Bristol Britannia

Another of the long distance 'troopers' UK to Singapore via El Adem, Khormaksar (Aden) and Gan (Addu Atoll) single men and families.

I was on a flight to Singapore in the mid '60s on this very aircraft and had a heavy landing in Khormaksar. First through the door after parking was a Flight Lieutenant who asked all aircraft tradesmen to raise hands. There were three including me and we were disembarked first to find that we had to assist a sole rigger in changing four wheels and tyres before the next leg. All others were bussed off to transit whilst we carried out the task in 100 degree heat and 100 percent humidity. Filthy from brake dust, wet through with sweat and gagging for a drink everyone was re-boarded and we took off on the next leg suffering the whispers and stares of the other passengers!

Otherwise a very pleasant ie smooth and quiet type to fly in.
On 22 Jul 1970 whilst still a Cadet WO, I took 3 other cadets to Brize Norton to see what we could 'scrounge'.(It was a weekday but my shift system at West Drayton meant I had a day off).
We were allocated a local training flight in XM 491along with some Halton brats who turned up.
The local flight lasted 4 hr 30 min during which time we flew first to Prestwick and carried out 2 ILS approaches, then to Manchester for the same, then to Gatwick for a final 2.
We were served a meal on board and although some of the brats were airsick, us four were all OK.
On return to Brize, the aircraft was shut down and taken over by another crew. We stood and watched it start up and I was amazed to see that for each engine, one of the flight line mechanics would lean against one of the prop blades until it started turning, the engine already winding up as it was a twin spool type.

But they never did it to stop them turning on shutdown!

I never saw one flying, unfortunately it was IMHO about 5 years too late when it entered service with the airlines.

Flew on one several times in the early 1970's between London and Newcastle. Operated by BKS, which then became Northeast Airlines and later still BA. They also operated Viscounts.

PETERTHEEATER wrote:

But they never did it to stop them turning on shutdown!

I vaguely remember they did, mainly so they could position the blades all the same.

canberra wrote:

I never saw one flying, unfortunately it was IMHO about 5 years too late when it entered service with the airlines.

Last one I saw flying was 'owned' by Boscombe Down and came to Farnborough occasionally.

Monarch used them into the '70s; seeing them start at Glasgow in '72 was amazing; you don't see it in daylight but at night you see a large gout of flame from the exhaust as the engine lights up.
Redcoat Air Cargo was another user; one of their aircraft starred in a TV series entailing a fictional company called 'Redair'.
Brits never made a drone like other turboprops; at low level all you could hear was a quiet 'whooshing' noise (mostly made by the props) and at high level you couldn't hear them at all unlike Vanguards and Viscounts.