| Viscount | |
|---|---|
| A Vickers Viscount 700 at Aberdeen Airport, Scotland | |
| Role | Turboprop airliner |
| Manufacturer | Vickers-Armstrongs |
| First flight | 16 July 1948 |
| Introduction | 1950 with British European Airways |
| Primary users | British European Airways Capital Airlines |
| Produced | 1948–1963 |
| Number built | 445 |
| Developed into | Vickers Vanguard |
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world. It would go on to be one of the most successful of the first generation postwar transports, with 445 being built.
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The design resulted from the Brabazon Committee's Type II design, calling for a small sized, medium range pressurised aircraft to fly its less-travelled routes, carrying 24 passengers up to 1,750 mi (2,816 km) at 200 mph (320 km/h).[1] British European Airways (BEA) was involved in the design and asked that the aircraft carry 32 passengers instead, but remained otherwise similar. During development, Vickers advocated the use of turboprop power, believing piston engines to be a dead end in aviation. The Brabazon committee was not so convinced, but agreed to split the design into two types, the Type IIA using piston power, and the Type IIB using a turboprop. Vickers won the IIB contracts, while the IIA was the Airspeed Ambassador.
The resulting Vickers Type 630 design was completed at Brooklands by Chief Designer Rex Pierson and his staff in 1945, a 32-seat airliner powered by four Rolls-Royce Dart engines providing a cruising speed of 275 mph (443 km/h). An order for two prototypes was placed in March 1946, and construction started almost immediately in the company's Foxwarren Experimental Department. Originally to be named Viceroy, the name was changed to Viscount after the partition of India in 1947. There was some work on replacing the Darts with the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba, but this was dropped by the time the prototypes were reaching completion. After Pierson's death in 1948, George Edwards (later Sir George Edwards) took over as Chief Designer and assumed all technical control over the Viscount project.[2]
The prototype Type 630 made its maiden flight from Wisley airfield on 16 July 1948, piloted by Joseph "Mutt" Summers, Vickers' Chief Test Pilot.[3] The design was considered too small and slow at 275 mph (443 km/h), making the per passenger operating costs too high for regular service, and British European Airways (BEA) had placed an order for 20 piston engined Airspeed Ambassadors in 1947. Early flight trials, however, showed the qualities of a turboprop, resulting in a February 1949 order from the Ministry of Supply for a prototype of a stretched version with more powerful engines, the Type 700.[4] The first prototype Type 630 was meanwhile awarded a restricted Certificate of Airworthiness on 15 September 1949,[5] followed by a full Certificate on 27 July 1950, which allowed the aircraft to be placed into service with BEA on 29 July to familiarize the pilots and ground crew with the new aircraft, flying services between London and Paris, and London and Edinburgh for a month.[6] The 29 July flight between Northolt and Paris – Le Bourget Airport with fourteen passengers was the first scheduled flight by any turbine-powered aircraft.[7]
The second prototype Viscount was named the Type 663 and was built as a testbed. This aircraft fitted with two Rolls-Royce Tay (turbojet) engines and first flew in RAF Markings as VX217 at Wisley on 15 March 1950.[8] It was demonstrated at the Farnborough SBAC Show in September and was later used in the development of powered controls for the Valiant bomber.[5] Subsequently, Boulton Paul Ltd used it as a test bed for electronic control systems[9] until scrapping in 1960 at Seighford airfield, Staffordshire.
The designers then went back to the drawing board and the aircraft emerged as the larger Type 700 with up to 48 passengers (53 in some configurations), and a cruising speed of 308 mph (496 km/h). The new prototype G-AMAV first flew from Brooklands on 28 August 1950.[10] It was used in flight tests and proving trials throughout 1951/52. BEA started regular passenger flights as the world's first sustained turboprop service in April 1953.
Today's airline passengers accustomed to small "portal" type windows can hardly imagine the panorama seen through a Viscount's window, 19 inches wide and 26 inches tall. It is equally hard to imagine a first experience of turbine-powered flight. "Noise level was less than that of piston engines. It was a definite relief to be rid of the rough vibration" said an American aviation writer after a ride on an Air France Viscount in 1953. "The turboprop is an excellent shorthaul airplane and a definite crowd pleaser. The substitution of a lower constant pitch noise and smoothness for the vibration, grunts, and groans of the piston engine gives the hesitant passenger a feeling of confidence."[11] (The Viscount's hum would still seem loud to today's traveller.[12])
In October 1953, the Viscount 700 prototype G-AMAV achieved the fastest time (40 hours 41 minutes flying time) in the transport section of the 12,367 mi (19,903 km) air race from London to Christchurch, New Zealand. The aircraft averaged 320 mph (520 km/h) in the event, crossing the finishing line nine hours ahead of its closest rival, a Douglas DC-6A of KLM, with the latter winning on handicap. En route, equipped with extra fuel tanks, it flew 3,530 mi (5,680 km) nonstop from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands to Melbourne's Essendon Airport in 10 hours 16 minutes.[10][13] Vickers Viscounts later served with New Zealand's National Airways Corporation.
The first North American airline to use turboprop aircraft was Trans-Canada Air Lines (Air Canada), with a small fleet of Viscounts and Vanguards.
The Type 700D added more powerful engines, and the Type 724 included a new fuel system, two-pilot cockpit, and increased weights.
The final major change to the design was the Type 800, unofficially named the Super Viscount, stretched 3 ft 10 in (1.2 m) for up to 71-74 passengers. Wider, more square doors were fitted to the airframe at this time. A further fuselage extension was planned but not produced, instead eventually developing into the later Vanguard. The last Viscounts built were six for the People's Republic of China state airline Civil Aviation Administration of China, which were delivered during 1964, giving a total production total of 445.[14]
The Viscount continued in BEA and, later, British Airways service until early 1985, when they were withdrawn from service, eventually being passed on to charter operators such as British Air Ferries (later British World). After a life extension programme on the airframes, the Viscounts continued in service both as a passenger aircraft (until early 1997), and freighters, able to carry seven tonnes of payload, a useful amount in the market. The last British-owned Viscounts were withdrawn and sold on by the then operator British World Airlines for use in Africa in 1997.
As of August 2010[update], one Viscount 800 series (ex-G-APEY) remains airworthy and for sale at Lanseria, Africa. This means the Viscount has flown between 1948 and 2010, giving the aircraft type an amazing lifespan of 62 years.
See List of accidents and incidents involving the Vickers Viscount.
In August 2010, only two Vickers Viscount aircraft (both ex-B.E.A. type 800, the first one reg. no. 3D-PFI), remained in airworthy flying condition in Africa, and there is a possibility that 9Q-COD ( the second one,ex. G-APEY) remains flyable, but is parked on the military ramp at Kinshasa. There is a further Viscount 800 parked at Lubumbashi, and this machine flew twice in 2008, so may be in a flyable condition at the time of writing (2010). In addition to this, one (a series 700) is in a near flyable condition at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum, in the USA, but requires a complete fuel line overhaul.
Data from Jackson, 1974.[18]
General characteristics
Performance
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