959 to 1971.
Another 27 CL-44s were built for commercial use, mostly for 3 US cargo operators, Flyiing Tigers, Seaboard World, and Slick Airways. They had a swing-tail through which cargo was loaded. Four were built with a 15 foot fuselage stretch to accommodate 189 passengers for Loftleidir Icelandic's low fare transatlantic service. They merged with another Icelandic carrier in 1973 to create today's Icelandair.
The most obvious difference between the RCAF Yukons and the commercial CL-44s, apart from the swing tail which the Yukon lacked, was the cockpit section. The original Britannia cockpit window arrangement with many small window panels wasn't acceptable to the FAA for visibility reasons, so to obtain US certification the cockpit was modified with windows adapted from the Convair 880/990. The RCAF Yukons had the Britannia cockpit windows.
The other variant of the Britannia was the CL-28 Argus maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft. 33 were builtt for the RCAF (they referred to it as the CP-107). The Argus was in RCAF service for 24 years, 1957 to 1980.. They had a heavily modified fuselage and a completely different nose section than the Britannia and used 3700 hp Wright 3350 piston (turbo compound) engines which were then considered more suitable for low altitude patrol operations than turboprops. The Argus was also unpressurized.
YVRLTN From Canada, joined Oct 2006, 924 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 2630 times:
Thanks again Wings - i think you deserve to be the first member on my respected user list!!
The Britannia played a major part at my old local airport LTN before i moved to Canada. A small charter airline called Euravia operating with a few Constellations (another aircraft for a tribute thread for sure...) renamed themselves Britannia Airways after acquiring this lovely aircraft. They are now Thomsonfly of course.
Another well known LTN based charter operator ZB also had this aircraft early in their history - there is still one aircraft preserved at Duxford in the UK in their colors - a place well worth visiting. I believe one of the last Britannia operators in Europe were Redcoat Cargo and Aer Turas, and both operated to LTN - such a shame im too young to have ever seen one fly.
I believe one was flying until about 10 years ago in Africa - started with Katale Aero Transport then moved to other companies, the names escape me (Air Faisal maybe) - actually ive just found it ended up with Air Caribbean and is now preserved at Kemble UK - i remember it coming to the UK about 10 years ago with a Liberian reg - have just found pics (its now being painted in RAF c/s).
YVRLTN From Canada, joined Oct 2006, 924 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2627 times:
Thanks again Wings - i think you deserve to be the first member on my respected user list!!
The Britannia played a major part at my old local airport LTN before i moved to Canada. A small charter airlines called Euravia operating with a few Constellations (another aircraft for a tribute thread for sure...) renamed themselves Britannia Airways after acquiring this lovely aircraft. They are now Thomsonfly of course.
Another well known LTN based charter operator ZB also had this aircraft early in their history - there is still one aircraft preserved at Duxford in the UK in their colors - a place well worth visiting. I believe one of the last Britannia operators in Europe were Redcoat Cargo and Aer Turas, and both operated to LTN - such a shame im too young to have ever seen one fly.
I believe one was flying until about 10 years ago in Africa - started with Katale Aero Transport then moved to other companies, the names escape me (Air Faisal maybe) - actually ive just found it ended up with Air Caribbean and is now preserved at Kemble UK - i remember it coming to the UK about 10 years ago with a Liberian reg - have just found pics (its now being painted in RAF c/s).
RayChuang From United States, joined Jun 2000, 7113 posts, RR: 9 Reply 10, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2606 times:
However, one thing the Britannia did was to be one of the first airliners--along with the piston-engined DC-7C Seven Seas and newer Constellations--to fly non-stop between New York (Idlewild) and London Heathrow in both directions, skipping out on the wasted time of technical fuel stops at either Shannon or Gander.
NAV20 From Australia, joined Nov 2003, 7199 posts, RR: 43 Reply 11, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 2602 times:
Nice series, Wings, keep it up!
Quoting WINGS (Thread starter): Nicknamed the 'Whispering Giant', the Bristol Britannia main aim was to provide British airlines the ability to fly a number air routes across the British Empire.
A point that bears mentioning is the (bad) influence that BOAC in particular had on British aircraft design at that period. The huge flaps on the Britannia (and also on the later VC10) didn't happen by accident - they were required by BOAC's marketing ideas, which were based on the 'Empire' routes, and by BOAC's 'bus-stop' route-planning approach.
I remember seeing my father off to the Gulf on a Britannia - at that time, stops were scheduled at both Rome and Beirut - not because the aeroplane didn't have the range to go direct, but because BOAC ran a bus-stop service. The 'Empire' routes to South Africa followed the same principle, involving many landings at 'hot and high' airports with limited runways - hence the huge array of flaps to allow a low landing speed.
Most important of all, at that time BOAC didn't see any potential in the North Atlantic. That affected the design of both the Comet and the VC10; so that they were easily overtaken by the 707 when it appeared.
Unfortunately BEA (British European Airways) had a similar approach. It's not commonly known that the Trident started out as a joint tri-jet design study by De Havilland and Boeing. BEA actually argued that the Trident was too big for their needs, and had it 'cropped back.' Boeing ended the collaboration and went on with a version in the original proposed size, which resulted in the 727. The British produced a 'cut-down' Trident, which largely failed. So if anyone has ever thought before that the 727 and the Trident looked very similar, except for the latter being smaller, BEA's influence was the main reason why they didn't turn out to be the same aeroplane!
WINGS From Portugal, joined May 2005, 2784 posts, RR: 76 Reply 12, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 2534 times:
Thank you for the positive feed back.
I can see that we have many fans of the Britannia among us. Would anyone know how the Britannia compared in terms of cabin comfort, up against it's main rivals of that era?
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 7): In addition to the 85 Britannias, another 72 airframes based on the Britannia were built by Canadair in Montreal, including 39 cargo/pasenger CL-44s and 33 CL-28 Argus maritime patrol/surveillance aircraft.
That's correct Viscount724. Thank you for sharing the information.
Pihero From France, joined Jan 2005, 1884 posts, RR: 63 Reply 13, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 2518 times:
Quoting WINGS (Reply 12): Would anyone know how the Britannia compared in terms of cabin comfort, up against it's main rivals of that era?
I don't but I could add a few comments on its flying qualities : I happened to be in Angola in '76, and there operated a Belgian cargo outfit flying ex-RAF Britannias. Being in Africa and far from any lurking DGCA, these aircrews, in exchange for booze and "Tommy burgers" allowed me on the co-pilot seat.
A very comfy and roomy cockpit with 2 flight engineers' positions (well, that's a good start !), a classic T instrument disposition and a control column with motorbike handle bars...that moved sideways for lateral control ! Typical British idiosyncrasy...until I found out I needed the extra leverage to bank the airplane, as I've never been in a more stable aircraft. This one was built for passenger comfort and speed, not for playing about in the wide blue ! If I had to describe the ride, "effortless" would be the word and the soft whine of these turbines was an unforgettable background music.
Very shortly, Young cargo went into spares and maintenance problems and the Britannia was then called affectionately "the best tri-toubo in Africa" by its crews, who loved her. The story ends in some rather murky circumstances.
Wings, thanks for the series and It's time you joined my RU list.
ImperialEagle From United States, joined Jan 2006, 726 posts, RR: 15 Reply 14, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 2472 times:
Thanks WINGS. I am really enjoying these "tributes".
I never spent much time around the Brittania's but do remember how easily the props would windmill on the ground, and that classic "BUMP" sound when the igniters lit the burners.
I always thought the developed Canadair "J" model was the early version of a "streched eight" when it came to the ability to make money. The extra capacity sure did make a difference in the profit margin.
Too bad this version was not available in 1953. The DC-7C might not have been built!
I hope sometime soon you will do a tribute to the TU-114. A VERY remarkable propeller-turbine aircraft---even by todays standards!
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough!"
David L From United Kingdom, joined May 1999, 8274 posts, RR: 41 Reply 16, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 2362 times:
Ah, now you're talking my language! My very first flight was in a Type 170 Freighter, with our car on board, when I was about 2. From then till I was 9, all of my flights were in Britannias. Two of those flights took me to yet another new life in the Far East and one brought me back home to Blighty after three years away. One was RAF, another was British Eagle and the third was Caledonian Airways. I also did an RAF Britannia flight between Singapore and Kai Tak in the middle of the first of those tours.
Those Britannia flights were huge events in my life and I don't remember them being any less comfortable than any flight I've taken in Economy since. The sight of those huge props shimmering high above mountain ranges, deserts, seas and coastlines is still etched in my mind.
The RAF flights, of course, had rear-facing seats - not quite so good for seeing where you were going but ideal for seeing what you were leaving behind, which was pretty significant every time.
Without doubt, my favourite prop of all time. It's only matched overall, nostalgia-wise, by the VC-10 as that brought me "home" for the last time and, being RAF, gave me my last ever view of the part of the world I grew up in. I rarely look back on my time in Malaya and Hong Kong without thinking of the Britannia.
WINGS From Portugal, joined May 2005, 2784 posts, RR: 76 Reply 17, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 2227 times:
Quoting Pihero (Reply 13): I don't but I could add a few comments on its flying qualities : I happened to be in Angola in '76, and there operated a Belgian cargo outfit flying ex-RAF Britannias. Being in Africa and far from any lurking DGCA, these aircrews, in exchange for booze and "Tommy burgers" allowed me on the co-pilot seat.
A very comfy and roomy cockpit with 2 flight engineers' positions (well, that's a good start !), a classic T instrument disposition and a control column with motorbike handle bars...that moved sideways for lateral control ! Typical British idiosyncrasy...until I found out I needed the extra leverage to bank the airplane, as I've never been in a more stable aircraft. This one was built for passenger comfort and speed, not for playing about in the wide blue ! If I had to describe the ride, "effortless" would be the word and the soft whine of these turbines was an unforgettable background music.
Very shortly, Young cargo went into spares and maintenance problems and the Britannia was then called affectionately "the best tri-toubo in Africa" by its crews, who loved her. The story ends in some rather murky circumstances.
Hi Pihero,
Well it sounds like a fascinating experience. Just out of curiosity did you fear any danger at the time? I know that in 1976 Angola in the middle of a civil war.
Carduelis From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2001, 1570 posts, RR: 14 Reply 18, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 2129 times:
I've just found these pictures . . . both from 1961 . . .
The first is me serving coffee in Economy located at the front of the aircraft!
The second is from a BOAC Britannia brochure specifically for the African market.
Interestingly, the first class seat back could actually be made to lay totally horizontal - if you knew where to pull out the pin! The seat pitch was arranged in such a way that the seat back would lay down in line with the seat behind you, making a totally flat bed. Better still, if you knew how to do it, you could remove the dividing centre armrest, and actually make a double bed! Not bad for 45 years ago!
I won't go into what sometimes went on during positioning flights!
Per Ardua ad Astra! ........ Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense!
Baroque From Australia, joined Apr 2006, 10739 posts, RR: 51 Reply 19, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 2092 times:
Quoting NAV20 (Reply 11): BEA actually argued that the Trident was too big for their needs, and had it 'cropped back.' Boeing ended the collaboration and went on with a version in the original proposed size, which resulted in the 727. The British produced a 'cut-down' Trident, which largely failed.
And don't forget the downsizing of the engine which made the resulting Spey less useful than it could have been - especially when they ended up using 3 and a bit engines on the Trident 3Bs.
You have to wonder if any of the current airlines share the "special talents" that BOAC and BEA seemed to have!!!
AY104 From Canada, joined Nov 2005, 443 posts, RR: 9 Reply 20, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 1987 times:
My one and only flight on the Britannia was in 1962 from YVR-AMS, via YYC, YEG and a technical stop in Sondrestrom, Greenland. The whole flight took over 22 hours. The aircraft itself was very comfortable, quite and smooth and nice large windows. However, at the time Canadian Pacific had introduced the DC8 also on the YVR-AMS run, and the "milk run" Britannia was sold out as a cheaper alternative. The seating was extremely cramped, and even at 13 years of age foung the legroom minimal. My poor dad suffered all the way. Also, 22 hours with no inflight entertainment at all, and no ipod Minis etc. Can you imagine the whining if that was so now? In those days, it was still an adventure and people were just excited to be taking a trip like that. Having said that, the 9-hour flight back from AMS-YVR on the DC8 was most refreshing, and that was also an exciting and relatively new experience. I would like to have been on the Britannia when it was first introduced, and compare it to my experiences when it was starting to be phased out. A very magnificent aircraft!
Cheers,
Carl (AY104)
The only thing a customer should expect for his/her loyalty is good service
VC-10 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 1999, 3636 posts, RR: 50 Reply 22, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 1919 times:
One thing worth mentioning is that during a sales tour of the US in 1956 Howard Hughes flew the Britannia and immediately wanted to order 25 for TWA. Unfortunately, as there was no way Bristol could meet the delivery dates Hughes demanded the sale was lost
Another nickname for the Brit was "The Rumbling Rectifier". One joke was that it was an aircraft where the pilot had no direct contact with the control surfaces (it used servo tabs) and the engines had no direct connection to the propellers!
RIX From United States, joined Aug 2000, 1751 posts, RR: 1 Reply 23, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 1792 times:
Quoting VC-10 (Reply 22): during a sales tour of the US in 1956 Howard Hughes flew the Britannia and immediately wanted to order 25 for TWA. Unfortunately, as there was no way Bristol could meet the delivery dates Hughes demanded the sale was lost
- AFAIK, he wanted 3 deliveries a month, but they could offer only one...
Wasn't it "the ultimate" turboprop, even if not the biggest and fastest one (which, obviously, Tu114 was)? My only "big turboprop" experience was a flight on venerable Ilyushin 18 in 1975. Because of bad weather it lasted 16 hours instead of 8, with 4 stops instead of 2, I was tired and complaining... Next year I flew on the same route on Tu134 - my first ever jet flight, 4 hours with one stop, smooth, nice, comfortable, "exciting and relatively new experience" (like DC8 in AY104's post)... Overshadowed by plenty of other flights since then, while Il18 is missed so much...
Door5right From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2005, 706 posts, RR: 25 Reply 24, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 1776 times:
EXCELLENT - brought back many happy memories of my first flight abroad onboard Monarch and also flights with British Eagle. Most interesting to see BOAC were advertising sleeper seats so long ago!
VC-10 From United Kingdom, joined Oct 1999, 3636 posts, RR: 50 Reply 25, posted (3 years 1 month 1 week 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 1754 times:
The Britannia was really the death knell for British long-haul a/c manufacture. When it came out Vickers had the V1000 being built. This was a 4 jet long-haul a/c that could out perform the then current versions of the 707 & DC8.
When the RAF decided it was no longer interested in the V1000 BOAC were asked if they were. Their reply was no, because turbo-props were the future!!! The outcome was the V1000 was scrapped 6 months before the first flight (late '56/early '57) and the UK answer to the 707/DC8 had to wait for the VC10 which first flew in June 1962. By then the US a/c had cornered the market.
26 Dougloid: I've always loved big assed turboprops, but my all time favoreet was the Lockheed Electra....just enough wing to hold four monster Allison 501s...I r
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