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Rare colour
photo of G-ALRX in air, as seen from the other prototype. Filton's
hangars can be seen in the background on the right. (Peter Rushby Collection via www.aviationarchive.org.uk) |
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The first two prototypes
in flight (Bristol via www.aviationarchive.org.uk) |
Landing on Mud
On the morning of 4th February 1954, G-ALRX took of from Filton on a test flight, with Captain A.J. 'Bill' Pegg at the controls. Flight Engineers for the trip were Ken Fitzgerald and Gareth Jones. On board were Dr. Archibald E. Russell, Chief Designer of Bristol Aircraft Division; Dr. Stanley G Hooker, Chief Engineer of the Bristol Engine Division; and Mr Farnes, the Bristol Sales Manager. This was not just a test flight; also present were two representatives of the Dutch airline KLM, a potential Britannia customer. G. Malouin of KLM was co-pilot for the flight. Thirteen people were on board all together. The take-off was uneventful, but seven minutes into the flight the engine temperature on engine no. 3 rose, so it was shut down. Once it had cooled sufficiently, it was restarted, and the flight continued its journey northwards to Herefordshire.
The engine temperature rose again when climbing through 10,000 feet, then suddenly the engine exploded. Shrapnel missed the fuselage, but pierced the engine oil tank, which burst into flames. The fire was so intense it could not be extinguished. While Bill Pegg turned the aircraft south for an emergency landing at back at Filton, engine No.4 was shut down, as a precaution. To add to the drama, engines no. 1 and 2 shut themselves down, turning the Britannia into a large glider. It was only the speedy work of the two engineers, Fitzgerald and Jones, that got the two port engines relit, and disaster was averted.
With flames engulfing the starboard wing, threatening to penetrate the fuel tanks, and Filton still several miles away, Pegg elected to put down on the Severn Mudflats, the silt and mud of the Severn Estuary exposed when the tide is out. With the flaps and wheels up, and only the two port engines running, the Britannia was expertly belly landed on the flats near Littleton-on-Severn, not far from the eastern end of the first Severn bridge, which was built the following decade. The aircraft slid for 400 yards, sending plumes of mud in the air. It ended up facing out from the shore, with one engine ripped from the nacelle, but with little damage elsewhere. Miraculously, the mud managed to put out the flames, which could have ripped through the fuel tanks at any moment. Relieved and shaken the crew and passengers jumped from the aircraft.
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G-ALRX from the air.
Note the tracks where the Britannia slid along the mud, before veering
to the right into the Estuary. There are five tracks - one for the fuselage,
and one for each engine. (Bristol via www.aviationarchive.org.uk) |
Locals and workers from the nearby brickworks ran to the scene to help. Fire tenders arrived, but were not needed. Although only 150 yards from the shore, the aircraft could not be pulled from the mud before the tide came in. A mesh pathway was laid over the mud, and frantic efforts began to retrieve any equipment that could be saved. It was 48 hours before an attempt could be made to pull her shore, but the sea had taken its toll, and the aircraft was a write off. Not only had the salty water covered the fuselage, damaging the airframe and any equipment remaining on board, but efforts to pull the aircraft to the shore had put extreme stress on the fuselage. From her first flight 43 days earlier, she had achieved only 51 hours and 10 minutes in the air, in 24 flights.
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The Britannia - minus wings and pulled into shore (Bristol via www.aviationarchive.org.uk) |
With the loss of the aircraft from the flight test programme, development of the Britannia was delayed. This was exacerbated by the grounding of the first prototype three months later, following a near-disasterous failure of a flap during flight. The Bristol Britannia went on to be one of Britain's most successful airliners, with two production lines (at Filton and Belfast), and licences for Canadair to built two derivatives, the CL-28 Argus and CL-44 Yukon in Canada. KLM did not place an order for the aircraft.
The Cause
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The Proteus 705 turboprop
- used in prototype G-ALRX (Rolls Royce via www.aviationarchive.org.uk) |
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Examination of engine
number 3 started shortly after the crash landing (Bristol via www.aviationarchive.org.uk) |
New Career
With no hope of repair, G-ALRX was returned to Filton in sections, and started a new career as a training airframe. Much of the main fuselage, the landing gear, flaps and other parts were sectioned for instructional use, and the aft fuselage was used for torsion and fatigue tests. The refurbished forward fuselage became a flight deck trainer, and was used by the Bristol Aeroplane Company's Air Service School to train customer airline crews. This included Royal Air Force crews, who completed the manufacturers course as the first part of their training on the Brit. Between its inception in 1956 and Spring 1971, it had been used to give some 6,000 aircrew (4,500 civil and 1,500 RAF) their introduction to the aircraft.
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A Bristol publicity shot of the Aircraft Demonstration Hall at Filton. The cockpit of the Britannia fuselage was hooked up to several items around the hall (Bristol) |
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The cockpit of 'RX (Andrew Appleton) |
Preservation
Given its historic significance, the nose section of G-ALRX was donated to the Britannia Aircraft Preservation Trust, and was moved initially to the Bristol Aero Collections temporary home at Banwell, near Weston-super-Mare, in December 1995. When a more permanent home was found for the Collection at Kemble the following year, the Britannia was moved along with other important Bristol artefacts.
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'RX at Kemble in 1997 (Andrew Appleton) |
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'RX in its original colours at Kemble in 2008 (Andrew Appleton) |
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'RX in 2014, back in the Brabazon hangar at Filton, where it was built over 60 years before (Andrew Appleton) |
If
reproducing this article, please credit Britannia Aircraft Preservation
Trust/Andrew Appleton.
Credits
- Andrew Appleton, 'Bristol Britannia', by Charles Woodley; 'Bristol Aircraft Since 1910',
by C.H.Barnes; 'Bristol Aircraft', by Robert Wall; www.aviationarchive.co.uk;
Roger Hargreaves