aviation

lew on high-temperature trials at Torrejón,

Spain, in October and in Nairobi, Kenya, in

December 1965. The third and fourth aircraft,

XR364 and XR365, also joined the test

programme in 1964. XR364 was employed

on automatic landing trials and XR365

went to the A&AEE at Boscombe Down for

acceptance testing by the RAF.

During light-testing, three major

problems were identiied. The irst was

excess airframe drag which reduced

payload-range performance by 11%. This

drag was caused by the shape of the rear

fuselage, ramp and rear-loading doors and

was exacerbated by strakes itted under

the loading ramp – installed to damp out

the Belfast’s yaw characteristics. The

Belfast failed to exhibit a clear nose-down

pitch at the stall, so vortex generators

were itted to the outer wings to maintain

aileron effectiveness and a stick-shaker

was installed to alert pilots to the proximity

of the stall. The third problem was that

the aircraft’s engine-out performance was

unsatisfactory at heavy weights. The type’s

low speed and range problems resulted in

wags nicknaming the Belfast the ‘Belslow’.

In late 1966, while en route to Singapore for

tropical trials, the crew of XR366 signalled

Boscombe Down after leaving Gan in the

Maldives: “Steaming slowly eastwards. No

scurvy on board yet.”

As a result of this operating shortfall,

which – to quote the MoD – was of “a

fairly extensive nature”, modiications were

introduced for retroit to all the aircraft.

These involved alterations to the wing/

fuselage fairing and the underside of

the rear fuselage, removing the original

strakes on the ramp and replacing them

with newly-designed strakes under the

tail. Following these changes, the only

shortfall in speciications was a small

reduction in cruising speed. These modiied

aircraft ceased to be ‘Belslows’ and were

nicknamed ‘Fastbacks’.

RAF SERVICE

On January 10, 1966 Transport Command’s

53 Sqn, based at RAF Brize Norton,

Oxfordshire, received its irst Belfast, XR367,

the sixth aircraft off the production line.

XR368 was delivered on March 29, followed

by XR369 and XR370 later that year. During

1966, the unit engaged in crew training and

route-proving, which included lights to Aden

in Yemen, Guyana and Cyprus.

The last Belfast built, XR371, was

delivered on July 3, 1967. It was followed by

XR362 on March 8, 1968 and by XR366,

XR363 and XR365 at three-monthly

intervals. XR364 was used by the RAF for

Autoland and other trials and was then

returned to Shorts to bring it up to delivery

standard. The squadron inally received it on

November 5, 1971 – more than seven years

after its irst light. The other nine Belfasts

were returned to Belfast for modiication to

bring them up to full production standard

between 1968 and 1971. At last, 53 Sqn

had its complete leet of Belfasts and on

December 23, 1971 all ten took to the air

and lew in a loose formation – so the whole

production run was together in the air for a

one and only occasion.

The Belfasts showed their mettle when

in 1967 they airlifted 230 Sqn back to the

UK from Borneo, transporting all 11 of its

44 Aviation News incorporating Jets November 2018

The irst Belfast, XR362, carried out overseas

trials work under the civil registration of G-ASKE.

The irst example, XR362, which took to the

air on its maiden sortie on January 5, 1964.

The type’s low speed and range problems resulted in wags nicknaming the

Belfast the ‘Belslow’. In late 1966, while en route to Singapore for tropical

trials, the crew of XR366 signalled Boscombe Down after leaving Gan in

the Maldives: “Steaming slowly eastwards. No scurvy on board yet.”