The Blackburn Beverley started life as the GAL.60 Universal, a 'heavy-lift' military transport aircraft, which was the last aircraft to be designed by General Aircraft Limited (GAL). In its civil guise, the Universal was designed, according to advertising material of the time, for ‘the carriage of six motor cars, plus five motor-cycles and up to 42 passengers’.
On 1st January 1949, General Aircraft Limited was absorbed into Blackburn and General Aircraft and work that was already in hand at Feltham on the Universal freighter was transported from West London by road to Brough, East Yorkshire, the home of Blackburn Aircraft.
The GAL.60 Universal had a somewhat unique look, and many of the craftsmen at the Brough factory doubted if it would ever leave the ground. However, the prototype (WF320 / G-AMUX) first flew at Brough on 20th June 1950. The design was a ‘box-like’ fuselage, with a large single tail boom with a large rudder and a fin on each side. Access to the load bay was via rear opening doors (below the boom) with the use of a hand-powered hydraulic ramp.
It was the surprise of the 1950 SBAC Farnborough Air Show, where, despite its large size, it left the ground with ease, performed a slow flypast, and then undertook a very short landing. What stole the show though was when it came to a halt and reversed back down the runway, to the amazement of the assembled industry VIPs and spectators. Following the show however, further cargo trials proved disappointing, and it was noted that the aircraft displayed some cumbersome ground handling properties. This was considered a major drawback and a real disappointment after the aircraft had performed so excellently in the air.
A change of government, which saw Winston Churchill re-elected as Prime Minister in 1951, provided Blackburn Aircraft Company with the funding for a second prototype and the Design Team at Brough set about a full re-configuration of the aircraft.
What emerged was the GAL.65, featuring a 36 ft (11 m) cargo bay with a modified tail boom which became a passenger carrying area, together with clamshell doors replacing the previous door and ramp arrangement. The main cargo hold could accommodate 94 troops, with another 36 in the tailboom. The original Bristol Hercules engines were also uprated to four Bristol Centaurus units, with automatic reverse-pitch propellers.
In keeping with the usual industry convention of naming large military aircraft after towns and cities (Lancaster, York, Wellington etc.), the name ‘Beverley’ was selected following a competition held within the workforce at Brough - not a surprising choice in the circumstances as it was also the name of the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire.
So positive was the Air Ministry reaction to the second prototype (WZ889) that they pre-ordered an initial batch of 20 Beverley C.1 aircraft in late 1952, despite it not actually flying until 14th June 1953. A further order of nine aircraft followed on 30th July 1954. The first production Blackburn Beverley (XB259) flew on 29th January 1955, and in all 47 aircraft were constructed (including the two prototypes). The Blackburn Beverley entered RAF service with the first operation aircraft arriving at RAF Abingdon in March 1956. It received mixed reactions in operation, where 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'.
The Blackburn Beverley was ideal for carrying large loads, landing on rough runways and dirt strips. A device known as an 'Elephant's Foot' was fitted, just forward of the clamshell doors, to prevent the aircraft from tipping back whilst loading particularly heavy cargo items.
When it entered service it was the largest aircraft in the RAF with a cargo hold of about 6,000 ft3 (170 m3). Paratroopers who sat 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. Those travelling within the cargo hold simply exited through side doors.
The longest serving Blackburn Beverley's were those posted to East Asia such as those with RAF Seletar in Singapore who continued using the aircraft as late as 1967. The final recorded military use of the Blackburn Beverley was at RAF Khormaksar, Aden, Yemen which flew them from 1958 until August 1967 when they were exchanged for the Hawker Siddeley Andover.