Bristol Britannia 312

The 312 is the 310 series production version for BOAC: as the 305, but with strengthened fuselage skin and undercarriage and long-range fuel capacity — hence its original name, 300LR. Eighteen were built.

Deliveries began in September 1957 and the debut was a loud one: on 19 December 1957 it made the first-ever nonstop flight between London and Canada, and at the end of that month BOAC opened scheduled London–New York services. In 1959 the airline extended the network to Tokyo and Hong Kong across the Pacific, with a westbound routing of London–New York–San Francisco–Honolulu–Wake Island–Tokyo–Hong Kong. In March 1964 BOAC owned 50 aircraft, ten of them Britannia 312s; its last scheduled Britannia flight was in April 1965. Five 312s were converted into 312F freighters in the 1960s and one was converted for Ghana Airways as the Model 319.

The 310 series figures: 37.9 m long, 43.4 m in span, 11.4 m high, 39,190 kg empty, 83,915 kg maximum take-off weight, four Proteus 765 of 4,450 equivalent shp, 639 km/h top speed, 575 km/h cruise at 22,000 ft, a 7,315 m ceiling and 7,129 km of range, with 139 passengers in coach class and a crew of four to seven.