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Old 16th Oct 2006, 17:19
  #66 (permalink)  
JW411
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: UK
Age: 83
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Stratofreighter:

Since you are obviously interested, it went like this:

The first 3 Belfasts to be sold by MOD were XR362 "Samson"/G-BEPE, XR368 "Theseus"/G-BEPS and XR369 "Spartacus"/G-BEPL. They were delivered by the RAF from Kemble to Manston for Eurolatin Aviation Ltd which originally intended to buy all 10 aircraft but then the money ran out.

XR364 "Pallas", XR366 "Atlas" and XR370 "Ajax" were flown to Hucknall for Rolls Royce and XR367 "Heracles" was supposed to follow but, by then, Heavylift had been formed and had taken over the first three aircraft. They realised that XR369/G-BEPL was not in good condition at Manston so she was swapped for XR367 which became G-BFYU. XR369/G-BEPL made just one ferry flight from Manston to Hucknall.

Heavylift also purchased XR363 "Goliath"/G-OHCA and XR365 "Hector"/G-HLFT and they were flown to Southend which, by then, was Heavylift's engineering base.

XR363 never flew again and was used for spares recovery. She sat beside the railway line for many years before being broken up. XR362/G-BEPE was the prototype and she was quite a bit heavier since she still had a lot of the test wiring etc in the airframe and was therefore less economic to operate than the rest. She was therefore replaced by XR365/G-HLFT and she joined XR363 alongside the railway line.

Interestingly, XR365 was about the most cantankerous of the fleet and was known as "Silly Old Hector" (after a well-known cartoon character on UK childrens' television). It is quite ironic that she is the one now flying in Australia as 9L-LDQ.

The 10th aircraft, XR371 "Enceladus" was flown from Kemble to Cosford for the RAF Museum and I believe she is now under cover (thank God) in the newly-opened Cold War hangar.
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