A WALK ROUND

BRISTOL TYPE 170 MARK 31 FREIGHTER

G-BISU

NZ5912 was then loaned to Straits Air Freight Express ( SAFE ) from 14 December 1957 and registered as ZK-BVI before regaining its military serial in March 1958. Its final RNZAF flight was on 14 December 1977 after which it was registered to Dwen Airmotive NZ Ltd. as ZK-EPH on 17 August 1978.

It was then returned to the United Kingdom and registered as G-BISU with Instone Air Lines, arriving at Stansted Airport on 13 March 1981.

G-BISU was then retired to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford on 8 November 1987 but subsequently sold to Trans Provincial Airlines, Terrace, British Columbia, Canada in 1988 and ferried to Canada from Duxford on 8 December 1988, arriving at Edmonton on 25 January 1989.

During its stay at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, Malcolm Morgan of the Leigh Valley Light Railway was able to obtain the following photographs, walking first round the outside of G-BISU and then examining the hold and flight deck. These photographs are of particular importance in view of the subsequent history of G-BISU.

Registered as C-FDFC, the Type 170 Bristol Freighter flew with Trans Provincial until the company ceased operations in March 1993. C-FDFC was then purchased by a group of British Airways employees - including Captain John Duncan - and flown to England in September 1994.

Among other activities, C-FDFC attended the Classic Airliner Show at Lydd Airport on 30 June 1996. Flying in from Heathrow, the Bristol Type 170 spent part of the day with a vintage Bristol motor car on its front ramp. In 1996 C-FDFC also took part in the Heathrow fiftieth anniversary flypast, Kemble Air Day and the PFA International Air Rally at Cranfield. It was going to attend the International Air Tattoo at Fairford.

However, on 18 July 1996, C-FDFC took off from Enstone, Oxfordshire, en route to a display at Filton alongside Bristol Blenheim G-BPIV ( "L8841"), in a light crosswind, stalled at 50 feet, crashed and was written off. Luckily, despite a spillage of 800 gallons of aviation fuel, there was no fire and all on board survived.

Of particular interest in these Duxford photographs are the Vokes air filters mounted above the Bristol Hercules engines and - in the last image - the view from the starboard cockpit window to the Imperial War Museum's Boeing B-52 bomber. While the Bristol Freighters soon used up their airframe lives as they were only making money when carrying cargo, many B-52s spent their Cold War years just being ready to fly. Hence the eight engined American aircraft look set to continue imposing US foreign policy well into the Twenty First Century.