Mach 2 1/72 Bristol Britannia by Paul Crawley

T

he Bristol Britannia was

considered one of the

landmark airliners from

the United Kingdom, and though

only 85 were built it saw service

with no less than 42 airlines,

as well as being operated by the

Royal Air Force. Nicknamed

the “Whispering Giant”, the

Britannia helped bring about

the package holiday revolution

in the 1960s and 1970s when

operated by charter airlines

like Monarch and Britannia

Airways (which was actually

named after its first airliner!)

As a lover of vintage airliners,

especially props, I have always

liked the look of the Bristol

Britannia, but up until now the

only kits available of this classic

beauty were in 1/96, 1/125, 1/144,

and 1/166 scale, as well as a very

old 1/72 scale Airways vacform

kit (which was one of the first to

include white metal propellers

and injected landing gear). Since

I prefer 1/72 scale, I jumped at the

chance to build and review the

first totally injected moulded kit in

this scale, from Mach 2 of France,

which premiered at Telford in 2017.

GIANT

THE WHISPERING

74 • SEPTEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

BY SACCO DE VRIES

BRISTOL BRITANNIA

BY PAUL CRAWLEY

1/72

074-77-CIVIL-Bristol-0918.indd 74 16/08/2018 17:19