Developed originally
from the Hamilcar glider by General Aircraft,
the aircraft first flew in 1950 as the General Aircraft Universal
Freighter. An 80% re-design resulted in the Beverley, now under
the auspices of Blackburn Aircraft after they merged with General
Aircraft, and in this form it first flew in 1953.
In the end only the
RAF operated the aircraft, and forty-seven
entered service between 1955 and 1958. However the aircraft was
used extensively by the RAF during its service, it's massive cargo
capacity and ability to operate from rough unprepared strips
making it a very versatile if somewhat slow aircraft.
The arrival of the Lockheed
Hercules in 1967 spelled the end of the
Beverleys usefulness and they were rapidly withdrawn from service.
Three examples survived in museums, but by 2002 these had been
whittled down to one and even that had an uncertain future.
The CD includes the flight
manual (titled pilots notes) for the
prototype aircraft, the RAF flight manual (titled Pilot's Notes) for
the Beverley C Mk 1, and a manufacturers colour brochure for the
earlier Universal. The flight manuals have been scanned
from the
original manuals and retain any colour pages.
This CD contains:
1. Manufacturers
Pilots Notes for the Blackburn C3-46 2nd Prototype
WZ889, with 50 pages. It is undated but there
is a pencil notation
referring to a second amendment dated 1954. (C3-46
was the original
British government specification the aircraft
was designed against.
WZ889 was the prototype Beverley, the first prototype
was the
Universal.)
2. RAF
Pilot's Notes for the Beverley C.1, AP 4512-PN dated April 1961
(with later revisons), approx
223 pages. (This manual
has many more
illustrations than the typical RAF Pilot's Notes.)
3. Manufacturers
undated colour brochure for the Blackburn Universal
freight aircraft. 29 pages.
| CD TITLE | BEVERLEY |
| PRICE | US$19.95 plus postage |
| POSTAGE AND ORDERING DETAILS |
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