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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0057.PDF
40 FLIGHT Internationa/, 9 January 1964 WORLD E W S THE SHORT BELFAST AIRBORNE Appropriately at a time of intense activity in RAF Transport Command following the sudden demands of the Cyprus emergency, the prototype Short Belfast heavy strategic freighter for the RAF made its first flight last Sunday morning, January 5. Taking advantage of a short-lived break in adverse weather which had kept the aircraft grounded since its first readiness on Decem- ber 24, chief test pilot Denis Tayler and his crew of six took off from Shorts' airfield at Sydenham at 1120hr and landed 55min later at Aldergrove airport. During the flight the Belfast climbed to 10,000ft, accompanied by a Queen Air business transport "chase plane" carrying Shorts' joint managing director Mr Hugh Conway and chief engineer Mr Claude Hatton, from which the accompanying in- flight picture was taken. A number of handling tests were made. After landing at Aldergrove Mr Tayler modified the time- hallowed words normally uttered on these occasions, but expressed the same general sentiments with regard to the Belfast. "It was the easiest ride I have had for a very long time," he said. "The aircraft was an absolute joy to fly. She's a beauty." The frustrating twelve-day wait, with the Belfast all ready to go, was occasioned by the need for an easterly wind that would permit take-off over Belfast Lough rather than directly over the city. Similarly, the landing at Aldergrove was made to avoid a final approach over the city, which would have been necessary had the aircraft returned to Sydenham. The first flight- of the Belfast, which is a production aircraft and the first of ten ordered for Transport Command, came three years, two weeks and a day after the award of the contract on December 21, 1960; a commendably short gestation period for such a large aircraft. The adoption of the Britannia wing and tail surfaces as a basis for the design of the Belfast assemblies substantially reduced the overall time required. The first aircraft will be joined in the flight-test phase by the second of the type in about four months' time, and together these two are scheduled to complete de- velopment trials totalling about 850hr in time for an introduction into service in the middle of next year. Certification will be made to both RAF and ARB requirements and will be speeded by the installation of flight-test instrumentation and ground- based data-processing equipment costing some £250,000. Seconded RAF flight The First Airborne Second Remarkably visible vortices created by the tips of the 16ft Tyne-driven propellers indicate clammy conditions as the Belfast's wheels lift from the runway for the first flight of this heavy strategic transport at Sydenham, Belfast, on Sunday morning
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