G-ANBB Bristol 175 Britannia 102
(c/n 12903)
Here's an historic shot. It shows the
second production Britannia, G-ANBB standing near the statue
of
Alcock and Brown (first to fly across the Atlantic) at London Airport
in 1957. The statue is still
at
Heathrow, but has been resited. The background of this image is
interesting: Note two Pan Am
DC-6Bs
(nearest the camera is N6521C) and the 1954 (I think) Vauxhall Velox on
the tarmac.
Like its sister ship, G-ANBA, G-ANBB went to Britannia Airways in
1964. However, on 1st
September 1966, G-ANBB was on a charter flight from Luton to Ljubljana
in Slovenia with 110
passengers up
when it crashed into trees on approach to Ljubljana Airport.. 92
passengers and
six of
the crew were killed. The probable cause given after
the investigation indicated that the
captain had
failed to set his altimeter to the QFE as passed by the
controller. He was, apparently,
flying
with the QNH setting. The difference between the two at Ljublana
Airport is evidently about
1000 ft.
Failure on the part of the co-pilot to cross check the two altimeters
was also cited in the
cause.