Bristol Britannia 252 (Britannia C.2)

The three Model 252s were originally ordered by the Ministry of Supply with a view to leasing them to charter operators, but they were delivered instead to the Royal Air Force as the Britannia C.2. They have a heavy-duty floor in the forward fuselage and a cargo door, a direct inheritance from the 200 series freighter that was never built.

RAF Transport Command bought the three 252s and the twenty 253s in 1959, and the aircraft in military service were given the names of stars: "Arcturus", "Sirius", "Vega". On retirement from the RAF in 1975, many of these 200-series aircraft passed to independent civil operators for cargo work — precisely their original intended role.