Only a couple? It worked fine...........

Off topic, but a couple of RAF guys I knew managed to wangle a trip with the Services to Mexico to see the Aztec ruins, the plan was to fly them VC10 to Belize then on to Mexico by other means, the planned aircraft was cancelled so they were offered an alternate, the RAF would fly them on the Dulles to Washington the weeks before and then provide them with Greyhound coach tickets and hotels etc to "tour" the USA on the way to Mexico, they said it was better than seeing the ruins. :)

Although I worked on Brits, for some reason, which escapes me, I was given the task of carrying out a turn round service on a Belfast. On the flight deck I recall there was a set of tapes which one inserted into a slot. A female voice then talked one through the various checks. Was that unique to the Belfast or was it a feature on other 'modern' aircraft?
I also knew a Flt Eng. who still flew in them when he was 60 odd. He loved them!

The end is nigh for "Hector"....
Short Belfast status - Cairns Airport - Updated to Feb 2017 :uhoh: :{ :(

I hope it doesn't happen but I suspect it will.

I shall be in mourning for the rest of the year.

Silly Old Hector was the most eccentric of our 10 Belfasts. It used to said that if she did not have a wet nose, then we should not go flying.

I have a wonderful oil painting of Hector hanging in pride of place in my lounge.

RIP Old Friend.

There has been a certain inevitability about this. Farewell, indeed - and we have to be thankful that XR 371 is comfortably under cover at Cosford.

I remember a Belslow visiting RAF Guetersloh in circa '74. a visiting American said to a mover 'Gee but that's a big plane!' the mover replied (yes a mover) ' You should have seen the thing that brought it in'. Who says movers are humourless?

Would it be fair to compare it to a Hercules - or is the Belfast really a strategic vs. a tactical lifter ?

Yes, better compared to how the RAF employ the C17

One of my friends (who had flown both) used to say that the Belfast was like their C-133 only our one worked.

Yes, with 10 lost (one in a ground fire) out of 50 built gets into some fighter loss percentages. If you ever get a chance to go to the museum in Dover, Delaware, USA, the C-133 is often open, or the docents are happy to open her up. Great museum especially if you love trash haulers. The cockpit is truly like sitting on a sofa in a greenhouse. The docents are instructed not to bring up the losses unless a guest brings it up. If you do bring it up they are happy to talk about it and you can clearly see the doubler plates and strapping bands that were put in place in the forward fuselage by the cargo door and overhead. Fascinating to see from an engineering side. Many surmise some of the early unexplained losses may have been due to crack propagation, but as the losses were over water this evidence was lacking. One of the final crashes showed the cracking.


The crews also commented that the flight engineer would keep his hand close to the large fuel dump lever by his right hand as an engine loss on takeoff was considered catastrophic.


Otherwise when she wasn't crashing the crews seemed to like her....

JW411 - was Hector the airframe that had the grey rexine communications system fitted?

Looking at one of the shots in that thread, have I hit this right? Were the rows of seats fitted rearward facing on the ramp, which were then occupied before the ramp was then raised?

All of the Belfast aircraft I travelled in had the seats on the ramp facing rearwards. I have no recollection whatsoever of the ramp being down when boarding, it was always raised.

One of our RAF team had an absolute phobia of flying???, and his fingers sometimes had to be prised off the arm rests after landing.

He managed to secretly consume large quantities of sedative tablets before and during flight and he was invariably semi-comatose for much of the time.

On a trip from the UK to Belize around 1972 via Keflavik, Gander, Nassau and Belize he was a shivering wreck. Never stopped him going though.

Would never happen today :ok:

So, did they dice it?

Al R yes if the stub deck was not fitted it was normal to fit seats on the ramp to comply with the requirement for pax to sit behind freight. There were special 'cheese plate' adapters that were fitted to keep the seats level. Not the most comfortable way to travel as there were no windows and the ramp could shimmy about during landings which was a bit uncomfortable particularly without any visual reference.

Perhaps they could start a museum with it? Seems a shame to just scrap it; especially as someone was looking after it!

.. thanks for the replies. I wondered about the angle and the inner ear havoc at play.

What a shame if it goes.

It will be, it looks like someone is looking after her

No Cookies | The Cairns Post

But that link dates from September last year, so we can presumably take it that the Court case has run its course and, if the Aviation Forum posting is correct, that breaking up will now have started?