Drag Development of the Belfast: An account of the methods taken to solve the Belfast drag problem Available to Purchase

THE Belfast was designed and built to a specification for a long range strategic aircraft suitable for carrying heavy and bulky items of freight. The ability to airdrop supplies, combined with structural advantages, led to the choice of rear access to the freight hold; utilisation of part of the freight door as a loading ramp leads to independence of ground based freight handling equipment. The rear fuselage was up‐swept in order to provide ample head‐room for cargo on the ramp. To minimise this upsweep and also to facilitate handling of heavy loads, a low angle of inclination of the ramp is necessary. This led to a low freight floor height in relation to the ground, and to flattening of the rear fuselage undersurface. These features are illustrated in FIG. 1 which depicts the unloading of an Abbott self propelled gun carrier.