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The Short Belfast (or Shorts Belfast)〔Mondey 1981, p. 228.〕 is a heavy lift turboprop freighter that was built by British manufacturer Short Brothers at Belfast. Only 10 were built for the British Royal Air Force with the designation Short Belfast C.1; it was the largest aircraft that the British military had ever operated up to that time.〔 The Belfast was notable for being only the second aircraft type to be built equipped with autoland blind landing equipment. After the type was retired by the RAF, five of the aircraft went into civilian service with the cargo airline HeavyLift Cargo Airlines.〔 Two aircraft still exist; one is on display at the RAF Museum Cosford. ==Design and development== The Belfast was developed to meet Royal Air Force operational requirement (ASR.371), which proposed a freighter capable of carrying a wide range of military loads over long ranges. The military loads envisaged included artillery, more than 200 troops, helicopters, and guided missiles. Shorts' design was based on company studies from the late 1950s, and the project started as the SC.5/10 in February 1959. The prototype Belfast first flew on 5 January 1966.〔''Flight International'', Vol. 85, No. 2862, 16 January 1964, p. 97.〕 The Belfast used a high wing carrying four Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprop engines. The cargo deck, in a circular-section pressurized fuselage over (roomy enough for two single-deck buses), was reached through a "beaver tail" with rear loading doors and integral ramp. The main undercarriage was two 8-wheel bogies and a 2-wheel nose. The Belfast was capable of a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of over 220,500 lb (100 tonnes) - less than the contemporaneous 250-tonne Antonov An-22 and the 128-tonne Douglas C-133 Cargomaster, but more than the Lockheed C-130 Hercules. It could carry 150 troops with full equipment, or a Chieftain tank or two Westland Wessex helicopters or six Westland Scout helicopters. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Short Belfast」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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