Manufacturer: Blackburn

Model: YC.1

Name: Firefreighter

Type: Transport

Date: 1947

Status: Prototype

Country: Great Britain

Service: Royal Air Force

Designation: Firefreighter C.1

The Blackburn B.48 Firecrest was used as a basis and the photo reworked to make it look like a much bigger aircraft. The windows on the Firefreighter were (much) adapted from an Antonov An-22; the engines from the Convair XC-99; the nose was completely reworked from a C-124 Globemaster II; the bottom of the nose used texture bits from a Fairchild C-82; and finally the cockpit was adapted from the Blackburn Beverley transport.

• "This Firefreighter is wonderful, what-ifing the way I love." (Tophe)
• "Different? You're not kidding! I could just imagine 47 Sqdn. having those instead of their Bevs at Abingdon in 1952. They'd have needed some SERIOUS runway re-inforcements!" (PR19_Kit)
• "Your Firefreighter is very unusual, especially the position of its outer engines! And a little correction: B.48 Firecrest was rather a torpedo carrier than a fighter." (redstar72)
• "I have to say, in many of your pictures, the most unconvincing thing is that it takes as short a time or as little effort as you make it seem." (Just call me Ray)

Okay, okay. I have got to admit this one is a little far-fetched, and certainly one of the least possible "whifs" I ever came up with... To begin with, what engines at the time would have been slim yet powerful enough to be blended into the wing's section? None that I know of. Plus I really feel in this case that I turned a beauteous aircraft into an ugly one... Ah well, I guess no-one can be in top form 100% of the time!!