Bristol Britannia G-ANCF 'New Frontier'

[viscount]

It is my intention, sometime in the next few weeks, to re-enter the history of this aircraft onto this new site. Added later on 'modify'. Took a year, but the full history can now be found further down on this thread.

In mid March 2009 scaffolding has been erected over the centre section of the fuselage with associated H+S required decking, ladders and railings. This is to enable College engineering students to rivet the second bracing strap around the fuselage cut. The first one took over a year of local labour and this second strap has been the big hold-up for the last year. Once the strap is finished, then further progress becomes possible such as putting the fin and tailplane back on and lifting the whole aircraft back onto her undercarriage.

[viscount]

There is more about the current work on G-ANCF, including photos on

www.britisheagle.net

On the home page follow the link to 'G-ANCF - Restoration'. The site appears to have not been updated since 2008, but there are plenty of images of the work in progress up to that point.

[calflier]

Here are some shots of the current status of "Charlie Fox", it now has British Eagle titles, well nearly when the L gets put back on, nice to see work still progressing. For the members of the Forum who cannot get down to see it.

Admin has left these watermarked images in place as they are worth looking at despite being partially obscured.

[Beemer]

Talking to one of the men involved in the restoration of G-ANCF he was telling us of some of the problems encountered. The fuselage will have to be stripped of it's new paintwork as it is the wrong paint as it absorbs water and was beginning to flake off. The lower part of the bare aluminium fuselage is being buffed to a high gloss and then will be laquered to protect it and the missing "L" blew off after having applied it for the aviation fair. Regards Beemer.

[Deleted]

Oct 14, 2009 23:01:54 GMT 1 maverick said:

What is the current state of play with the Britannia?

The Jetstream Group seem to have broken all ties with it - has it been given /sold to another group.

From distant observations I think things are still moving on. The nose wheel has been fitted but its not standing on it and the 'L' of British Eagle has been put in place. Their probably working on the interior aswell. Also the Prince has taken up a lot of their time. So could be a case off too many projects at once holding it up.

[viscount]

The Britannia has never been owned by the Jetstream Club. G-ANCF is controlled by the 'Britannia Aircraft Preservation Trust', the leading light in the restoration of 'CF being Roger Hargreaves who was the original 'rescuer' of CF at Manston in 1980.

Part of the problem, as I understand it, has been recognition for the work put in by Jetstream Club members in the early days of restoration, while the project manger not being locally based has been a further contributing factor. I am not, nor really wish to be, fully informed of the details, however I do know that the former British Eagle employees involved in the restoration would love to see a 'civil' relationship restored between the groups. The split has been unfortunate, but the project to restore 'CF continues slowly.

The nose wheel has not been put back into place - it has always been there, retracted in the nose bay! Recently the nose wheel doors were opened up and the fact the nose wheel would still cycle down checked.

The paintwork applied to the nose not soon after work started, will shortly have to be removed as it was the wrong type of paint, allowing moisture through to the metal (and so encourages corrosion rather than preventing it). The bare skin underside is being tested to see wether polishing or chemical coating (the technical term for paint) will prove the best external treatment.

[echofoxtrot]

Thank you Viscount for your comments relating to Jet Stream and Britannia Trust. It is not our intention to go into the details of why the two groups separated. That I believe is our (both groups) affair only. But you do mention recognition of the work put in by the JSC. Recognition was and has been made by the trustees of the Britannia Trust. A Britannia trustee, who is also a member of the Jet Stream Club, stated at the last Jet Stream AGM the Trusts thanks for all the assistance the JSC had put in. Also, as you have said, we for our part hope very much for a neighbourly relationship. We have already wished the JSC success with the Prince restoration. I personally am delighted to see it being restored, as it was an aircraft that I used to service when it was at the Eagle base at Heathrow for most of the sixties.

To answer other comments on this page of the forum, the Britannia still belongs to the Britannia Trust. The nose leg has been left partly down intentionally. After many years with it retracted and many WD40 sprays over the past months the leg came to its present position with much ease.
Work still continues and various items are with outside groups for repair, but like all major restoration projects 'Rome was not built in a day'. Having been in locomotive restoration for years I do have some idea of the issues that restorations throw up.

If any readers would like to become involved with the restoration then do please contact me. Either through the Home of Eagle website www.britisheagle.net or on [e-mail]
If any would like a conducted tour of the project then do contact me, again on the above.

On another subject we are extremely grateful for copies of the test pilot’s logbook, donated to us (the Eagle archives) of the delivery flights of CF to the Argentina airline Transcontinental SA along with crew training records.

Eric Tarrant
BAPT Trustee and Eagle Group of Companies archivist.

[jetjockey]

Does any body remember if this aircraft flew from the old site whilst with Monarch any info would be appreciated

JJ

[vickersfour]

Found this photo of 'CF in Invicta colours, taken at MAN in October 1980.



Cheers

Shaun

[viscount]

G-ANCF: ALL TRACED VISITS TO LIVERPOOL AIRPORT

Your question reminds me that sometime ago I promised to re-enter the G-ANCF history I researched, which was lost when the xsorbit BB shut-down. But in the short term, to answer (and more) the question asked by Jetjockey.

In the period that British Eagle operated G-ANCF 'New Frontier' and possibly briefly as 'Resolution' it was used into Liverpool, but not that often. Being fitted with a freight door 'CF was used on the MoD Australia and Far East contracts much more than with a full passenger interior fit on domestics. Known British Eagle visits 3.64 to 11.68 include:

Tue 4th August 1964:     presumably on the Heathrow schedule
Fri 17th September 1964: presumably on the Leathrow schedule
Fri 30th April 1965:     presumably on the Heathrow schedule
Thu 29th July 1965:      London-Liverpool-Teesside-Liverpool-Heathrow with the Chief Pilot checking out new crews
Fri 27th May 1966:       presumably on the Heathrow schedule
Tue 21st February 1967:  diverted into Liverpool  as 'EG1651' en route Istanbul to Edinburgh/Turnhouse due to bad weather at Edinburgh, departed for Heathrow later.
Fri 17th March 1967:     used on Heathrow schedules, replaced the usual BAC-111
Sat 18th March 1967:     used on Heathrow schedules, replaced the usual BAC-111
Sun 19th March 1967:     used on Heathrow schedules, replaced the usual BAC-111
Thu 4th May 1967:        likely for routine maintenance check
During 1968:             No visits to Liverpool in 1968.

There were more visits than these though, as only the first visit of the year was faithfully recorded in the MSAE visitors log. However as post-British Eagle visits were are charters, I'm confident that all visits are known.

After the abrupt demise of British Eagle in November 1968, 'CF was one of the first of the fleet to become operational with new owners, Monarch - again mostly employed on the Australia run. Only two visits are recorded during this period.

Fri 9th October 1970:    from Brussels with Ford's freight, departed for Luton the next morning.
Sat 24th November 1973:  from Cologne with Ford's freight, positioned to Luton

Last Britannia with Monarch until, in February 1976 to 5Y-AZP with African Safari Airways, but from mid June sub-leased to Invicta.
Restored as G-ANCF with Invicta January 1977 until withdrawn from use at Manston, after the final arrival on 30th October 1980.

Thu 11th January 1976:   as Monarch 'IM309' positioned from Manston at 2236, collected Ford's freight, then still as flight 'IM309' departed to Cologne 12th/0035.  
Fri 12th January 1976:   Positioned from Manston, call-sign 'Monarch 'CF', landing 2050, again collected Ford's freight before departing to Cologne as 'IM311' at 2306 hours. 
Sat 10th February 1976:  positioned in from Manston as 'IM415' at 2038, then onward to Belfast with Sunday morning newspapers, augmenting the ABC Argosy 'AK720' flight.  
                         G-ANCF made its final departure from Liverpool as 'IM415' at 2257 hours.

Very doubtful that any photos of G-ANCF at Liverpool with Invicta exist given all three visits were in the hours of darkness.

So G-ANCF's association with Liverpool spanned some fifteen years - it was to be a further twenty-eight before returning to Liverpool.

To return to the original question, all visits made by 'CF were to the north airfield and 'art deco' terminal or freight on the western apron or main apron 'fingers'- the move to the south airfield apron and terminal was in 1986, well after 'CF had finished her flying career.

[viscount]

I've been meaning to enter the history of G-ANCF here ever since this site restarted in March 2009, now I've finally got around to it!



Photo credit: "Rapide" Magazine No.14 (2007) No photographer identified, but not Speke as the original caption suggests.

G-ANCF a Brisitol 175 Britannia 308F

The life story of the Britannia preserved by BAPT at Liverpool as researched by Brian Jones.

This article first apeared in FoLA's "09/27" magazine in their Spring '07 edition, with some new information incorporated here.

"New Frontier"

This Britannia was laid down as the sixth stretched series 300 to be constructed under sub-contract by Short Bros & Harland at Belfast, Sydenham. Built as a series 305 and given the Bristol Aircraft Ltd airframe constructor's number of 12922.

Initially constructed pended the imminent order from B.O.A.C., however when the order came it was for the developed series 312, which were built from new at Bristol, Filton. Airframe 12922 was then earmarked for Capital Airlines of the U.S.A. and when that deal fell though construction continued for Northeast Airlines again the U.S.A. with the registration N6597C and fleet number '797' allocated, however again the deal fell through. As the aircraft left the production line it had still not been allocated to a customer, so was registered G-ANCF to the Bristol Aircraft Co. For its early test flights it did not wear this registration, but Bristol Aircraft 'B-Conditions' test-plate serial G-18-4. First flight from Belfast Sydenham was on 19th November 1958. The aircraft shortly afterwards returned to the factory for the installation of long-range fuel tanks and emerged as a series 308. In October 1959 it was re-flown, now wearing a Short Bros sequence B-Conditions serial G-14-1 for further post-modification test flights.

After application of customer paint scheme and some pilot training flights it was delivered to Transcontinental SA on 16th December 1959 with the temporary delivery serial LV-PPJ soon being replaced by permanent sequence registration LV-GJB, the second of two aircraft for the airline. Transcontinental operated their pair of Britannias for around two years, until declaring insolvency during November 1961, and this aircraft was stored at Ezeira Airport, Buenos Aires.

Purchased by British Eagle, it was ferried from Buenos Aires to London Heathrow arriving 16th January 1964 still as LV-GJB. Restored onto the British Register 2nd March 1964 as G-ANCF, and placed into Hangar 4 at Heathrow for some 67.600 man-hours of work over a five month period. When it emerged in late June 1964 it had a new 3.11m x 1.93m freight door forward of the wing, strengthened floor, a completed 'Check 4' major overhaul, full British Eagle colour scheme, registration G-ANCF and fleet name "New Frontier". Now a Britannia 308F, with a quick-change, convertible passenger/freighter configuration. This made it relatively easy job to change between a 115 or 132 passenger seat layout, a full freight configuration when 16 tonnes could be carried on upto 8 standard pallets or a mixed passenger and freight combination.

First service for British Eagle was flown to Adelaide, departing Heathrow on 2nd July 1964. The Britannia replaced the smaller and slower Douglas Dc-6s on British Government Air Ministry flights in support of development of the Blue Steel nuclear missile and other projects at the Woomera Missile Range in Australia, carrying components and scientists, usually configured with around 50 seats in the rear and cargo upfront.

On 4th August 1964 'CF made its first visit to Liverpool Speke on the Heathrow to Liverpool scheduled passenger service. It is also known to have visited again on passenger flights 17th September 1964, 30th April 1965, 27th May 1966 and 17th, 18th & 19th March 1967 - with possibly other untraced visits. There were other visits too. On 29th July 1965 it routed Heathrow-Liverpool-Teesside-Liverpool-Heathrow as the Chief Pilot checked out new crews. While on 21st February 1967 it diverted into Liverpool while en route on a freight flight, EG1651, from Istanbul to Edinburgh/Turnhouse, diverting to Liverpool due to weather at Turnhouse, leaving later for Heathrow. Due to its regular use on the Australia run, 'CF was never the most frequent Britannia to appear at Liverpool. For the period 13.11.64 to 5.7.67 the registered CAA paperwork owner was British Eagle (Liverpool) Ltd., rather than British Eagle International Airlines Ltd at their London Headquarters.

All British Eagle Britannia aircraft featured a prominent 'fleet name', with an inspirational theme, on both sides of the nose - Endeavour, Team Spirit, Good Fortune, Sovereign, Friendship and Enterprise are just some. G-ANCF was named "New Frontier" throughout its service with British Eagle 1964-1968, however for short periods in early 1966 wore the name "Resolution" in sticky tape whenever it was used on the London to Glasgow service eg 3.3.66. The colour scheme remained the same throughout service with British Eagle, however a Union Jack was added ahead of the airline name above the broad window cheat line (likely around mid '66).

Charlie Fox's career with British Eagle came to an abrupt end when the airline ceased operations on 6th November 1968. The aircraft was parked-up at Heathrow along with much of the fleet. However, it was the first Britannia to find a new owner, purchased from the receivers on 1st December, and within a few days delivered to Luton for Monarch Airlines in order to continue flights on the MoD Australia contract. Monarch painted the aircraft in their quite distinctive "yellow custard" scheme. Monarch used this aircraft mostly in split cargo/passener or all cargo configuration, rarely as all passenger. With Monarch 'CF visited Liverpool just twice, both times on freight flights on behalf of Fords Motor Company. On 9th October 1970 it arrived from Brussels, positioning out to Luton the next day, while on 24th November 1973 arriving from Cologne and departing to Luton.

For a few weeks 'CF was leased out to IAS Cargo another Britannia freighter operator 31.12.73 to 23.1.74 to cover while one of their aircraft was on overhaul. Charlie Fox worked on with Monarch, becoming their final serving Britannia - lasting longer than G-AOVT that was donated to Duxford 6.75 for preservation! With an end to Monarch's interest in whole aircraft freight charter and conclusion of regular contracts, on 4th February 1976 she was leased out to African Cargo Airways and re-registered in Kenya as 5Y-AZP. After six months with African Cargo she was sub-leased to Kent based airline, Invicta International on 14th June 1976. Subsequently purchased by Invicta on 7th January 1977 and restored as G-ANCF with the C.A.A. three days later. Invicta used Carlie Fox into Liverpool several times on freight charter flights. Twice during January 1979 it positioned in from Manston and departed with freight on behalf of Fords Motor Company for Cologne. It's final visit on Saturday 10th February 1979 brought it from Manston, but this time to augment the regular Air Bridge Argosy newspaper flight AK720 to Belfast Aldergrove, departing at 2257 hours as IM415. So ended fifteen years of association with Liverpool Airport - it was to be a further twenty-eight years before it was to be seen here again.

The aircraft's final flight with Invicta was into Manston on 30th October 1980 in order to commence a major overhaul. With a total time as 37,074 flying hours in the log book, this was to prove to be her last flight. The overhaul was still in progress when Invicta ceased trading and declared bankruptcy, October 1981.

Charlie Fox was purchased from the administrators in October 1983 by Merchant Air of New Zealand as a spares source for their intended operation of G-AOVF. When this proposed operation fell through, 'VF was ferried to RAF Cosford and preservation mid '84. With no airlines interested in a partially overhauled aircraft, Charlie Fox was placed in outside storage at Manston and looked certain to finish her days in the fire training school compound there.

In mid 1985 Roger Hargreaves of Proteus Aero Services rescued the aircraft for preservation. It could not remain at Manston, so it was dismantled during 1987 by a team led by engineer Mick Bates and moved to the Brooklands Museum at Weybridge during April 1988, now in the care of the Britannia Aircraft Preservation Society (BAPT). Later the centre section and wings were moved to Quedgley, Glos., while the forward and rear fuselage sections were stored at Banwell, near Weston-super-Mare with the Bristol Aero Collection, pending permanent display at Filton. The aircraft was moved to Kemble during the mid '90s and initially stored under cover. In December 2005 the loan agreement between BAPT and Filton Aviation Heritage Centre terminated, and the fuselage sections were moved into external storage at Kemble while a new long-term future was sought.

In November 2006 agreement was made with the Jetstream Club and the Mariott Hotel to bring the aircraft back to its "spiritual home" at Liverpool. Parts were moved to Liverpool by the BAPT during February 2007, with the major fuselage and wing sections arriving by road on March 7th. The aircraft sections were arranged on the ground to show how she will appear once re-assembled. Initial work concentrated on cleaing and re-attaching the outer wings. In late May 2007 the front fuselage and wing/section were mated and by the end of June the front section repainted in British Eagle colours. Work commenced to clean, fit and join components such as the wing leading edges and inner engine aft nacelles and strip off the remaining Invicta and Monarch paintwork from the fuselage. The rear fuselage was lifted and its position shifted to permit re-attahcment to the centre fuselage/wings/nose late in 2008. During March and April 2009 scaffolding enabled safe access for riveting the rear fuselage attachment strap into place. In 2009 work by the BAPT continued slowly, including checking the nose wheel gear, retracted into the nose, would extend and application of 'British Eagle' lettering to the fuselage during June. The restoration suffered a blow with the death of the project's chief engineer, Nick Bates in March 2010. Work towards putting the aircraft back onto its undercarrage with fin attached, together with application of protective coatings by members of the Britannia Aircraft Preservation Trust slowly continues.

The Britannia occupies a section of former apron between the front of the former airport terminal (now the Crowne Plaza Hotel) and the former British Eagle engineering base Hangar No.1 (now David Lloyd Leisure Centre). She is one of only four complete Bristol Britannias preserved, the others are at Duxford (G-AOVT), Cosford (G-AOVF) and Kemble (XM496).

Without doubt the Britannia is one of the 'iconic' aircraft types that used Liverpool Airport in the period upto the move of terminals in 1986. The Britannia epitomises aviation at Liverpool for the generation that recall the golden years of spotting from the balcony, along with the Dakota, Viscount, Dove, Ambassador, Bristol Freigher, Friendship, Carvair, Dragon Rapide and Fox Moth.

Compiled by Brian Jones from various sources including 'Flypast' magazine of MSAE/MAS, 'Digest' of Air Britain, 'Turbo Prop Airliner Production List' Roach & Eastwood TAHS, 'The Eagle Years 1948-1968', David Hedges TAHS, websites www.britisheagle.net www.bristol-britannia.com and others now dead or altered. Also to Phil Butler, Eric Tarrant, Tony Williams and others.

[viscount]

An absolutely gorgeous colour photo of G-ANCF 'New Frontier' at Speke from the Bob O'Brien collection. The location is somewhere down towards the threshold of the 28 (now 27) end of the 'new' runway (well it was then). I would estimate that the area under the tail is the current GA apron and the hangars there would now prevent the view through to the South East end of Speke town. As the Union Jack flag has been applied, this is sometime after mid '66 and indeed use of the 10/28 runway is clearly after the early May 1966 opening, I would think it was taken on one of the series of visits in mid March 1967. This is the only shot I am aware of, that shows G-ANCF at Liverpool while in service.

[Samba]

Thanks, credit Ian Keast.

[ronturner]

Really superb