CBFT - Classic British Fuel Truck

[Chris Trott]

Over on the CalClassic site, a pic was linked and a question was asked about the auxiliary tank being towed behind it -

http://www.airliners.net/photo/British- ... e2645e0b46

It's been suggested (and I believe to be correct) that it's an oil tank (i.e. engine oil), but I figured you guys would know best.

[Garry Russell]

Oil is my first thought

They did use rather a lot

I wish they would stop calling those things Argonauts ...that was just the BOAC class name..it's a Canadair Four only bought by BOAC and CPA although similar to the TCA Canadair DC 4M-2

[Chris Trott]

One of the many issues with Airliners.net I'm afraid. There's not really any way to fix it and they don't seem to listen much to people giving them suggestions. For example, I tried for a long time to get several Convair 600's fixed that were showing in their database as either Convair 640's or Convair 580's. Not to mention most of their aircraft "fact sheets" are more like "wish lists" because they contain extremely optimistic or flat out false information.

[DaveB]

I've asked the Vanguard team about this and they agree, sitting next to a DC4, it has to be oil. Were it pulled up alongside something more modern.. a Viscount say.. the towed tank would have probably been water meth (though pictures I've seen of these showed the water meth truck to be a truck in it's own right and usually red). So there you go.. oil it is

ATB
DaveB

[Chris Trott]

Thanks guys for the confirmation.

[DarrenL]

I wish they would stop calling those things Argonauts ...that was just the BOAC class name..it's a Canadair Four

Even says it on the aircraft.

[Garry Russell]

Sure does...on many liveries, but not one livery every called it an Argonaut

Technically it was a Canadair C4 but called a Canadair Four by Canadair who as a type designation referred to it as a CL-4...but that is all variations of a theme.

All DC4M-1 (RCAF) & DC4M-2 (TCA) were also called North Stars and were CL-2s and although as with BOAC the CPA aircraft were CL-4 they were Canadair C4-1....the lack of a CL-1 and a CL-3 makes me wonder if the prototype (C-54GM) and the TCA DC4M-2 were unofficially CL-1 and CL-3 respectively???

There was a CL-5, the one off Canadair C5 which used the engines and fin of a DC 6. The fuselage of the prototype and RCAF were DC4 and the C4 used a shortened DC 6 fuse with the rest of the basic airframe DC4

Oddly even though the TCA DC4M-2 looked like the C4 apart from a slightly different window variation it was the same length as the DC4M-1 (RCAF) unpressurised whereas the C4 was 1.3 inches longer ..no idea why

The only class name that can really be called a type was the Pionair which was a BEA mod that made them different to other DC 3's.

One as yet unnamed airliner had a class name allocated to it which was adopted by the manufacturer as it's genuine type name...anyone like to guess what that was??

Anyhow

I still think that was oil behind the petrol ...no matter what they called the aeroplane

[DaveB]

Let's muddy the water a little and bring the Halton into the equation No.. let's not Halton wasn't really a class name as such, it was a Halifax Cmk8 tweaked specifically for BOAC (square windows and a few bits and bobs - pax seats for example). However, to my mind.. it remains a Halton and not a Cmk8 even though the basic airframe is Cmk8. One could argue (if one wanted) that it was a Halifax Halton.. I've often seen it noted as such

OK.. I'll go back in my hole
ATB
DaveB

[Garry Russell]

Hi mate



Halton was a name, how official it was I can't say, but this thing wasn't a converted bomber with a possible alternate name..Like the Mercahntman was the freight conversion name but to many it was still a Vanguard so a comparison there with the Halifax.

This was designed and built as a Canadair C-4 and was only an Argonaught to BOAC

BTW I never refer to Airspeed Ambassadors as Elizabethans or Lizzies...only ever been an Ambassador to me

[DaveB]

Yes.. I knew it was a little bit of a red herring BOAC only ever knew them as Halton's speaking to the chaps at Brooklands and for one of the team, the Halton was his first line aircraft at BOAC as an engineer. Fortunately, he had the good sense to go and do a bit of National Service and join BEA on his return
Now.. the first aircraft he worked on at BEA was the Pionair but he only ever talks of it as a Dak or DC3 followed I think by the Ambassador which he calls both Ambassador and Elizabethan.. depending on his mood I guess He doesn't talk about the Ambassador much as he hated the sight of it! You couldn't walk under the wings without getting dripped on with fuel!

An interesting thread seeing as it started life asking about a fuel truck

ATB
DaveB