The
Short SC.5/41 was an early-1960s proposal by Short Brothers and the Lockheed Corporation, offered to meet Operational Requirement ASR.364 for a strategic transport. The basic concept was a stretched Short Belfast fuselage mated to a new pair of wings and tail surfaces, which were to be derived from those on the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter. The so-called "Jet Belfast" would likely have been powered by four Rolls Royce Conway turbofans, allowing the aircraft to carry two decks of palletized cargo across the Atlantic at a speed of 500 mph. Another interesting feature of the proposed aircraft was a swing-nose, facilitating the loading and unloading of materiel from both the nose and tail of the aircraft. A broadly similar but improved proposal, designated as SC.5/45, was also developed during this time period. Detailed presentations on the SC.5/41 and SC.5/45 proposals were made to British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and RAF respectively, but ultimately no orders were placed.
Specs: Length: 146' 10" (44.8m), Wingspan: 163' 6" (49.8m), Height: 41' 8" (12.7m), Fuselage diameter: 18' (5.5m). Propulsion: 4x Rolls-Royce Conway 550 (21,800 lb. thrust ea.). Cruising speed: 500 mph (805 km/h, 435 kn). MTOW: ~330,700 lb. (~150,000 kg).
Inspiration for this colour scheme is provided by Hobbes over at whatifmodellers.com, you can find his excellent SC.5/41 model conversion
here. Also many thanks go out to Garlicdesign for the original Shorts Belfast drawing, and to Llamaman, whose C-141 drawing donated a pair of wings for the occasion.