BRITANNIA AIRCRAFT PRESERVATION TRUST

Early Development of the Britannia

Brabazon III and MRE

In 1943, the UK government set up a committee to examine the need for commercial airliners in the post war years. Chaired by Lord Brabazon of Tara, the committee outlined the requirements for seven distinct aircraft following an allied victory. The first, known as the Brabazon Type I, was a large nonstop transatlantic aircraft, which evolved into the Bristol Type 167 Brabazon. The medium-range Brabazon Type II comprised two types - Type IIa became the Ambassador, and Type IIb became the Vickers Viscount. A transatlantic airliner smaller than the Brabazon I was Type III. Type IV became the de Havilland Comet, Va the Miles Marathon, and Vb the de Havilland Dove.

With peace in 1945, BOAC formulated their requirements for a 'Medium Range Empire' (MRE) airliner - the Brabazon Type III, and five companies entered the bidding in 1946. The closest to BOAC's requirements was the entry from the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the Bristol Type 175 Britannia. Negotiations with BOAC were slow, as they were not looking to replace their Constellation fleet until 1954, and the Ministry of Supply stepped in 1948 for an order for three prototypes to prevent the project from stagnating. BOAC finally placed an order for 25 aircraft in mid-1949.

Centaurus v. Proteus

The initial proposal was for a 36 seat airliner powered by four 2,980hp Bristol Centaurus engines. The Centaurus was an established power plant, already in use on the Airspeed Ambassador, Blackburn Beverly and Hawker Sea Fury. The Proteus was still in its infancy and Bristol could not guarantee its performance on the Britannia. During the late 1940's Bristols engine department made exceptional progress on Proteus development, such that the BOAC order was amended to include it on all 25 aircraft.

Flight Tests

The first Britannia prototype, Model 100 G-ALBO, lifted off from Filtons runway on 16th August 1952, with Chief Test Pilot Bill Pegg at the controls. From the very first flight the project was beset by problems. The initial test flight was hair-raising, as one of the undercarriage bogies refused to lock down, and smoke was emerging from the floor. The aircraft landed safely, but it was in indication of what was to come.

Landing on the Severn

The second prototype, G-ALRX, first flew on 23rd December 1953, and entered the flight program. Just over one month later on 4th February 1954, it took off from Filton with representatives from prospective customer KLM, as well as Bristol executives. During the flight the no. 3 engine exploded, which started a fire, so Pilot Bill Pegg elected to return to Filton immediately. The flames were so big that the no. 4 engine had to be shut down too. Engines 1 and 2 also shutdown and had to be relit. Pegg noticed that the tide was out on the Severn estuary, revealing the mud flats, and decided that that was the safest place to land. With the gear and flaps up, it landed on the flats and slid for 400 yards before coming to rest. No-one was seriously injured, but when the tide came in, the sea water damaged the aircraft beyond repair.

The Downend Accident

Three years later, on 6th November 1957, a second and more disastrous loss occurred. G-ANCA was the prototype Type 301 Britannia, and was retained by Bristol for further development. After a routine test flight, the aircraft suddenly dived into woods at Downend, Bristol, while on approach to Filton, with the loss of 15 crew and technicians on board. The cause was never fully established, but was suspected to be faulty wiring which affect the autopilot. Modifications were made to all other Britannias.