Blackburn Beverley The Blackburn B - 101 Beverley was a 1950s British heavy transport aircraft built by Blackburn and General Aircraft and flown by squadrons of Royal Air Force Transport Command from 1957 until 1967 . Design and development . Designed and built by General Aircraft as the GAL . 60 Universal Freighter , the first aircraft was dismantled at the Feltham , Middlesex factory and transported to Brough in Yorkshire to have its maiden flight on 20 June 1950 . This was followed by a second , the GAL . 65 , which was modified from the original . Clamshell doors replaced a combination of a door and ramp , and the tailplane boom received seating for 36 passengers . The Bristol Hercules engines became Bristol Centaurus with reverse - pitch propellers , a feature that gave it a short landing length and the ability to reverse under its own power . The take - off run at full load was given as 790 yards , the landing run at full load , 310 yards . The RAF placed an order in 1952 as the Beverley C . 1 ( Beverley , Cargo Mark 1 ) . All Beverleys would be built at Brough . The aircraft was a high - wing cantilever monoplane with a fixed undercarriage . The large fuselage has a tailboom fitted with a tailplane with twin fins . The tailboom allowed access to the rear of the fuselage through removable clamshell doors . A 36 ft ( 11 m ) main fuselage space was supplemented by passenger accommodation in the tailboom . The main cargo hold could accommodate 94 troops , with another 36 in the tail - boom . In operation , it was regarded as " ungainly but highly effective " and was described by Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Freer as " like something out of the Ark , but it was a superb supply dropper . ” A device called an " Elephant ' s Foot " could be fitted under the centre of the fuselage just forward of the clamshell doors when it was in use . The foot was held in place by pins inserted through a triangular arrangement of attachment points on the fuselage and was fitted during loading to prevent the Beverley from tipping over when heavy items were loaded into the freight bay . The aircraft was designed for carrying large bulk loads and landing them on rough or imperfect runways , or mere dirt strips . It could trace its design back to the GAL49 Hamilcar glider of the Second World War . When it entered service it was the largest aircraft in the Royal Air Force ( RAF ) . It had a large interior cargo area split into two levels which amounted to around 6 , 003 ft³ ( 170 m³ ) of space . Paratrooper s in the upper passenger area jumped through a hatch in the base of the boom just in front of the leading edge of the tailplane . The Beverley was equipped with toilets , which were situated in the tail beyond the paratroop doors located on the floor of the tail boom . One fatality was caused by a serviceman who fell twenty feet to the ground when exiting the toilet , unaware that the paratroop doors had been opened . Modifications were made to prevent the toilet doors from being opened when the paratroop doors were open . In total , 49 of the aircraft were produced , with the last one being manufactured in 1958 , and final retirement from RAF service was in 1967 . Operational history . The first production aircraft from an original order for 20 from the Royal Air Force flew on 29 January 1955 . The first operational aircraft was delivered to 47 Squadron Royal Air Force at RAF Abingdon on 12 March 1956 . 53 Squadron , also at RAF Abingdon , received Beverleys in early 1957 but was absorbed into 47 Squadron in June 1963 . They were flown until October 1967 when the squadron disbanded . 30 Squadron received its Beverleys in April 1957 at RAF Dishforth subsequently deploying to RAF Eastleigh , Kenya and RAF Muharraq , Bahrain where it disbanded in September 1967 . The longest serving Beverleys were in the Far East ; 34 Squadron received its aircraft at RAF Seletar in October 1960 and continued flying them until the end of 1967 . During this time , 34 Squadron carried out flood relief work in South Vietnam . Prior to this , from June / July 1959 , the first four Beverleys to go to the Far East formed the Beverley Flight , 48 Squadron based at RAF Changi . The sixth squadron to fly the Beverley was 84 Squadron at RAF Khormaksar , Aden which flew them from 1958 until August 1967 when they were exchanged for Hawker Siddeley Andover s . Initially , the aircraft were silver overall , but later , those operated by the squadrons based in the Middle East were given an overall sand camouflage finish . Accidents and incidents . Nine aircraft were lost in service with the RAF , including one in the Sutton Wick air crash . Two of these were write - offs after explosive damage ( 1 landmine , 1 bomb ) . Survivors . Only one Beverley has survived : " XB259 " is on display at Fort Paull , just east of Hull , in England . Two other aircraft were on public display but have since been scrapped :