Beverleys
 

Sorting out the attic and found some interesting photos
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Unloading2.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...loading1-1.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Unloading3.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Unloading4.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Unloading5.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Unloading6.jpg
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Unloading7.jpg

[quote=virgo;3046372]Sorting out the attic and found some interesting photos

Great photos, worth keeping and sharing. An impressive a/c in it's day. I only ever got one flight in one from Boscombe Down to R.A.F Cottesmore about 1959.

Only one left in the world at Fort Paull, a preserved coastal artillery fort located at Paull near Hull. Worth a visit on a sunny day.

First Flights
 

Someone told me (and I am sure someone else will tell us all if this is wrong...) that the prototypes Blackburn Beverley and Lockheed Hercules made their first flights during the same week, in 1951.

But the Hercules carried three times the load, seven times as far... And faster, and pressurised.

Blame not Messrs Blackburn, manufacturers of well-meaning aircraft, but perhaps just a little blame might be placed on the less-than-visionary soul who wrote the RAF's operational requirement?

:=

C130 Hercules:
The first flight of the YC-130 took place on August 23, 1954 at Lockheed's Burbank, California plant.
The Beverley was descended from the tank carrying heavy-lift General Aircraft GAL50 Hamilcar glider which saw service in World War Two. In response to an Air Ministry Specification for a heavy-lift short range transport aircraft,General Aircraft, the manufacturers of the Hamilcar, produced the GAL60 Universal Freighter, the Beverley’s immediate predecessor. General Aircraft then merged with Blackburn before the GAL60 was complete. The GAL60 was built at Feltham, Middlesex, then dismantled and taken to Brough, East Yorkshire, reassembled and first flown on 20th June 1950, by which time it had become the Blackburn and General Aircraft Universal Freighter.
Descended from a Glider!,and only the british could assemble then dismantle then assemble again before flight! Such efficiency. Both aircraft enjoy a loyal following from those who have been associated with them.

I'll make a guess that the "Dirty Thirty" Beverley is at Firq.

Firq knows......



OK, I'll get my coat!

I will have you know that I am the proud possessor of the Firq - Saiq tie (navy blue with the Arabic number 4 in yellow circle emblazoned upon a palm tree)!

D120A, you're being a bit unfair to the poor old Beverley.
Tiger Mate is absolutely right, the Beverley was basically an early forties design for a SHORT RANGE TACTICAL transport, operating radius 200nm, using short field take-off and landing techniques from unprepared surfaces.
In this role it was superb and unequalled by today's transports.
The C-130 had the advantage of much later design technology - including turbo-props - and was designed as a dual role short-range tactical/long-range stategic transport.
Some of the leading particulars make interesting comparisons ;
Maximum AUW (lbs) Beverley 135,000 Hercules 155,000
Max Payload (lbs) Beverley 45,000 Hercules 43,800
Cargo capacity (cu.ft) Bev.5000 +2000 Hercules 4,500
load (passengers) Beverley 94 Hercules 92
(paras) Beverley 70 Hercules 64
TOD to 50ft (ft) Beverley 3150 Hercules 5160
Land from 50ft (ft) Beverley 2400 Hercules 2700
The BIG difference was, of course, speed and payload/range.

I still have my course notes from the Bev conversion course at Dishforth.
Worth remembering that it was the FIRST perf A aircraft operated by Auntie Betty's Flying Club. There was a Bev Mk II (pressurised, retractable gear and four Tynes) on the stocks but Brough got the Buccaneer contract at that time and they couldn't handle two lots.
As with so many of our aircraft, the Bev was rarely used in its design role - short haul high AUW. When it was - e.g. El Adem - Tmimi in the 50s/60s, it was superb. Six weeks of continuous use and very little down time. Tmimi 'strip' was just a bit of desert which was changed sideways after about six landing/takeoffs to provide a bit of slightly less rough surface.
Its peculiarities were legion - in flight oil replenishment and the fire detection unit for example. Time spent in the 'Dog Kennel' at 8000' was pure magic for smokers!!:E
Lots of memories, some tragic but unmissable. :ok:

Maybe Brough gave the Beverley Mk 2 plans to Shorts who turned it into the Belfast ??

I recall as a yoof seeing two "Vics" of three Bevs, flying quite closely line-astern, pass over my location, (perhaps en route to a display?).
A wonderful sight and sound, the sky was still rumbling a good five minutes later!

.....a bit like this, Noah ?

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...to/Flyby-1.jpg

..............or these.........?????

http://http://i74.photobucket.com/al...Formation2.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i271/Virgo_photo/Formation3.jpg


http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Formation1.jpg

C-123 Provider nee Chase XG-20 Glider
 

Prototype XG-20 Glider


http://www.ascho.wpafb.af.mil/korea/photos/44ccap.jpg



Fairchild C-123 Provider


http://www.warbirdalley.com/images/C123-small.jpg


Additional information about the aircraft and its use by the USAF.

The armed versions were really interesting...as was the version tried as a replacement for the "Flare Drop" mission in Vietnam.

http://www.uswarplanes.net/c123.html

Virgo,
Absolutely bang on! :ok:

I have posted this picture on AH&N previously on another thread about the Beverley, but I think it's worth a second airing.

I have done a search for the other thread but can't find it. There were some great pics on it.

Any ideas Pop ??

Clint.

http://www.btinternet.com/~simon.gur...Beverley-s.JPG

...hmmm, sounds like 4 FTS?:rolleyes:

I did 4 FTS too - Vampires and Varsities in 1961. However, the 4 FTS version has a bloody great pyramid behind the palm tree to symbolise its formation in April, 1921 at Abu Sueir in Egypt.

I got to know Oman fairly well and I never did find a bloody great pyramid anywhere about the place - not even at Fahud!

Can anyone verify the tale of a beverley routing out to Eastleigh, Kenya with a cargo of engines for the beverleys about to join it on exercise in Africa?
When it got there it had `consumed` all the engines itself and left a trail of dead radials across Europe and Africa

If we are going to have a Beverley thread, let's do the type justice and add some COLOUR to the thread....
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...9BeverleyC.jpg

Does anyone have any Beverley slides they would care to show us?

Any one care to tell us why the aircraft is painted up in Camo....and has that nice pretty shiny white paint over the cockpit area? I know it makes for a lot less heat transfer and all but it does seem a bit daft to spend the effort putting the bird into sandy camo and leave that huge white patch for contrast.