F1 cars await loading onto a Bristol Britannia at Heathrow in 1963, en route to the US GP
THE BRISTOL BRITANNIA XM496 Preservation Society is appealing for volunteers to help save the sole surviving RAF Bristol Britannia long-range transport aircraft. Of 85 Britannias built, 23 were ordered by the RAF and delivered in 1959-60. Celestial names such as Arcturus, Sirius and Vega were given to each of the heavy lifters. XM496 Regulus (the brightest star in Leo) has been based at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire – the former RAF Kemble – since its retirement in 1997.