Known as the “Whispering Giant” due to its immense size and quiet exterior noise (for the time anyway), the Bristol Britannia should’ve become the most popular British aircraft of the postwar era.
Yet, production delays and the introduction of jet airliners meant it was a huge failure and arguably began the tragic downward spiral of the British aircraft manufacturing industry… or at least contributed to it.
Pre-Bristol Britannia
The idea for the Bristol Britannia originated in 1942, when then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill flew to the USSR to attend the Moscow Conference between the leaders of the “Big Three” – Stalin, Churchill and FDR.
Flying in an American-made Consolidated B-24 Liberator modified to act as a VIP transport, Churchill almost froze to death. Trying to occupy his mind from the thought of freezing to death, Churchill came to a realization: Britain had no airliners.
You see, prior to the war, several British firms had been developing new commercial airliners for the British market. But, with the onset of WWII in 1939, these firms had to cancel their commercial aircraft designs to focus on the war effort.
Though this undoubtedly saved Britain from becoming part of the Third Reich, or a puppet state of it, Churchill realized that not even he, as the elected leader of the British people, could name a single British airliner, only American or German ones.
Upon his return home, Churchill spoke with his close friend, Lord Brabazon, the former Minister of Aircraft Production, and asked him to form a committee to solicit aircraft designs for five brand new, postwar airliners.
Following Churchill’s instruction to the letter, Lord Brabazon formed the Brabazon Committee and later issued specifications for five distinct airliners he and the committee believed Britain would need to beat the Germans and Americans.
The third of these specifications, known as the Type III, was for a four-engine, medium-range, airliner capable of flying transatlantic and transcontinental (and later transpacific) multi-hop routes connecting the British Empire.
Incidentally, when Air Ministry Specification C.2/47 was issued in 1947 for BOAC, looking a 48-passenger airliner capable of connecting the British Empire, the specs they required coincided with the Type III’s.
Development
Operational History
Flag Carrier
A Second Life
Service Life in Africa
Military
In 1955, Bristol developed a long-range combi/”Quick Change”-style variant known as the Model 200. Though initially offered to civil operators, nobody seemed interested in the Britannia. But the RAF were.
Acquiring three Model 252s and 20 Model 253s, the RAF gave them the designations of the Britannia C.2 and C.1 respectively, with the first deliveries commencing in 1959, replacing the last remaining WWII-era C-47 Dakotas and Avro Yorks.
Tasked primarily as troop transports, the Britannia was able to transport 117 troops in a six-abreast configuration, pretty much anywhere in the world, assuming it could make the necessary fuel stops – at a faster speed than the York or Dakota.
When it wasn’t serving as a troop transport, RAF engineers could easily remove the seating and store it in the lower freight hold, allowing the Britannia to be used as either a cargo or medevac depending on the RAF’s needs at the time.
Operated by the RAF between 1949 and 1975, the Britannia was deployed as a Gurkha transport, during Operation Starlight, the Congo Crisis, Hurricane Hattie (in British Honduras/modern-day Belize) and to transport oil to Zambia following Rhodesia’s independence.
Though the RAF purchased three Model 252/Britannia C.2s, they only received two. The third, XN392 (incidentally the first of the three that was built) , instead went to the Aircraft and Armaments Experimental Establishment (A&AEE).
Based at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England, the Britannia was used to test dozens of new technologies along with other aircraft like the A&AEE’s de Havilland Comet.
Aside from its service with the RAF and the A&AEE, the Cuban Air Force (DAAFAR) also operated the Britannia. Pressing Cubana de Aviación’s three Britannias into service, they were used as troop transports during Operation Carlota in the Angolan Civil War.
Here, they were modified with extra fuel tanks and flew Cuban troops and supplies to Angola (with fuel stops in the Azores, Newfoundland or Barbados) to bolster the communist-aligned MPLA’s numbers,
Interestingly, Cuban revolutionary leader, Che Guevara (who later died in Angola), was transported on one of the Cuban Britannias.
Cargo
Museum
Specifications
| Specifications | Bristol Britannia 310 |
|---|---|
| Length | 124 ft 3 in (37.87 m) |
| Wingspan | 142 ft 3 in (43.36 m) |
| Height | 37 ft 6 in (11.43 m) |
| Crew | 4 – 7 |
| Passengers | 139 |
| Cruise Speed | 575 km/h (357 mph; 310 kn) |
| Range | 7,130 km (4,430 mi; 3,850 nmi) |
| Service Ceiling | 185,000 lb (83,915 kg) |
| MTOW | 24,000 ft (7,300 m) |
Why Was The Bristol Britannia Such a Failure?
When Bristol Aeroplane Company first unveiled the Britannia, they projected a total production run of 180. By the time the Britannia’s eight year-long production had ceased in 1960, the company had built less than half of that – at 85 units.
At least according to Bristol, the Britannia was not only a failure but an unmitigated disaster that ultimately doomed the company. So this begs another question, why was it so unsuccessful?
Unlike many unsuccessful, it wasn’t to do with the Britannia itself:
From a technical standpoint, the Britannia was superior to its competitors, from a comfort standpoint, the Britannia was mostly superior (the interior was a little outdated, but nothing major), from a price standpoint, the Britannia was again superior.
In fact, the downfall of the Britannia was twofold.
First and foremost was the production delays. BOAC, the Britannia’s launch customer, placed their order in 1949 and desperately needed it as soon as possible. Yet, they didn’t receive their first Britannia until 1957, eight years later…
Now imagine if you were a prospective customer. You’re looking to modernize your fleet and have the choice of three aircraft: the Bristol Britannia, the Lockheed Super Constellation and the Vickers Vanguard.
The first has a waiting list of at least eight years and comes from a company whose last commercial airliner, the Bristol Brabazon, never went beyond the prototype stage because no one liked it enough to buy it.
The second and third come from respected aircraft manufacturers with long histories of success and have waiting lists only a few years long at best. Which do you choose? Certainly not the first one…
Aside from that, the other reason the Britannia failed is due to the introduction of jets.
How Safe Was The Bristol Britannia?
Although you will never fly on the Bristol Britannia today, at its height, there were over 70 Britannias in the sky, flying hundreds of hours every month, carrying millions of passengers in its 40 year-long operational history.
As such, we should at least look at the Bristol Britannia’s safety record…
Of the 85 Britannias that were built, only 18 were ever involved in an aviation-related incident of some kind, resulting in a total of 365 fatalities.
Legacy
Bristol
Future Aircraft
What do you think of the Bristol Britannia? Have you ever flown on it? Tell me in the comments!
Featured image courtesy of Tony Hisgett via Flickr.