Belfast Apron, Kemble - plus More

[acklington]

Wot it says on the tin! (And a bit of a rest from Blackpool photos)

XR362 (G-ASKE), Samson, ex 53 Sqdn, Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XR362, XR369, ex 53 Sqdn, Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XR363, 370, 367, ex 53 Sqdn, Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XR363, Goliath, ex 53 Sqdn, Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XR364, 65, 71, 70, 67, 68, 63, Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XR367, 368, 371, ex 53 Sqdn, Kemble, 23 Feb 77 (2) by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XR368, Theseus, ex 53 Sqdn, Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XR370, 367, 368, ex 53 Sqdn, Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr

Just in case younger spotters wonder why the "Belfast Apron" at Kemble got its name.
For the record, this was the Belfast production list;

XR362 Samson ex G-ASKE, to G-BEPE scrapped
XR363 Goliath to G-OHCA scrapped
XR364 Pallas to RR for engines, scrapped
XR365 Hector to G-HLFT, 9L-LDQ, RP-C8020 extant Cains, Australia?
XR366 Atlas to RR for engines, scrapped
XR367 Heracles to G-BFYU scrapped
XR368 Thesus to G-BEPS scrapped
XR369 Spartacus to G-BEPL scrapped
XR370 Ajax to RR for engines, scrapped
XR371 Enceladus to RAFM Cosford, on display

[gonetech]

Eyes popping out of head looking at these! I only remember the Heavy Lift days

[ian531]

Wow - would love to have seen those

Great pictures

Ian

[vfr800]

What an amazing fleet. Were they at Kemble for scrapping?

[viscount]

Try:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Belfast As a general introduction to the type.

First flew at Shorts Belfast/Sydenham 5th January 1964

Entered RAF service with 53 Sqdn January 1966 and based at RAF Brize Norton throughout RAF service (apart from a short period at RAF Fairford while reconstruction work shut Brize Norton).

Total of 10 built 1964-1969, no prototype as such and all entered military service.

Fleet retired during 1976 to 5MU at Kemble for storage and disposal.

Eventually 6 sold for civilian conversion (but I suspect only 5 entered civilian service) and 1 to the RAF Museum at Cosford. Rest reduced to produce at Kemble.


One of the requirements was that the aircraft was be fitted with Autoland, at the time under development. Shorts used aircraft XR364 as a test aircraft for Autoland system development. As a result this aircraft would, during the late '60s spend a day at a time making extended circuits and fully automated approaches testing the new technology at Liverpool Airport on the new runway 28 (opened May 1966).


PS. Presume you have spotted the 'Red Arrows' Gnats on a run and break, on one of the images.

[acklington]

Many thanks for the comments.
There was no sign of the missing Belfast XR366, unless it was in one of the hangars (were they big enough?).
The two "Red Arrows" Gnats were XP514 and XR955, but I think that I still had the wrong lense on when they landed.
Also present were;
Dominie CC.2 XW791
Hunter F.6A XE627 '13'
Hunter FGA.9 XG151 '49' both Hunters newly painted with no unit markings
Hunter F.6A XF516 with 234 Sqdn markings sanded down ready for repaint
Meteor F.8 WH364 was still on the gate
Lightning T.4 XM967 was on the fire ground, still with yellow 'T' bands on natural metal
Shackleton MR.2 WR961 'U' was still in external storage as a possible spare for the AEW fleet
VC-10 G-AXLR (XR809) was still being used by the Special Forces for anti-hijack training, complete with internal explosions and ruptures to the fuselage

G-AXLR (XR809), Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
WR961, U, Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XG151, 49, 5 MU Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr
XM967, Kemble, 23 Feb 77 by Philip Pain, on Flickr

[maverick]

Shame the Belfast never had the success and stamina of the Hercules.

[jetdragon]

Great pictures Phil - they evoke many memories

Apologies for being a pedant though, XW791 was a HS.125-CC1 (based on the -400 series) - not a Dominie which was effectively the series 2 125. When Retrofitted with Garrett fan engines, was known as the CC1A.

The series 600 125's were CC2's, and the -700's were CC3's

Pedant mode off

cheers

JD