On 12th October 1967 a Royal Air Force Bristol Britannia registered XL638
and named 'Sirius' flying from Bahrain overran the Khormaksar runway on landing and finished on
the salt flats before the causeway.
This was the same aircraft that was involved with an undercarriage
emergency in 1960 at Karachi.
The Royal Engineers could not pull the
aircraft out from where it had come to rest so they first removed the cargo
then blew the fin and rudder off as the height was causing an
obstruction/danger to aircraft movements. After spares recovery they
proceeded to blow up the remains.
Upon it's relocation from Filton to Brize Norton a number of spares and
controls from XL638 were used to refurbish the forward fuselage of another
Britannia, G-ALRX, which had become a flight deck trainer. After relocating
several times it is today with the Bristol Aero Collection.
