The Bristol Britannia was a medium to long range British turboprop aircraft that first flew on 16 August 1952. Due to problems found during testing it entered service much later, on 1 February 1957 with BOAC.
Compared to the piston aircraft of the day, the Britannia was far quieter. This gave rise to its nickname, The Whispering Giant. Unfortunately, it entered service just a year before jet aircraft started flying in numbers. As a result, only 85 were eventually built.
Bristol Britannia Video
Following on from last weeks video on the Airbus A300, we stay in Europe with the Bristol Britannia. This short news video runs for just over a minute and shows the original delivery of the aircraft to BOAC.
An embarrassing part of the history is when one of the aircraft had to make a forced landing. At the time it was being demonstrated to the Dutch airline KLM. Naturally this did not convert into a sale!
Technical problems with icing in the engines as well as electrical system issues were eventually resolved. An extended range version of the Bristol Britannia was later developed, called the 310 series.
This enabled flights from London to New York, as you can see from the picture at the top of the post. Eventually replaced by jets, the last Britannia’s saw service as cargo haulers through to the 1990s.
Overall Thoughts
British aviation history is usually a story of technical triumph and commercial failure and the Bristol Britannia is no exception. Had it entered service in the early 1950s, it probably would have sold a lot better and have seen service with many more airlines.
Even so, the aircraft is one to note and it eventually did what it was supposed to do. Did you ever fly in a Britannia? What was it like? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Bob Parrick via Airliners.net
My parent’s my sister, brother and myself flew from London to Lagos in Nigeria in 1960 on one of the ‘whispering giants’. We even joined the BOAC children’s flying club and were issued with a badge and a blue log book with the mileage.
That would have been an experience! Probably not so remarkable at the time as they were a little more common, but even so, they weren’t around all that long. It’s a shame airlines don’t have those children’s flying clubs any longer. I think a lot of people have those keepsakes even today. Thanks for the comment!
My first ever flight, as an eleven year old accompanying my mother and my younger brother was by British United Airways Bristol Britannia from Stansted Airport to Aden in 1962.
It was what was called a trooping or services’s flight in support of the UK’s military commitment to the then Aden Protectorate.
Our flight left Stansted before midnight non-stop to Aden. The Britannia was a big, roomy airliner, very smooth and quiet
Awesome that you remember flew in a Britannia. Must have been a fairly long flight you had then – what an experience! Very nice memory there, thanks for that.
My Mum, two elder brothers, sister and I flew from London to Melbourne early September 1957. It was a long trip, around ten days. The route if I remember correctly was London, Paris, Zurich, Athens,Rome,Beriut,Bahgdad, Kuwait,Bahrain, Tehran,Bombay, Calcutta,Rangoon,Kuala Lumpur,Singapore, Jobjekarta, Darwin, Brisbane, Sydney to Melbourne. I remember crying alot at the beginning of our journey as our Mum decided to give my two pet tortoises away to a waitress at the London airport cafeteria. The plan had been to smuggle them aboard concealed in my sister’s skirts. The silver lining being that the waitress had two children who would take good care of them. The flight through to Rome was uneventful but then we hit a huge and, to me anyway, frightening thunder storm on the way to Beruit. In Beruit airport I got lost, being a curious type. A wonderfully kind and warm Arabic gentleman picked me up and returned me to my owners who, to this day I can remember, weren’t particularly thankful.Storms occurred via India and I can still remember the off putting aroma of the fried eggs that were offered for lunch in Bombay. Singapore was really the only place I remember staying in a hotel….of which I was told there were only three in Singapore. Darwin was hot, like we’d never before experienced and humid. Sydney, remember the bridge….and at last Melbourne where we stayed then embarked on a two engined TEAL Electra for Auckland , New Zealand. The BOAC Bristol Britannia must of been amazingly comfortable and the food good as I can’t remember having any issues with the flight.. My sis was sick all the way but she would always get car sick anyway. Can’t remember the other passengers. We we’re presented with log books for the journey so we could enter all the places we stopped at and take off times etc. My eldest brother has still got his copy plus Junior Jet Club badges. I have a collective memory of being allowed into the cockpit during smooth flying times. I heard later that this particular plane met with an accident on it’s return journey to England. But am not sure of this.
That sounds like some trip you had there! It’s almost like a complete tour of every stop from London to Melbourne and then some. Certainly some great memories along the way as well – despite the loss of your two pet tortoises. Back then you would have had to fly among the storms, which certainly would have made flying more interesting, to say the least. I guess it would have been somewhat scary being thrown around a bit, but good for the adrenaline junkies. Thanks for sharing all of this, it’s a fascinating look into flying back in the day. Really appreciate you taking the time to write!