lauriebe

Thanks for the link to that fascinating story about Beverley XB263. I see from my notes that my photo was taken on 14th February 1958 and the pilot was F/Lt Peter Dudley.
ISTR it collected the Pakistani workers from Karachi and flew via Katunayke (Negombo) in Sri Lanka to Gan.

Does anyone know if the Beverley at the Army base near Hull is still there?

The Beverley is now at Fort Paull in Yorkshire

Great. Might go via there on Easter Sunday.

How to put a Bev back together!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIRlZmiLmZs

Well, did the visit. She's out in the open and deteriorating rapidly! Hopefully someone with deep pockets can rescue her and put her in a nice weatherproof building before she rots out and collapses her tail on some chav kid from the adjacent caravan "fun" park.

lauriebe ref post 129 Paddy Flynn who was a member of our association passed away this year

I believe that in the '60s (1960s that is!), the route was known as the MEDAIR when operated by civvy airlines such as BRITISH EAGLE INT'L AIRLINES with their Viscounts in 'trooper config', i.e. 'lets go backwards'!
Is 'the old grey matter' still compus mentis?
ttp

In the sixties and seventies RAF Britannias operated an East Med and a West Med. The West Med was Lyneham/Brize - Gibraltar. The East Med included Luqa, Benina (for a short time) and on to Akrotiri or direct UK - Akrotiri. Can't remember if UK - Luqa only was also a called a West Med.

At the risk of thread drift, the Beverley is such an ungainly looking aircraft, but what was it like to fly?
I remember, as a small boy, being taken to Birmingham Elmdon airport where some sort of static display was taking place. Must have been early 60's. There were a number of military types and think I remember a Canberra but definitely remember a Beverley which you could walk inside. i was amazed that such a huge aircraft could ever fly!

Wookey - for what appeared to be a bit ungainly, if flown for its intended role - heavy lift, forward area, unprepared strips, it did it well. As usual, it spent a lot of time on anything but!! We operated for 6 weeks out of El Adem into Tmimi (an area of desert sand where the 'runway' was moved sideways after each landing to find a slightly better surface). Very few tech problems and we were 'bulking out' or at max weight on every trip. In flight oil pumping in the 'dog kennel' to allow long-ish haul trips was a PITA. The intended Mk II, with Proteus (or similar) turbos and pressurisation would have been a 'horse of a very different colour'!!

It was rurmoured that the MkII would even have a retractable undercart!

You mean this one?

https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarch...urn%20beverley

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c3...psyidgil3k.png

They say that the chief designer of Blackburn's was in the Netherlands one sunny day and, while lying on his back in a field, saw a Dutch barn blow away in a gale.

Come to think of it, can anyone name an elegant-looking Blackburn type?

Jackw106, I'm sorry to hear that.

Blue skies Paddy.

Dave,

While I like the Buccaneer, I wouldn't classify it as elegant. Menacing is a better adjective.

I think the only one that comes close to being elegant is the B2:

http://i1149.photobucket.com/albums/...ps004oryv1.png

Brakedwell,

Hadn't seen the picture before.

I see it retained the Rebecca Mk4 aerials!

Fort Paull, Hull
 

The Beverley at Fort Paull looked to be in good condition in April 2013

photos here

Don't know quite why he was picking on Blackburn, but the same guy that told me about the Dutch barn also claimed that one of the test pilots had written something like this after his first flight in the prototype Buccaneer:
"This aircraft is extremely difficult to get into. It should be made impossible."

Goes to show that first impressions are not always right...

That B2 has got almost as much headroom as the Beverley. Interesting empennage.