Blackburn Beverley
Encyclopedia
The Blackburn B-101 Beverley was a 1950s British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
heavy transport aircraft
Military transport aircraft
Military transport aircraft are typically fixed and rotary wing cargo aircraft which are used to deliver troops, weapons and other military equipment by a variety of methods to any area of military operations around the surface of the planet, usually outside of the commercial flight routes in...
built by Blackburn and General Aircraft
Blackburn Aircraft
Blackburn Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer that concentrated mainly on naval and maritime aircraft during the first part of the 20th century.-History:...
and flown by squadrons of Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Transport Command from 1957 until 1967.
Design and development
Designed and built by General Aircraft as the GAL.60 Universal Freighter, the first aircraft was dismantled at the Feltham, Middlesex factory and transported to BroughBrough, East Riding of Yorkshire
Brough , or Brough-on-Humber, is a small town in the civil parish of Elloughton-cum-Brough in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town has a population of around 7,000.-Location:...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
to have its maiden flight on 20 June 1950. This was followed by a second, the GAL.65, which was modified from the original. Clamshell doors replaced a combination of a door and ramp, and the tailplane
Tailplane
A tailplane, also known as horizontal stabilizer , is a small lifting surface located on the tail behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplanes...
boom received seating for 36 passengers. The Bristol Hercules
Bristol Hercules
|-See also:-Bibliography:*Gunston, B. Classic World War II Aircraft Cutaways. Osprey. ISBN 1-85532-526-8*Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9...
engines became Bristol Centaurus
Bristol Centaurus
|-See also:-Bibliography:*Bridgman, L, Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. Crescent. ISBN 0-517-67964-7*Gunston, Bill. Development of Piston Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 2006. ISBN 0-7509-4478-1...
with reverse-pitch propellers, a feature that gave it a short landing length and the ability to reverse under its own power. The take-off run at full load was given as 790 yards, the landing run at full load, 310 yards.
The RAF placed an order in 1952 as the Beverley C.1 (Beverley, Cargo Mark 1). All Beverleys would be built at Brough
Brough Aerodrome
Brough Aerodrome is located at Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.The site was first used by the Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company during World War I for the testing of seaplanes....
.
The aircraft is a high-wing cantilever monoplane
Monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...
with a fixed undercarriage
Undercarriage
The undercarriage or landing gear in aviation, is the structure that supports an aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxi, takeoff and land...
. The large fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
has a tailboom fitted with a tailplane with twin fins. The tailboom allowed access to the rear of the fuselage through removable clamshell doors. A 36 ft (11 m) main fuselage space was supplemented by passenger accommodation in the tailboom. The main cargo hold could accommodate 94 troops, with another 36 in the tail-boom.
A device called an Elephant's Foot could be fitted under the center of the fuselage just forward of the clamshell doors when it was in use. The foot was held in place by pins inserted through a triangular arrangement of attachment points on the fuselage and was fitted during loading to prevent the Beverley from tipping over when heavy items were loaded into the freight bay.
The aircraft was designed for carrying large bulk loads and landing them on rough or imperfect runways, or mere dirt strips. It could trace its design back to the GAL49 Hamilcar
General Aircraft Hamilcar
The General Aircraft Limited GAL. 49 Hamilcar or Hamilcar Mark I was a large British military glider produced during the Second World War, which was designed to carry heavy cargo, such as the Tetrarch or M22 Locust light tank...
glider
Military glider
Military gliders have been used by the military of various countries for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g...
of the Second World War. When it entered service it was the largest aircraft in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
(RAF). It had a large interior cargo area split into two levels which amounted to around 6,003 ft³ (170 m³) of space. Paratrooper
Paratrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
s in the upper passenger area jumped through a hatch in the base of the boom just in front of the leading edge of the tailplane.
The Beverley was equipped with toilets, which were situated in the tail beyond the paratroop doors located on the floor of the tail boom. One fatality was caused by a serviceman who fell twenty feet to the ground when exiting the toilet, unaware that the paratroop doors had been opened. Modifications were made to prevent the toilet doors from being opened when the paratroop doors were open.
In total, 49 of the aircraft were produced, with the last one being manufactured in 1958, and final retirement from RAF service was in 1967.
Operational history
The first production aircraft from an original order for 20 from the Royal Air Force flew on 29 January 1955. The first operational aircraft was delivered to 47 SquadronNo. 47 Squadron RAF
No. 47 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Hercules from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire.-First formation:No. 47 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was formed at Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire on 1 March 1916 as a home defence unit, protecting Hull and East Yorkshire against attack by German...
Royal Air Force at RAF Abingdon
RAF Abingdon
RAF Abingdon was a Royal Air Force station near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It is now known as Dalton Barracks and is used by the Royal Logistic Corps....
on 12 March 1956. 53 Squadron, also at RAF Abingdon, received Beverleys in early 1957 but was absorbed into 47 Squadron in June 1963. They were flown until October 1967 when the squadron disbanded. 30 Squadron received its Beverleys in April 1957 at RAF Dishforth
RAF Dishforth
Dishforth Airfield is a Royal Air Force/British Army station in North Yorkshire, England. It is currently an Army Air Corps helicopter base and a Relief Landing Ground for RAF Linton-on-Ouse. It is located next to the A1 at Junction 49 with the A168. Dishforth airfield is built over part of the...
subsequently deploying to RAF Eastleigh, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and RAF Muharraq, Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
where it disbanded in September 1967.
The longest serving Beverleys were in the Far East; 34 Squadron received its aircraft at RAF Seletar in October 1960 and continued flying them until the end of 1967. During this time, 34 Squadron carried out flood relief work in South Vietnam. Prior to this, from June/July 1959, the first four Beverleys to go to the Far East formed the Beverley Flight, 48 Squadron based at RAF Changi. The sixth squadron to fly the Beverley was 84 Squadron at RAF Khormaksar
RAF Khormaksar
RAF Khormaksar was a Royal Air Force station in Aden. Its motto was "Into the Remote Places". During the 1960s, it was the base for nine squadrons and became the RAF's busiest-ever station. It later became Aden International Airport.-History:...
, Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
which flew them from 1958 until August 1967 when they were exchanged for Hawker Siddeley Andovers.
Initially, the aircraft were silver overall, but later, those operated by the squadrons based in the Middle East were given an overall sand camouflage finish.
Survivors
Only one Beverley has survived: XB259United Kingdom military aircraft serials
In the United Kingdom to identify individual aircraft, all military aircraft are allocated and display a unique serial number. A unified serial number system, maintained by the Air Ministry , and its successor the Ministry of Defence , is used for aircraft operated by the Royal Air Force , Fleet...
is on display at Fort Paull
Fort Paull
Fort Paull is a gun battery situated on the north bank of the Humber, near the village of Paull, downstream from Hull in northern England.Batteries have been built at Paull by Henry VIII, Charles I during the Civil War during the siege of Hull and the Napoleonic Wars...
, just east of Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, in England.
Two other aircraft were on public display but have since been scrapped:
- XH124 was on display at the RAF Museum London, Hendon. Kept outside, the aircraft deteriorated and was scrapped in 1989.
- XB261 was on display at the Southend Historic Aviation Museum in 1971. When the museum closed it sat outside for years being weather-beaten and vandalised. It was scrapped in 1989; however, part of its cockpit has been preserved at the Newark Air MuseumNewark Air Museumright|thumb|200px|[[Handley Page Hastings]] T5 TG517 at the Newark Air Museum.Newark Air Museum is an air museum located on a former Royal Air Force station at Winthorpe, near Newark on Trent in Nottinghamshire, England. The museum contains a variety of aircraft...
, Nottinghamshire.
Variants
- G.A.L. 60 Universal Freighter Mk.1 : General Aircraft Ltd Designation for the first prototype aircraft.
- G.A.L. 65 Universal Freighter Mk.2 : Designation for the second prototype aircraft. Blackburn company name B-100.
- Beverley C Mk 1 : Medium-range tactical transport aircraft for the RAF. Blackburn company name B-101.
- Blackburn B-107 : Projected Stage 2 development of the B-101 Beverley designed in 1956 that retained the Beverley wings and tail; and added a completely new rounded fuselage with a larger unobstructed freight hold. The intended powerplants were to be four Rolls-Royce TyneRolls-Royce Tyne|-See also:...
turboprop engines. The design allowed for 75 paratroops or 108 troops to be carried. The design project never progressed beyond the planning stage. - Blackburn B-107A : Projected Stage 3 development of the B-101 Beverley designed in 1959. The B-107A was similar to the B-107 but included main loading doors in the nose and rear doors for para-dropping only, as well as a relocated flight deck. Like the B-107, this project never progressed beyond the planning stage.
Operators
| Unit | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| No. 30 Squadron RAF No. 30 Squadron RAF No. 30 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the second generation C-130J Hercules from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. The squadron operates alongside No. 24 Squadron and No. 47 Squadron all flying the Hercules.-History:... |
April 1957 | September 1967 |
| No. 34 Squadron RAF No. 34 Squadron RAF No. 34 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force. During the First World War it operated as a reconnaissance and bomber squadron, and in the 1930s operated light bombers... |
October 1960 | December 1967 |
| No. 47 Squadron RAF No. 47 Squadron RAF No. 47 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Hercules from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire.-First formation:No. 47 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was formed at Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire on 1 March 1916 as a home defence unit, protecting Hull and East Yorkshire against attack by German... |
March 1956 | October 1967 |
| No. 48 Squadron RAF No. 48 Squadron RAF No. 48 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron that saw service in both World War I and World War II.-First World War:No. 48 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed at Netheravon, Wiltshire, on 15 April 1916. The squadron was posted to France in March 1917 and became the first fighter... |
June 1959 | October 1960 |
| No. 53 Squadron RAF No. 53 Squadron RAF -History:No. 53 squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed at Catterick on 15 May 1916. Originally intended to be a training squadron, it was sent to France to operate reconnaissance in December that year. The squadron was equipped with BE2Es—swapped for the RE8 in April 1917... |
January 1957 | June 1963 |
| No. 84 Squadron RAF No. 84 Squadron RAF No. 84 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is at present a Search and Rescue Squadron based at RAF Akrotiri, it uses the Bell Griffin HAR.2 helicopter. It is currently part of the RAF's Search and Rescue Force-History:... |
May 1958 | August 1967 |
| No. 242 Operational Conversion Unit RAF | 1957 | March 1967 |