My latest on the Belfast was that in the first few weeks of November she flew over 100 hours and NO TECH! She must like the weather........and I remember in 1980 and '81 GBEPE and GBEPS spent many hours flying out of Seletar and I can't find any cases of tech problems in my logbook! (Perhaps we weren't so regulated in those halcyon days!).
They hope to relocate to Cairns or Brisbane in the near future after flying both Mil and civ flights to the islands recently.
Anyone out there any more recent news?
Veeps, thanks for the info on H&P, good luck in your search for pastures new!:O

Admiral; Do you what the condition of the Belfast at SEN is and I am fascinated to know who is the owner of the a/c. From across the field it looks to be all closed up and in a reasonable state minus engines of course.

HZ, you don't say exactly where GBEPS is moored at SEN; that would give me a clue as to what the possible future is. I do know that the owner is the same gent who owns GHLFT (as was). And all the doubters said that FT would never fly again!
They are a very "can do, will do" set of people and it wouldn't surprise me if we did hear four RR Tynes roar off the end of SEN runway one day. Bound for PIK, of course! (initially).

It is parked opposite the terminal at the end of the disused runway but still on the concrete. As stated the a/c via binocs appears to be in reasonable condition.

HZ, in that case I am pretty sure they mean business. When she was over in the "wreckers" yard I had my doubts, but mooring on the concrete must cost between £50 and£100 per day. And if there were no further plans she certainly wouldn't be there.

Only issue there is that the Bac 1-1 5N-HHH has resided on concrete for about 5 years and surely there are no plans for that. Though interestingly it has been moved to the hotel side amongst the two F27s that are being stripped.

I saw the machine parked at BNE airport yesterday. Seems to be in pretty good condition, and as it disappears every now and again, I have to presume it is doing some revenue flying. Have heard that it operates up to the Solomom Islands, but cannot confirm that.

G'day all
The Belfast is operating out of Brisbane as a Heavylift freighter to the Solomon Islands. It goes once or twice a week with a British crew, running in competition with pacific air express and thier AN-12. It spends its downtime at the Logistics (freight) apron on Lomandra Drive. Well worth watching it take off! Nice crew, too.

How's her servicability holding up??:ok:

She always liked the warmer climates

VEEPS

Brizvegan, G'day

I guess from your comment " take off is interesting" that you fly modern jets?
The Belfast at MTOW (231000lbs) in temps around 31 degs C is just on its WAT limit at sea level and 1013mbs. Water Meth is injected into each engine to keep the power up to ISA levels (about 5750 SHP!) She really is on the limits and must be flown very accurately in the event of EFTO after V1. When allowed we used to practise such things at a minimum of 10000lbs below MTOW; we had some very interesting comments from various International airports, most who thought that normal take offs were exciting enough!
In fact the planning involved for a flight with terrain drift-down problems and ambient temps much above ISA was considerable; every leg with a MORA or MEA much above 10-12000ft ( and lower immediately after t/off) had to be closely scrutinised, we freqently had to climb in holding patterns.....a vastly different world to that known by most wide bodies! Fortunately with Pacific flights they shouldn't have too many of those problems out of Brisbane.
I know the crew very well and two of them for over twenty years of operating the Queen! It was an exciting and rewarding career, we visited most disasters and war zones in those days.......but that's another story!
:D

Hey Admiral,

Tha Wagon & Horses in Griston has changed hands if you wanna try a pint one night!!

I have been anointed.

The Belfast took-off from Brisbane this morning and over-flew my house heading north. Gleaming white against a bright blue sky.

Cheers

Belfast!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Fris B, Hi

and did the sound of those four RR Tynes not bring back memories of another age? (The prop tips can be nigh on supersonic- about the only thing on the Queen that much exceeds 0.4mach!)

How long did the u/c take to retract? It should be within 25 secs but has known to be hours!

And a small warning: although the Queen is in cat "medium" in wake turbulence, cos of its weight, the actual turbulence from four 16 ft diameter props at 5000+ SHP has been known to invert an Argosy on finals.

"and what was a bloody Argosy?" you might ask (being a wild colonial boy)

"a small Beverly" I might reply!

It was all great fun at the time!

Hi Admiral

Although I have seen a Belfast before, this was the first time I had ever heard one, and what a pleasant sound it is too. I live not far to the west from Brisbane Airport and I heard the take-off of what I assumed must be the Belfast, so I didn't get to observe the u/c retraction time. What did strike me though was the fact that, having departed from RW19 heading (not unreasonably!) south, it was some considerable time later that the aeroplane appeared overhead heading north. This caused me to wonder just how far south he went to effect the turn. I imagine he was heavy but the temp can't have been above 25C at the time. Made my day just the same.

And yes this colonial does know what an Argosy is. We had three "Whistling Wheelbarrows" on the Australian register and all were scrapped with seemingly indecent haste with apparently no consultation with the local preservation movement. Considering how comparitively recent this was we didn't exactly cover ourselves with glory where the Argosy is concerned.

Cheers

It's certainly worth a diversion down Lomandra Drive to get a close up look at 'Hector'.

Does anyone know if it flies out on regular days/times. I would love to see and hear the take off. Alternately, how can I contact someone who may be able to advise the flight times. I've tried searching the phone book/internet for the operating company but no luck so far.

Thanks, Spec.

Spec

Try contacting the F/E; he may answer to [email protected];
he is the chief F/E on the Queen

HA

Has BF not retired yet?

Engineer, Hi
No, Barry is still flying on the Belfast. He is at home tomorrow before going back to Brisbane if you wish to call him.

Thanks JR will send him an email hope u and MJ r enjoying life

Guys, Hello,
Sorry but I missed out an 'r' !!! It is: [email protected]
if you wish to contact him. Engineer, who are you that you know my fanily?

Engineer, Hi
:O : Did you manage to contact Barry in Brisbane? I haven't heard for some time how ex-GHLFT is going out there, any info?
Also I'm still intrigued as to who you are!

Hey Admiral - were we on that same flight out of Saigon? Complete with giant live crabs in baskets?!!

Operating out of Tengah I think, not Seletar?

Hirsute, Hello
Yes, if that was the 250,000lbs TOW one!!! Good job RM let me get on with the take-off, about 10kts after V2 as I recollect before she would unstick! We insisted on stress pads to weigh the freight after that one!
For those who knew the Belfast that was a 10 wet take-off at 30degs C, we were lucky to make it and I never wished to repeat the experience!:oh:

Belfast returns to Prestwick
 

9LLDQ is currently sitting outside the Polar hangar at EGPK once more.

And contrary to my previous on other Belfast thhread it hasn't been impounded!!

Teach me to listen to rumours:uhoh:

VEEPS

Does anybody know roughly how long the queen of the skies will be staying at PIK?

(Hi VEEPS, how's life at the coalface? You had anymore of your lot impounded?)

Best Regards

The rumour I've heard is that the CAA has grounded all 9L aircraft in the UK.

...after Sierra Leone suspended/cancelled a lot of 9L registrations, so i'm told.

P.O.C.

Long time no here!!

Only the 2 in Goose and Brussels so far......

Short list for a job with the UN, getting the hell out of Dodge:}

Heard rumour mow ops decimated commercial to have NO cuts



VEEPS:mad:

Belfast
 

Somewhat lax I know but I've only just cottoned on to this Belfast thread - and very interesting it is too. I can guess the identities of some of the contributors even.
I flew the Belfast for 7 years as a flt engineer in the AirForce and then managed to give it a glancing blow when working with Heavylift. The item mentioning tyre bursts brought back some memories of a particular landing in Altus (Oklahoma) Somehow we managed to burst ALL tyres on landing. This was a C5 base and fortunately the last C5 had landed otherwise we would have been bulldozed off the runway. Probglem was getting jacks under the bogie beams to lift it up.
Frantic calls for help brought a new set of wheels into the local civilian airport (name escapes me but I think it was someones name) and we eventually left after a 3-4 day delay. Many stories like that but not for now.
How's the CRM going Mike?
And good evening to you Admiral

:D MJ, HI
I've heard that she is staying in PIK until it's time to take the NZ Ams Cup boat back to NZ. Makes sense as PIK is the designated maintanence base for her and it must have saved $'s and $'s bringing her as far as Valencia on charter.

Have had e-talks with many others on the subject of the Queen, JM who was a QFI (?) on HMFC's Belfasts remembers checking out Bob Reynolds as the original Chief Pilot of HLA................what a cowboy Bob was!
On my first training flight, straight of Buccs, he asked me if I thought I could barrell-roll her.......Paddy T was the FE and I remember his face when I said I would try it.
Don't forget that I had never flown anything bigger than a Buccaneer....and had little or no idea of civvy rules and regs. No comments on that, please!
We got to over 90 degs when I started to run out of aileron and dished her out before the nose got too low....Paddy was rather pale but Bob just sat there totally unfazed.
I could spend hours on the subject of Bob R and the Belfast in HLA's early days, all on GBEPE, the original pre-production model, she weighed 2 or 3 tons more than the others.
I think David D is in on the chats, hope all goes well, David.

hi guys
is ian nic still with you guys ?
thanks
stan ex HLA

...ooh, dunno.....let's see......might have stopped one of HM's previous AAR assets running off a runway somewhere in Canada......allegedly....:D

:O Anyone know when the Belfast leaves PIK? And how she is?

Just in case anyone is thinking of coming to see the old girl, she left a week or so ago back to Valencia.

Anyone know where to from Valencia ? Haven't seen her back in Brisbane yet.

Saw the old girl in BAH on Monday. Dunno if she's still there.

Gotta say she was looking pretty good:ok:

I noted a report that states she arrived in Cairns this morning 0742 local. The report also suggests that Cairns is now her home base due lower costs and also as it is closer to her main destinations.

In BAH standing on apron nexts to an IL76 and opposite a Volga Depnr AN124 looked like the old days at Stansted Airport :)

Hi,

Is Brian still on the Belfast ?

Regards

Yorky