Benutzer:Afromme/Projekte/Short SC.5 Belfast

Short SC.5 Belfast
Typ	Strategischer Transporter
Entwurfsland	Großbritannien
Hersteller	Short Brothers
Erstflug	5. Januar 1964
Stückzahl	10

Die Short Belfast ist ein schweres Turboprop-Transportflugzeug des Herstellers Short Brothers aus Belfast. Nur 10 Exemplare wurden gebaut, die zunächst alle unter der Bezeichnung Short Belfast C.1 an die britische Royal Air Force (RAF) gingen. with the designation Short Belfast C.1. Als die RAF den Typ Ende der 1970er Jahre ausmusterte, wurden einige Maschinen zu zivilen Frachtmaschinen umgerüstet. Allein fünf Short Belfast waren zeitweise bei der Frachtfluggesellschaft HeavyLift Cargo Airlines in Betrieb. Auch heute das letzte verbliebene flugfähige Exemplar ist in den Farben dieser Gesellschaft im Einsatz, derzeit mit Haupteinsatzgebiet Australien (Stand Mitte 2009). Pläne bestanden, eine weitere Belfast von Großbritannien nach Australien zu überführen, allerdings wurde die betreffende Maschine nach technischen Problemen statt dessen im Oktober 2008 verschrottet. Somit existiert lediglich eine zweite, nicht mehr einsatzfähige Belfast, die im RAF Museum Cosford ausgestellt ist.

Geschichte

Die Belfast wurde auf eine Ausschreibung der Royal Air Force (RAF) hin entwickelt, welche die Beschaffung eines Frachtflugzeugs vorsah, das unterschiedlichste militärische Güter über weite Strecken transportieren konnte. Die RAF wollte mit dem neuen Flugzeug Artillerie, Truppen von über 200 Mann Stärke, Hubschrauber und Lenkraketen befördern können. Der Entwurf des Herstellers Short Brothers basierte auf Planungen, die man dort in den späten 1950er Jahren verfolgt hatte. Der offizielle Startschuss für das Projekt erfolgte unter der Bezeichnung SC.5/10 im Februar 1959. Der erste Prototyp absolvierte seinen Jungfernflug am 5. Januar 1964. Am Steuer saß der leitende Short Brothers Testpilot Denis Taylor; als zweiter Offizier diente Peter Lowe.

Zum Zeitpunkt des Erstflugs war die Belfast erst das zweite Flugzeug, das mit Ausrüstungen zur so genannten blinden Landung ausgerüstet war. Dieses System ermöglicht eine vollautomatische Landung, bei der die menschliche Besatzung den Vorgang lediglich überwacht.

To meet the demands of the specification the Belfast used a high wing carrying four Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprops. The cargo deck, 64 ft long in a fuselage over 18 feet in diameter (roomy enough for two single deck buses), was reached through a "beaver tail" with rear loading doors and integral ramp. The main undercarriage was two 8-wheel bogies and a 2-wheel nose. The Belfast was capable of a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of over 220,500 lb (100 tonnes) but still less than the contemporaneous 250-tonne MTOW Antonov An-22 and the 128-tonne MTOW Douglas C-133 Cargomaster. It could carry 150 troops with full equipment, or a Chieftain tank or two Westland Wessex helicopters.

Service

The original RAF requirement had foreseen a fleet of 30 aircraft, but this number was to be significantly curtailed as a result of the Sterling Crisis of 1965. The United Kingdom government needed to gain support for its loan application to the IMF, which the United States provided. However, one of the alleged clauses for this support was that the RAF purchase Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft. With a surplus of airlifting capabilities the original order was reduced to 10. The Belfast entered service with No. 53 Squadron RAF in January 1966 based at RAF Fairford. By May the following year they had been repositioned at RAF Brize Norton.

Following entry to RAF service it became apparent that a major drag problem was preventing the initial five aircraft attaining Short’s desired performance figures. Indeed the suction drag on the tail and rear fuselage was so severe that the RAF personnel gave the aircraft the nicknames ‘The Dragmaster’, 'Slug' and 'Belslow'.Vorlage:Fact Retrospective modifications and testing were 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 incorporated improving the fleet’s cruising speed by 40 mph.

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 newly formed Strike Command was to have repercussions of 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 for storage.

TAC HeavyLift then purchased five of them for commercial use in 1977, and operated three of them from 1980 after they had received work so they could be certificated to civil standards. 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 1990sVorlage:Ref. The type entered something of a hiatus after being retired from TAC HeavyLift service and several were parked at Southend Airport for a number of years until one aircraft was refurbished and flown to Australia in 2003. This aircraft is still flying (2007) in Australia for HeavyLift Cargo Airlines; it is often clearly 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. A second, G-BEPS (SH1822), was to have joined her in Australia following refurbishment at Southend Airport but was finally scrapped in October 2008. The last production Belfast (Enceladus, XR371) is preserved at the RAF Museum Cosford. Recently this aircraft has had a repaint before being preserved undercover at the National Cold War Exhibition.

Aircraft

All 10 Belfasts were named:

• Samson - RAF Serial XR362 (used registration G-ASKE for overseas test flight), sold as G-BEPE then scrapped
• Goliath - RAF Serial XR363, sold as G-OHCA then scrapped
• Pallas - RAF Serial XR364, sold as scrap to Rolls-Royce who recovered the Tyne engines
• Hector - RAF Serial XR365, sold as G-HLFT then as 9L-LDQ operating with HeavyLift Cargo Airlines, now RP-C8020 (see image above)
• Atlas - RAF Serial XR366, sold to RR for engines
• Heracles - RAF Serial XR367 - sold as G-BFYU then scrapped
• Theseus - RAF Serial XR368, sold as G-BEPS then in storage at Southend Airport - Began being broken up 22/Oct/2008
• Spartacus - RAF Serial XR369, sold as G-BEPL then scrapped
• Ajax - RAF Serial XR370, sold to RR for engines
• Enceladus - RAF Serial XR371, preserved as an exhibit at RAF Museum Cosford

Operators

Military operators

Vereinigtes Konigreich Vereinigtes Königreich

• Royal Air Force
  • No. 53 Squadron RAF

Civil operators

Australien Australien

• HeavyLift Cargo Airlines

Vereinigtes Konigreich Vereinigtes Königreich

• TAC HeavyLift
• Transmeridian Air Cargo

References

Bibliography

• Hewson, Robert (ed.). Commercial Aircraft and Airliners. Aerospace Publishing Ltd. and Airlife Publishing Ltd., 2nd ed, 2001. ISBN 1-84037-064-5.
• White, Molly O'Loughlin. Belfast : The Story of Short's Big Lifter. Hinckley,UK: Midland Counties Publications, ISBN 0-904597-52-0.

External links

• Shorts Belfast specifications
• Shorts Belfast capabilities
• Shorts Belfast specs and history at airliners.net
• Shorts Belfast XR371 "Encedalus" at RAF Museum
• Shorts Belfast XR371 "Encedalus" photo gallery at airliners.net
• Shorts Belfast XR371 "Encedalus" photo gallery at Air-Britain Photos
• Second Shorts SC-5 Belfast goes from UK to Australia to reenter service

Vorlage:Short Brothers aircraft Vorlage:Aviation lists [[Category:British military transport aircraft 1960-1969]] [[Category:Short Brothers aircraft|Belfast]]