Welcome to our Viscount Museum

Nick Webb illustrations

Preserving the Memory of the Vickers-Armstrongs VC2 Viscount

Concorde

In the early 1950s the Viscount was just as pioneering as Concorde was 20 years later. Indeed, in many respects the Viscount was more successful than Concorde. Designed by Sir George Edwards, who was also involved with the design of Concorde, the Viscount was the world's first Jet Powered aircraft to carry fare paying passengers on a scheduled service.

Our museum is dedicated to preserve the memory of this ground breaking and highly successful British aircraft and has a membership in over 21 countries of people with an interest in the Viscount. Click here for details of our FREE membership and newsletters.

Please enjoy your visit through thousands of pages of photos and information, and don't forget to return regularly as new information is being added every week. Check the grey panel on the right hand side of every page for details.

Aer Lingus

EI-AKK c/n 422
September 1967

Delivered new to Aer Lingus named as 'St Aidan' / 'St Aodhan'. Taken at Lulsgate, Bristol, England 22 September 1967, after the landing accident in poor weather conditions. This view shows where the aircraft ended up.

Photo source - Graham Fitzjohn

Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd

G-AOYV c/n 316
January 1958

Built as a V.810 development aircraft. Taken during a test flight from Weybridge in early 1958 for US certification work. The aircraft is painted up in Continental Airlines livery purely for marketing purposes.

Photo source - Brian Burrage Collection

Havacilik Muzezi

430 c/n 430
September 2003

Withdrawn from use by the Turk Hava Kuvvetleri (Turkish Air Force) and preserved at the Havacilik Muzezi on the military side of Yesilkoy airfield, Istanbul, Turkey. Taken 6 September 2003.

Photo source - Paul Morley

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Vickers-Armstrongs VC2 Viscount

1948 - 2012

Viscount prototype G-AHRF

It was during the 1940s that Vickers-Armstrongs and Rolls-Royce proved that the gas-turbine engine was the power plant of the future by developing the world class Viscount passenger aircraft and Dart engine.

'Commercial flying', an airline passenger of the first half of the 20th Century once observed, 'is 90% boredom and 10% fright'. This is the story of an aircraft that was instrumental in altering this opinion. It is the story of a remarkable aircraft that so shattered the accepted notions of travel comfort and airline economics that its standards became accepted as a yardstick by which other forms of transport were measured. It is the story of the first turbo-prop airliner in the world, and the first transport type ever to break America's monopoly of the commercial aircraft market.

TCA - Trans-Canada Air Lines

On 29 July 1950 the prototype Viscount G-AHRF became the first Jet Powered aircraft ever to carry fare paying passengers on a scheduled service. In February 1953 the prototype V.700 Viscount G-AMAV was the first turboprop aircraft to cross the Atlantic, and on 18 April 1955 TCA - Trans-Canada Air Lines Viscount CF-TGI operated the first turbine powered scheduled service in North America from Toronto, Canada to New York, USA.

BEA - British European
Airways

The Viscount was born of a post World War II belief that the gas-turbine in one form or another was the power plant of the future. A statement of this belief has now become unexceptional and unchallenged, but in 1945 it was none of these things. There were at the time more people willing to prove conclusively that gas turbines would never be economically suited to passenger operations, than there were converts to rebut them. In those pioneer days the arguments on both sides were still based on theory, plus on the side of those who supported the gas turbine, a considerable degree of faith.

Virgin Atlantic Airways

When the Viscount was in full production, Vickers-Armstrongs won orders from some 60 customers worldwide, amounting to a return of £177 million for the 439 aircraft sold. Later the number of operators greatly increased as examples came onto the second-hand market, usually to play a large part in improving the carriers' financial position.

Pegasus Aviation

The Viscount saw service throughout the world on both passenger and freight services and although the majority had been withdrawn by the start of the 21st century, a few soldiered on. Numerous examples of this classic Vickers-Armstrongs design have been preserved for posterity. While providing a fitting tribute to the magnificent aircraft and its creators, the atmosphere and character of a living specimen is naturally missing.

The Turboprop World-Beater Viscount

By Gerry Sweet

Gerry Sweet chronicles the history and development of the UK's most successful propeller-driven commercial airliner.