Bristol Freighter

(RCAF Photo)(Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page)
Bristol 170 Freighter Mk. 31C, RCAF (Serial No. 9697), coded KC.

The Bristol Type 170 Freighter was a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and an airliner. Its best known use was as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively short distances. A passenger-only version was also produced, known as the Wayfarer. The Freighter was developed during the Second World War, having attracted official attention from the British Air Ministry, which sought the development of a rugged vehicle capable of carrying various cargoes, including a 3-ton truck. Various changes to the design were made to accommodate their requirements, but being completed too late to participate in the conflict, the majority of sales of the Freighter were to commercial operators.

The Royal Canadian Air Force used five Freighters to carry spares and supplies between the United Kingdom and their bases in France and West Germany. Harold Skaarup web page

Freighter

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Harold A Skaarup Web Page

Bristol Freighter - Kestrel Publications

Freighter (Bristol) Mk. 31C 9697

Registered as G-AINO for production test flights in UK. Delivered on 22 Nov 1951 to Canada for winterization trials. First assigned to No. 137 Transport Flight in Lachine, QC. Then assigned in support of 1 Air Division in Europe again with No. 137 Transport Flight in Langar, UK. Coded "GC 967", "KC 697" and "KC B" in service with No. 137 Transport Flight. Transferred to 109 (KU) Flt in Grostenquin, France in August 1963. While parked at Gatwick in icy conditions, a ground crew member grabbed the VHF aerial after slipping on some ice. He broke the aerial off in attempting to prevent his fall. The aerial was refitted and welded back into place but the crew were not informed of the incident. En route from Gatwick, this aircraft crashed while on radar controlled approach in bad weather to 1 (F) Wing Marville on 30 December 1963 about one mile (1.6 km) short of the runway. The weld on the aerial had failed and the aerial had detached causing a loss of radio contact. The crash took the lives of seven service and one civilian personnel. Four crew members and 4 passengers were killed. One crew member and 2 other passengers were injured. The Board of Inquiry noted that the GCA controller had mistakenly tracked a "ghost image" of the aircraft on the radar causing the aircraft to be too low on approach but this was deemed an equipment error and not the operators fault. The airframe was written-off after this Category "A" accident with 4,192 total airframe hours. source: Kestrel Publications