Short Belfast

The Short Belfast was built by the British Aerospace Company Short Brothers in response to the Royal Air Force operational requirement for a heavy lift freighter able to carry a wide range of military hardware - more than 200 troops, artillery pieces, guided missiles and helicopters - over quite long distances. After starting to work on several large freighter designs in the late 1950´s, Short Brothers launched the Short Belfast project in February 1959 as the SC.5/10.
Five years later the project was achieved and the Short Belfast flew for the first time on 5 January 1964. With a maximum takeoff weight of over 100 tones (220,250 lb), the Short Belfast was the third largest turboprop powered ever built after the An-22 and the Douglas´C133 Cargomaster. The Short Belfast was featured with four RollsRoyce Tyne turboprops mounted on a high wing, a 64 ft long cargo deck, a fuselage of over 18 ft in diameter, an 18 wheel undercarriage (including two eight wheel main bogies and two nose wheels) and a beaver tail with rear loading doors and ramps.
The first Short Belfast entered into service with the Royal Air Force in January 1966. It was at that time the largest aircraft to be operated by that service. The initial order of the Royal Air Force was a fleet of 30 aircraft but the purchase of several Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft reduced the order of Short Belfast aircraft to 10.
All 10 aircraft had quite a short life time and were retired from the Royal Air Force in 1976. One year later the cargo airline TAC HeavyLift acquired five aircraft for commercial use. From 1980 the airline operated another three Short Belfast aircraft. One still remains in Australia for HeavyLift Cargo Airlines but is parked up for sale.

All 10 Belfasts were named:
Samson - RAF Serial XR362 (used registration G-ASKE for overseas test flight), sold as G-BEPE then scrapped
Goliath - RAF Serial XR363, sold as G-OHCA then scrapped
Pallas - RAF Serial XR364, sold as scrap to Rolls-Royce who recovered the Tyne engines
Hector - RAF Serial XR365, sold as G-HLFT then as 9L-LDQ operating with HeavyLift Cargo Airlines, now RP-C8020 (see images above)
Atlas - RAF Serial XR366, sold to RR for engines
Heracles - RAF Serial XR367 - sold as G-BFYU then scrapped
Theseus - RAF Serial XR368, sold as G-BEPS then in storage at Southend Airport - Began being broken up 22/Oct/2008
Spartacus - RAF Serial XR369, sold as G-BEPL then scrapped
Ajax - RAF Serial XR370, sold to RR for engines
Enceladus - RAF Serial XR371, preserved as an exhibit at RAF Museum Cosford

General characteristics:
Crew  Basic aircrew 5 (two pilots, engineer, navigator and loadmaster) 
Length  41.70 m (136 ft 5 in) 
Wingspan  48.1 m (158 ft 10 in) 
Height  14.33 m (47 ft) 
Empty weight  59,020 kg (130,000 lb) 
Max takeoff weight  104,300 kg (230,000 lb) 
Powerplant  4× Rolls-Royce Tyne R.Ty.12, Mk. 101 turboprops, 4,270 kW (5,730 ehp) each 
Maximum Speed  566 km/h (306 knots, 352 mph) 
Range  8,368 km (5,200 miles) with capacity fuel load of 80,720 lb 
Service ceiling  9,100 m (30,000 ft)

Some great pictures: http://www.grubby-fingers-aircraft-illustration.com/belfast_walkaround.html

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Belfast