Bristol Britannia 312 (1958)

The Britannia was originally intended to have piston engines but was redesigned with Bristol’s own Proteus turboprops. The first flight was on 16 August 1952; the quietness of this large aircraft in flight led to it becoming known as ‘The Whispering Giant’.  Technical problems, however, delayed the introduction of the Britannia into airline service until 1 February 1957, when a BOAC type 102 flew to Johannesburg.

BOAC purchased 15 of the first production aircraft, the Series 100. American interest was strong: the Britannia was faster than any American piston-powered airliner and the turboprop powered Vickers Viscount was a success on US domestic routes. TWA’s majority owner Howard Hughes flew the Britannia and immediately requested 30 aircraft, but Bristol could not meet the required delivery and with jet airliners coming soon the opportunity was lost.

The 250 series was a transport development for the Royal Air Force of which 23 were built. The 300 Series had greater range which enabled them to operate non-stop transatlantic flights in both directions. BOAC ordered 18 of these aircraft and began services between London and New York on 19 December 1957. Eventually, 85 aircraft of all models were sold, including four to Cuba, one of the few Western aircraft to operate there after the revolution. The last recorded Britannia flight was in 1997. The basic design was also licensed to Canadair, who developed various heavily modified civil and military variants, of which 71 were built.

G-AOVT was the last of BOAC’s Britannia 312 fleet to be delivered, on 1 January 1959. On 31 March it inaugurated the first round-the-world service when it left London for Tokyo via New York, San Francisco, Honolulu and Wake Island. A Comet 4 then took over for the onward journey to London, via Rangoon, Delhi and Rome.

‘VT served with BOAC until September 1963, when it was leased to British Eagle International Airlines. In May 1969 It was bought by charter company Monarch Airlines and based at Luton Airport, used in Europe and worldwide, including repeating its ‘round the world‘ role. It operated the last civil passenger service by a Britannia in Europe on 17 October 1974, from Basel to Luton. It was then briefly leased to Invicta Airlines at Manston who used it on cargo charter flights to Europe, Africa and the Middle East. It made its final flight to Duxford on 29 June 1975, landing during the flying display at that year’s Air Show.