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Timeline |
In 1947, BOAC issued a requirement on a medium range transport. Bristol responded to this with an aircraft that would be powered by four Bristol Centaurus reciprocating engines. Three prototypes were ordered the next year, two of them being convertible to turboprops. The later had indeed so many advantages that piston engines were soon forgotten.
The Proteus turboprop initially showed bad response to icing conditions and the many flameouts it encountered seriously restricted its commercial success. Moreover, the "Whispering Giant" came in a time were the first jet liners brought unbeatable performances, specially for the medium and long haul sectors. It is only 5 years after the first flight of August 1952 that the first commercial flight was operated by BOAC on the South African and Australian routes.
A total of 85 Model 175 Britannia were built, of which 17 Srs.100 (all for BOAC), 23 Srs.250 with stretched fuselage used by the RAF for mixed passenger - freight operations, the rest being the Srs.300 series with increased performances and range that were sold to companies like Canadian Pacific and Cubana.
Canada built 39 Britannia under licence as the Canadair CL-44, together with a maritime reconnaissance version, the CL-28 Argus, equipped with Wright R-3350 radials.
The first CL-44 made its maiden flight on the 15th of November 1959 equipped with Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprops. This aircraft was later delivered together with 11 others to the RCAF under the CC-106 Yukon designation (CL-44D). The Yukon had side cargo doors and the first deliveries started in July 1960.
The CL-44D-4 introduced by the end of 1960 the "Swing Tail" feature, allowing the loading of long objects by rotation of the whole tail area. First customers of this version were the Flying Tigers, Loftleidir and Slick Airways.
A maximum capacity of 214 passengers was reached with the stretched CL-44J (Canadair 400 - only one built). It was flown by Loftleidir of Iceland that bought the last aircraft in 1965.
Most of all CL-44 and Britannia finished their careers on the second hand market where they showed good adaptation to low cost freight transportation over long distances.
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