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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0255.PDF
The second Britannia pro totype, G-ALRX, at London Airport last Friday. It de livered the Editor and took Sir Miles Thomas below) back to Filton. BRITANNIA SAMPLED Passenger Impressions of the Bristol Airliner on a Filton-London Flight LAST Friday the Editor was offered an opportunity to make a brief passenger flight in the Bristol Britannia second prototype. In the following notes he gives his impressions of the experience. I HAD looked forward to a flight in the Britannia for many months past; in fact, ever since I had seen it make its quiet, graceful, almost lazy passages over Farnborough. It then gave the impression of having an aptitude for flying and an ease of movement which made me want to join it in the air. The machine is not yet furnished, and the exceptionally spacious fuselage—almost clear of bulkheads—contains recording equip ment, ballast tanks and a few banks of triple seats dotted along its length. The soundproofing material is in position, but the final effect will not be felt until this is covered and the trimmings, carpet, curtains and the rest are in position. The flight crew, together with observers, totalled eight, and the half-dozen passengers included Dr. Russell, the chief designer. The take-off weight was 130,000 lb. (Maximum a.u.w. is 140,000 lb.) It is no line-shoot to say that I had to look out of the window to find out if the engines were being started and, if so, how many were running. Once the four Proteus were at flight idling they could just be heard. Seen from the cabin windows the nacelles appear enormous and one cannot look along the whole length of the wing, as on some machines. The outer section of the wings are, however, visible and the bevelled tips have a curious upswept look at the trailing edge when viewed from the cabin. In flight there is some visible flexing of the wing, as would be expected. The free-floating ailerons move through quite big angles in spite of their large area. The entire aileron trailing edges are occupied by tabs which either move as if part of the ailerons when these are floating or separate and contrary to them when operated by the pilot's controls. The double windows of the cabin are oval and quite large. They produce rather more distortion than usual around the edges. After a thorough cockpit check Mr. Bill Pegg, in the captain's Bristol's chief flight test observer, Mr. M. W. West, is questioned by the chief customer about one of the automatic observers installed in the Britannia's spacious fuselage. "Flight" photographs seat, taxied rapidly up the Filton runway, occasionally exercising the powerful brakes. I spent this time in the cockpit (in addition to the eight others). There was no sign of pitching while taxying, but one felt the runway as one would on a car with over-hard tyres. Weather was very poor, and no sooner had the Britannia become airborne by the crest of the hump on the runway than Pegg was climbing it in cloud. The noise and vibration on take-off are not obtrusive and, in fact, mark a further step towards near-silence, just as the aircraft represents a large step forward by comparison with any piston type in service today. To one sitting in the cabin there is no indication that turbines are providing the power. The rumbling from the huge paddle-blade airscrews apparently pro duces almost all the noise that there is. Bearing in mind the high take-off weight, the machine unstuck and climbed very quickly. Traffic control required us to level off at 7,500ft in cloud or a lane between cloud for the flight to London. The quietness at low cruising power is very satisfactory except up forward between the airscrews. Here there is still a fair amount of buzzing; in service, however, this may affect only the freight and toilet compartments. When fully pressurized at cruising height of 30,000ft noise is further reduced, I was assured. Aft of the wing, quietness reigns in the main cabin and normal conversation is possible between passengers several paces apart. Those seated here will undoubtedly enjoy an untiring ride and a good view. Although they have no particular significance, some instrument readings may be of interest. While cruising at 7,500ft the com pressor speeds of the Proteus were 10,000 r.p.m., the airscrew speeds 855 r.p.m., and the indicated flying speed was 210 kt. Cabin altitude was kept at 2,500ft, although it could, of course, have been retained at sea level—or even lower. Normal cruising r.p.m. for correct operational altitude would have given excessive speed at under 10,000ft, hence the use of 10,000 compressor r.p.m. rather than 11,350. An arbitrary speed limitation of 275 kt I.A.S. is being observed during development flights. This is the Vne speed. Vjf is 305 kt. A few miles short of Windsor, the Britannia, already letting down, ran out into watery sunshine and permission was given for a straight-in approach to London Airport. The enormous slotted flaps uncoiled themselves, but I could not detect the lowering or locking of the wheels. Quite near the runway the flaps extended even more, to show themselves in full barn-door splendour, and the Britannia was eased gently on to the ground. The flight had taken 27 minutes. Almost at once a thrum of new power was transmitted in marked braking effect; reverse pitch is now used on all landings. Pegg taxied in rapidly on all four engines and soon the aircraft was parked in the B.O.A.C. servicing area. After a brief delay motorized stairs were manoeuvred to the port-side amidships door, some care being needed to avoid the long pointed end of the inboard nacelle. We shall now look forward to an operational flight in a fully furnished machine. There is no doubt that in its role of long- range tourist transport the Britannia will offer its hundred or so passengers first-class comforts at turbine speeds and heights. In all, nearly 300 hours of test flying has been completed on the prototypes and production for B.O.A.C. is well advanced with a view to introduction into service in the summer of next year. It is probable that Britannias will first see service on the African routes before being introduced on the London - New York run. Sir Miles Thomas, for whom the Britannia had been sent to London, was waiting to greet us and then to take over with Mr. Cyril Uwins our seats in the aircraft for the return flight. This took only 24 minutes, and on arrival back at Filton, to demonstrate the braking power of the reversing airscrews, the pilot landed down a wind of 17 m.p.h. Prior to this flight Sir Miles had had air experience of the first prototype Britannia,
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