What's going on here????

[needle]

The B-24 shipping crate in photo #1 is the BEVERLY transport, gear down and welded, troop accommodations in the tail boom.

The first aircraft I can remember flying in. Sitting in the boom, with the clamshell doors off, elephant ears on, and looking straight down at....air. My father flew them with 48, then 34 squadron in Changhi and Seletar (Singapore) in 1960 and then back in England with 242 ocu at Thorney Island in 1961.

First RAF aircraft that required you to do a vertical C of G calculation as well as a horizontal C of G calculation. Could carry a massive load (upto 44,000 lbs!) not very far (about 200nm), not very fast. (About 150kts). And they scrapped them all, bar 1, and the one that got saved never actually flew with the RAF!

[airnutz]

I too had wondered if the lines might be used for bombing, perhaps the 50, 100, 500 and 1000 numbers are altitude in meters? I don't have any info to back that up but offer it for discussion.

Randy

Yup, I was thinking meters as well, but I was having a hard time wrapping my noggin around that for the 50 and 100 meter mark...getting awfully close to the boom. Got easier to swallow when I realized the bombs were up to five 10kg(22lb) in the bay, and/or one 50kg(110lb) bomb externally on the port strut and take into account escape speed by the time the bomb hits, fuse settings, weapon selection, attack profile(glide or dive), etc.....

Last edited by airnutz on Wed May 02, 2012 1:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

[airnutz]

troop accommodations in the tail boom.

I was reading in Flypast or one of the Brit mags a few years back about a pilots first encounter with the Beverly. A sense of scale of the tailboom was that it was as large as a C-47 fuselage.

He also said upon his first liftoff in the beast he declared to the co-pilot, "My sides up! How about yours!"

[WallyB]

Vulcan in the air, and Blackburn Beverley on the ground.

Also Percival Prince and Short Sealand.

September 1960. Front left going clockwise: de Havilland Sea Vixen, Hawker Hunter FR.10, Hawker Hunter T.Mk66A, Gloster Javelin, not sure of aircraft between Javelin and the tail sticking up….maybe a Blackburn Buccaneer!. Tail sticking up is Avro 748 from which the Andover was developed. Top left…Armstrong Whitworth Argosy, Avro Vulcan, not sure of the twin,

HP Dart Herald.

Can't see any of the other pictures! Photobucketslop.

[Mark Allen M]

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Last edited by Mark Allen M on Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

[The Inspector]

Mark,
Keep bringing the pictures! I'm happier than a dog who's found something stinky in the yard!! I love being able to see 40's/50's/60's British and European stuff in that time frame when the promise was there before the disappointments and realities set in.

[Mark Allen M]

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Last edited by Mark Allen M on Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

[The Inspector]

In keeping with that spirit and time frame, on this date 5/2/52, BOAC began passenger service from London to Cape Town with the DH COMET-

[pjpahs]

According to the Wikipedia link on the Saro Princess the aircraft had 6 nacelles. No's 1 and 6 had single Bristol Proteus turboprop turning single props. Nacelles 2-5 had coupled,counterrotating turboprops each turning it's own prop. Pretty wild set-up. 10 turboprops total.