Shorts - Belfast
Originally conceived as a strategic freighter for the Royal Air Force, the Belfast was designed to utilise the same wing as the Bristol Britannia, which Shorts had experience of building; allied to a new fuselage following the configuration of the Lockheed C-130. Only ten Belfast’s were built the first being delivered to 53 Sqdn of the RAF on 20/06/1966. Following a defence review the Belfast was retired from RAF service in 1976. Five aircraft were acquired by TAC Heavylift and modified to meet civil certification requirements. This work was carried out by Marshal Aerospace and involved changes to the engines, flight control systems, avionics and autopilot. Three aircraft were modified the first entering service with Heavylift following certification in 1980, and they operated successfully for a number of years with this operator. In 2005 only one Belfast is in service with an operator in Australia.
