The Bristol Britannia

Video from the channel Aerospace Bristol about Bristol Britannia, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 6:01. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

A guide from the Aerospace Bristol museum, aboard the Britannia the museum preserves, goes through the aircraft's history and some episodes from its career.

After the Second World War, the British industry, until then focused on military equipment, had no commercial aircraft of its own. After the commercial failure of the Brabazon came the Britannia, which took off from Filton. The guide recounts test pilot Bill Pegg's emergency landing in the marshes of the River Severn, during a flight with KLM representatives on board, after an engine caught fire. He cites ice in the air intakes or failure of the reduction gear driving the propeller as possible causes. He also recalls an accident attributed to an autopilot lock-up: the forest where the aircraft crashed is now called Britannia Woods.

85 aircraft were built, a figure limited by the lack of capacity for series production. Transport Command used it until the mid-1970s. It then passed to smaller cargo and passenger operators, mostly Cuban, and Cuba was the last country to use it commercially. One was even used for aerial safaris in Africa. Its nickname, "Whispering Giant," comes from how quiet its turboprops were. Its last flight, in 1997, was an aircraft's return from South Africa.