Shorts Belfast

[Kiltonge]

From AvWeek Nov 1961, mixed decking of passengers and freight in swing-nose SC.5/31. Seating is actually six-abreast, not 'three' as stated in first attachment.

Does show the inefficiency of trying to use a circular cross-section for mixed-mode.

 

[riggerrob]

Somewhat off topic, but the picture of the early Britannic raises question I've though of before?

What were the advantages of the tailboom design, it seems to add a lot of weight for no gain?

Regards

Post number 7 shows an early proposal with twin tail booms. Twin tails were a stage in the process of learning how to streamline tail ramps on military cargo planes. The trend started with the WW2 Gotha 242 cargo glider that was up-graded to the Gotha 244 powered cargo plane. The Gotha was soon copied by Fairchild with the C-82 and C-119 Flying Boxcars. A French/German consortium built the similar Nordatlas. British-built Argosy which was followed by the Israeli Arava light cargo plane (20 passengers).
A common theme with all these twin-boom cargo planes was the need to leave the tail cone at home base if you wanted to drop heavy cargo (artillery, bulldozers, etc.). Leaving the tail cone on the ground increased drag and limited cargo drop missions to short ranges.
In comparison, streamline a tail ramp that can be opened inflight is a far more complex process. The simplest of tail ramp cargo planes: Shorts Skyvan has only a single-piece cargo ramp that can be opened to n flight by a single man. Skyvan ramps are hinged at the rear.
Compare this with the two piece ramp on a C-130 Hercules. The ramp is split in the middle with the forward portion hinging downwards to become a ramp that you can drive trucks up, while the aft half is only an aerodynamic fairing that hinges up into the rear fuselage.
Cargo ramps are even more difficult to streamline on the faster jet cargo planes with IL-76 having two internal ramps similar to C-130 PLUS two external fairings that have to hinge sideways before you can access the true load-carrying ramp.

 

[Arjen]

About cargo ramps and twin booms: the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy C Mk.1

 

[Kiltonge]

From Flight 19 Sep 1963, projected payload-range for the /13, /35 and /40 versus the production /10.

Rough interpretation:

Variant	Max payload lb	Range nm
/10	80,000	750
/13	75,000	1,900
/35	90,000	2,800
/40	77,000	2,000

 

[Kiltonge]

It was suggested at the time of the Blue Streak cancellation that the Short Britannic was to be used as a launch platform for Sky Bolt has any one details please?

Took a long time to answer, but Shorts proposed a /30 variant with eight Skybolts on wing pylons plus their "launch control equipment". Alternatively, loading fewer missiles would enable 24-hour missions ( Flight, Sep 1963 ).

 

[Barrington Bond]

From Air Pictorial STOL Belfast SC.5/21

 

[TsrJoe]