The Short Belfast (or Shorts Belfast) is a retired heavy lift turboprop freighter that was built by British manufacturer Short Brothers at Belfast. Only 10 aircraft were constructed, all of which entered service with the Royal Air Force (RAF), who operated it under the designation Short Belfast C.1.

Upon its entry into service, the Belfast was the largest aircraft that the British military had ever operated up to that time. Following the formation of RAF Strike Command and a reorganisation of transport assets, the RAF decided to retire all of its Belfast transports by the end of 1976.

Shortly after the type had been retired by the RAF, five Belfasts were sold and entered civilian service with the cargo airline TAC HeavyLift. It was decided to continue these studies as part of the firm's management believed that it was highly likely that there would likely be an Operational Requirement issued for the Royal Air Force (RAF) seeking such an aircraft in the near future, although Sir Matthew Slattery, chairman of Shorts, expressed his doubt of the practicality of such an aircraft. Slattery believed that developing such an aircraft from scratch would lack sufficient market prospects and instead encouraged the use of as many components and systems from the existing Bristol Britannia transport aircraft as would be reasonably possible, a measure that was seen as logical and practical, acting to reduce development time and cost while improving reliability, with the downside of lesser performance. The first autolanding was performed after only 120 hours' test flying, less than originally estimated. According to Shorts Brothers Chairman, C. E Wrangham, the Belfast had a forecast break-even point of 30 aircraft.

Proposed derivatives

Multiple derivatives of the Belfast were proposed by Short. Two principal civil versions of the aircraft, designated as SC5/10A and SC5/31, were mooted during the early 1960s. For this variant, the fuselage of the Belfast would have been paired with the wing of the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, which would have readily enabled the adoption of turbojet engines in place of the turboprops. Speculated engines to power this variant included the Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3 (18,000 1b thrust) or JT3D-8 (21,000 1b), Rolls-Royce Conway 550 (21,825 1b) or Bristol Siddeley BS.100 (27,000 1b approximately). A broadly similar but improved proposal, designated as SC.5/45, was heavily promoted by Shorts for Operational Requirement ASR.364, partly on the basis that it would also enable a near-identical civil-orientated model to be produced for home and export use, designated as SC.5/41. Detailed presentations on the SC.5/41 and SC.5/45 proposals were made to British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and RAF respectively, but no military order was forthcoming.

Design

thumb|Belfast C.1 XR371 Enceladus preserved at [[Royal Air Force Museum Midlands]]

thumb|The spacious cockpit of the Short Belfast

The Short Belfast was a large heavy-lift strategic transport aircraft. It featured a high-mounted wing, which carried four Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprop engines. According to aerospace publication Flight International, the design of the assemblies of the surfaces of both the tail and wing of the Belfast had been derived from the Bristol Britannia.

The fuselage of the Belfast was a relatively conservatively stressed cylinder of a conventional design. It was developed with a target safe-life of 15,000 pressure cycles, which was fatigued tested using a complete fuselage immersed in a water tank. Fail-safe principles were used in the design of the large side door, rear ramp and door. Unusually for service aircraft, all the Belfasts were given names

Following the type's entry into RAF service, it became apparent that a major drag problem was preventing the initial five aircraft from attaining Short's desired performance. Modifications and testing were subsequently carried out, particularly on aircraft SH1818 (which was at the time perfecting the RAF's requirement for CAT 3 automated landings at RAE Bedford), and a new rear fairing was developed, which had the result of raising the fleet's cruising speed by 40 mph.

thumb|The Belfast is quite a large aircraft, as can be seen in this photo when it is compared to the vehicles and personnel near it.

The reorganisation of the new RAF Strike Command was to have repercussions on the RAF's Belfast fleet and ushered in the retirement of a number of aircraft types, including the Bristol Britannia and de Havilland Comet in 1975. By the end of 1976, the Belfast fleet had been retired and flown to RAF Kemble, Gloucestershire for long-term storage.

Civilian operations

TAC HeavyLift purchased five Belfasts for commercial use in 1977 and operated three of them from 1980 after being reworked to receive commercial certification. Ironically, some of them were later chartered during the Falklands War, with some sources suggesting that this cost more than keeping all the aircraft in RAF service until the 1990s. HeavyLift's Belfasts were again contracted to support the RAF during the first Gulf War, transporting vehicles and helicopters too large to be carried by the Hercules fleet.

After being retired from TAC HeavyLift service, several were parked at Southend Airport for a number of years.

One aircraft was refurbished and flown to Australia in 2003, operated by HeavyLift Cargo Airlines. This aircraft is no longer flying; it was often visible parked on the General Aviation side of Cairns International Airport in Queensland, in company with one or two of the company's Boeing 727s. Now registered RP-C8020, it was moved to the general aviation (western) side of the Cairns airport on 19 August 2011, after spending the best part of a year sitting on the Cairns International apron where it had been moved prior to the scrapping of the remaining company Boeing 727 (RP-C8016) at the end of September 2010. The HeavyLift titles were painted over on 28 August 2011, but the registration RP-C8020 was still visible. The aircraft was photographed intact, but with no registration visible, at Cairns Airport on 7 August 2017. Following registration with the FAA as N1819S, the Cairns Belfast is apparently undergoing restoration to flight and return to service.

A second Belfast, G-BEPS (SH1822), was to have joined her in Australia following refurbishment at Southend Airport, but was instead scrapped in October 2008. The last production Belfast (Enceladus, XR371) is preserved at the RAF Museum Midlands. This aircraft was repainted before being displayed under cover at the National Cold War Exhibition.

Operators

Military operators

;

  • Royal Air Force
  • No. 53 Squadron RAF

Civil operators

;

  • HeavyLift Cargo Airlines

;

  • TAC HeavyLift
  • Transmeridian Air Cargo

Specifications (Belfast C Mk.1)

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • Hales-Dutton, Bruce. "Database: Short Belfast". Aeroplane, Vol. 44, No. 12, December 2016. pp. 79–93. .
  • Hewson, Robert, ed. Commercial Aircraft and Airliners. London: Aerospace Publishing Ltd. and Airlife Publishing Ltd., 2nd ed, 2001. .
  • Mondey, David. Encyclopedia of the World's Commercial and Private Aircraft. New York: Crescent Books, 1981. .
  • Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1969–70. London: Sampson Low Marston & Company, 1969. .
  • White, Molly O'Loughlin. Belfast : The Story of Short's Big Lifter. Hinckley, UK: Midland Counties Publications, 1984. .
  • Wood, Derek. Project Cancelled. Macdonald and Jane's Publishers, 1975. .
  • Short Belfast – British Aircraft Directory
  • Short Belfast capabilities
  • Short Belfast specs and history at airliners.net
  • Short Belfast XR371 "Encedalus" at RAF Museum
  • Short Belfast XR371 "Encedalus" photo gallery at airliners.net
  • Short Belfast XR371 "Encedalus" photo gallery at Air-Britain Photos