For Garry & All - Brittania from Mexico

[Chris Trott]

This was posted yesterday on WiX and I thought it interesting -

The caption reads -

The interesting thing about this Aeronaves de Mexico Bristol Britannia is her name, "Tenochtitlan." The sources I've been able to find cite AdM as operating two Britannias, XA-MEC and XA-MED, between Mexico City and New York. Originally they were named "Ciudad de Mexico" and "Ciudad de Nueva York" respectively, then later "Moctezuma" and "Tzintzuntan". Never "Tenochtitlan". My guess would be that this is MEC, renamed "Tenochtitlan" because naming a plane after an emperor from whose revenge some of its passengers likely were suffering just couldn't be a good idea.

The entire thread with the interesting story of how the slide (and several others) was acquired is here -
http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/p ... hp?t=31021

EDIT: BTW, the picture was taken at Idlewild Airport (aka JFK International).

[Garry Russell]

Thanks very much Chris

There is a Forum member with the airline as a username and he also knows one of their Britannia pilots.

That is a very useful pic for two reasons.....one it shows the airline name on to of the wing, dificult detail to get reference to and also it show the aircraft flying control and linkage housing better than any other pic I have.

Wings are dificult........tops rarely shown in detail and bottoms usually in shadow

Garry

[Chris Trott]

Glad I could help Garry. Other than it being one of only 3 Brits flown by this airline and having an interesting history on its name while in this livery, I thought it'd be good for both the story and for any potential reference value.

[Garry Russell]

Thanks Chris

It's one of that pics that seems of no value in the classic sense......it cut off and not a normal posed pic.

But that's what makes it special as it shows the bits others don't. Sometimes a pic of some other subject may have a certain aicraft just poke it's nose in and there's a great shot of the wheel doors and leg actuators.

For that reason no pic should ever be discounted even an over exposed bleached pic can mean shadowed details seen, it might only show one small detail well but that might just be the missing link

Garry

[DispatchDragon]

It also shows the upsweep on the wingtips rather well as well as the door actuation Plus the GPU access panel --

Garry -- its got rounded tips as well - so, post 1966???


Leif

[Garry Russell]

Hi Leif

All the 300 were delivered with square tips but that was quickly changed. All the 250 were delivered with rounded tips..or so it appears

The 100 kept the square largely with only Britannia Airways changing to round.

That could be anytime from the very late 50's.

Pics of 300 are quite rare with square tips an it seems that El Al and CPA were the last to change.

Pics of BOAC 312 with squares are rare but I do have at least one pic of each (G-AOVB-T) with the square fitted.

Garry

[DispatchDragon]

I also notice in this shot - you can see my favorite "perch" used for directing the crew when reversing into tight spots, or in the case of Lubumbashi - backing down the runways to the turnoff


Leif

[Garry Russell]

Don't hit the brakes

Garry

[DispatchDragon]

They tried to "dismount" me a few times



Leif