About us
The Vickers Viscount Network is a world-wide organisation with free membership
The Vickers Viscount Network is a virtual museum dedicated to the Vickers-Armstrongs VC2 Viscount. It is a world-wide
organisation with thousands of members based in over 21 countries, a following in over 89 countries, and has become
the main focus for everyone who is interested in this ground breaking aircraft.
Manx Airlines (Skianyn Vannin) V.813 Viscount c/n 350 G-AZNA
Founded by Geoff Blampied and Brian Burrage in 2005, the museum has grown to over 20,000 pages of information and photos
detailing the life and times of each Viscount built. Our team of over 40 core members, all of whom are volunteers,
are very friendly and knowledgeable in many genres of Viscount research. Many of them specialize in one area or another;
however some like Brian Burrage, Ed Jones and Richard Stanton are very knowledgeable across the board. Others have
specialized on a tighter genre like Jack Stephens and Robert Arnold who have specialised on the Canadian Viscounts, Peter
Gates the Australian Viscounts, Peter Layne the New Zealand Viscounts, George Stringer the BMA - British Midland Airways
and Alidair Viscounts, Julian Bourn the BEA - British European Airways and BA - British Airways Viscounts, Rory Kay the
Capital Airlines and United Air Lines Viscounts, etc..
Several of the team contribute to the organisation in other ways too. Brian Burrage is our historian and photo archivist,
Geoff Blampied is our webmaster and website designer, Peter Layne, Ed Jones and Simon Ellwood write, produce and distribute
our newsletter, Nick Webb and David Carter prepare the Viscount illustrations used on the website, and Julian Bourn is our event organiser.
Viscount CF-THG
Many of the team also give up their time to look after Viscount airframes at museums around the world. Mark Pilkington
works on Viscount VH-TVR at the Australian National Aviation Museum, Dave Peters on Viscount CF-THG at the British Columbia
Aviation Museum in Canada, Robert Arnold on Viscount CF-THS at the Western Canada Aviation Museum, Denys Jones on Viscount
ZK-BRF at the Ferrymead Aeronautical Society in New Zealand, Ian Brown on Viscount G-AMOG at the National Museum of Flight
in Scotland, John Overhill on Viscount G-ALWF at the Duxford Aviation Society in England, John Woodhouse on Viscount G-APIM
at the Brooklands Museum in England, and Mike Higgins on Viscount F-BGNR at the Midlands Air Museum also in England.
Most of the team have Skype – a way of having free chats over the internet - and everyone is welcome to join our friendly
and informal discussions at our ‘Virtual Club Room' - please see our membership details for further information. Our website
delivers over 1.2 million pages each year to over 89 countries.
The Vickers Viscount Network's team of volunteers needs help to complete this comprehensive work and will be grateful for
anything that you are able to provide in the way of information and photos. Our ultimate aim is to have an image of every
single aircraft in every livery that it operated, together with images showing significant moments in each aircrafts' life.
Viscount c/n 341
before correction
Viscount c/n 341
after correction
Any photograph, even a poor quality one, that shows a unique part of an aircrafts' history, is better than not having one at
all. Our graphic systems can restore all but the worst image.
Our aim will probably never be totally fulfilled, but with your help it could come close.
For all correspondence please contact us at
Information@VickersViscount.net
Our aim is to complete the history for each aircraft
both in information and photos
Below is an example of what we are trying to achieve
OE-LAG AUA - Austrian Airlines - February 1960 to August 1964
This V.837 Viscount c/n 438 was built for AUA - Austrian Airlines as OE-LAG and first flew on Wednesday, 17 February 1960
at Weybridge, Surrey, England powered by Rolls-Royce Dart 525 engines.
In the summer of 1963 AUA - Austrian Airlines leased it to TABSO - Bulgarian Civil Air Transport, and in the summer of 1964
AUA - Austrian Airlines leased it to Austrian Air Transport.
Shackleton Aviation Ltd. purchased it in August 1964 and prepared it for sale to the Ministry of Technology for use by the
RRE - Royal Radar & Signals Establishment.
RRE - Royal Radar & Signals Establishment
RRE - Royal Radar & Signals Establishment
Between October 1964 and April 1977 it was used by the RRE - Royal Radar & Signals Establishment at Pershore, Worcestershire,
England where it was fitted with a large belly radome forward of the wing for Nimrod ASW electronic trials.
RAE - Royal Aircraft Establishment
RAE - Royal Aircraft Establishment
In April 1977 it was transferred to the RAE - Royal Aircraft Establishment at Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, England after the
closure of Pershore, Worcestershire, England.
It was finally withdrawn from use and stored at Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, England in February 1991 with a total time of
only 11,001 hours.
In April 1991 the RAE - Royal Aircraft Establishment was renamed DRA - Defence Research Agency.
It was sold at auction in London to International Turbine Service Inc. of Grapevine, near Dallas, Texas, USA on the 8
July 1993 for £166,750 specifically for the recovery of the Rolls-Royce Dart engines (four installed and two spares).
Hanningfield Metals
The airframe was broken up into sections by Hanningfield Metals at Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, England in July 1993 and
transferred to their yard at Stock, Essex, England.
In February 1994 the nose section was donated by International Turbine Service Inc. to 'Cockpits for Hire' at Bruntingthorpe,
Leicestershire, England, and in January 1996 was donated to the Brooklands Museum aviation collection, Weybridge, Surrey,
England.
Brooklands Museum - 1996 to Current
Full history and photos of Viscount c/n 438
