The Belfast was an interesting aircraft though. Without going in to the whole story which has been recounted before, at Masirah on one occasion, the Belfast concerned had a flight refuelling probe. As it had the probe this reduced it uplift by 102 lbs. Headwinds were forecast so it had to have full fuel so it planned load had to be reduced by a couple of passengers.
Pretty tight margins for the hop to Akrotiri via Iran.
On the probe fit, same question arises as on the Valiant thread. Just how much money was wasted fitting probes to a whole host of aircraft without having any plans for a realistic tanker programme?
I presume it was a scheme to get the Belfast with heavier loads through to the far east.