Select a Flight Magazine report
17 October 1946 - BEA future plans
31 October 1946 - Airscrew turbine progress
14 November 1946 - Todays British transports
21 November 1946 - Brabazon IIA/IIB contenders
28 November 1946 - VC2 first known as Viceroy
7 August 1947 - Viceroy becomes Viscount
20 November 1947 - Introducing the Viscount
22 July 1948 - The Viscounts first flight
1 February 1952 - Tropical trials
1 October 1954 - Britains Big Three
31 December 1954 - Delivery flight of VH-TVA
1 July 1955 - Transair buy Viscounts, + more
9 May 1958 - BEA Viscount 802 loss
Magazine Report
Discover the history of the Viscount with these contemporary reports from the pages of Flight Magazine
DELIVERY DE LUXE
Impressions on the flight of a TAA Viscount from England to Australia
The scene at Essendon Airport, Melbourne, as the first
Australian Viscount taxied to a halt on arrival from England
On October 13th, at 3.30 pm, Trans-Australia Airlines' Series 720 Vickers Viscount VH-TVA John Batman landed at Essendon Airport, Melbourne, Australia, after a delivery flight of 12,080 statute
miles. This delivery flight marked the beginning of a new era in aviation for this continent, because not only did it bring to Australia its first turboprop airliner, but the Viscount was also
the first large British airliner to be delivered to Australia for twenty years.
It was another step along the road for TAA, who had planned for three years to introduce this aircraft to Australia, this company, being actually the fourth definite customer Vickers had for the
Viscount (the first three were BEA, Aer Lingus and Air France), and its performance and reception more than justified the faith evinced in the aircraft by Mr J L Watkins, TAA's director of
engineering, when in 1951 he recommended the purchase of the model 720 by his management.
The TAA specification for the Viscount 720 was such that this series differs greatly from the 700. In point of fact, flight and acceptance trials of the 720 became the proving ground for the
majority of the new features Vickers are introducing into the new Series 700D.
The delivery flight was planned to leave London Airport on Wednesday, October 6th, with VH-TVA scheduled to rendezvous over Melbourne with a photographic aircraft at 2.55 pm on Wednesday, October
13th; and the flight operated to such a schedule that VH-TVA actually arrived over the rendezvous 11 minutes early.
The personnel concerned with the delivery flight were: Flight commander, Captain F Fischer; 1st officer, Captain D Winch; navigator, Captain H Locke; radio officer, R/Off. B Roberts; and flight
engineer, Eng/Off. S Banks.
Seventeen passengers were carried, eleven being TAA personnel: Mr J L Watkins (director of engineering) and Mrs Watkins; Mr J G Dailey (planning and performance engineer); Mr E F Coate (radio
engineer); Messrs Buncle, Phillingham, Berrie, Kirk, Taylor and Dunn; and Mr G Thompson (film producer and cameraman).
The remaining six were Mr R Simmonds of Rolls-Royce; Messrs C Spooner, R Shaw, and J Gunn of Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd.; Mr J Tupman of Normalair; and Mr E Birchill of Rotol.
From a mechanical aspect, the flight was a complete success. Every one of the 56 engine starts was faultless, and the only mechanical faults experienced were an incorrectly set flap adjustment
prior to take-off and a faulty windscreen wiper en-route. As the delivery flight was to be through the tropics, where many landings and take-offs would be made at high aircraft weights and high
ambient temperatures, complete performance studies were made by Messrs Watkins and Dailey during the journey; and the results exceeded the most sanguine expectations of Vickers and TAA.
Although the Series 720 aircraft is cleared to 60,000 lb all-up weight, the fully loaded weight of VH-TVA on its delivery flight, with full tanks, amounted to 58,800 lb. At this figure, mid-day
take-offs at Athens, Bahrein, Delhi, Bangkok, Djakarta and Den Pasar under high temperatures were accomplished without using more than about half of the runway length available.
VH-TVA performed a flypast after its arrival at Essendon
following its epic 7 day delivery flight from the UK.
Performance records of the flight and observations made en-route have been summarized, and Tables I and II give the complete picture of the results. It can be seen that the performance exceeded
the best hopes of the Vickers planning staff.
Passenger reactions during the flight were such as to prove the suitability of the turboprop aircraft for Australian travel. Despite the lack of sleep during the overnight stops (much of the time
was spent in sightseeing and souvenir purchasing), the passengers remained wide-awake and active throughout the whole trip - so active that Captain Fischer, when responding to the speeches of
welcome at Essendon, referred to the constantly changing trim of the aircraft, caused by the exuberance of the cabin occupants.
TAA are satisfied that the appearance, facilities and comfort of the 44-seat cabin will surpass anything now offered in Australia. The new Normalair pressurization and air-conditioning system
proved highly satisfactory throughout all varying air and ground-operating conditions, and its performance showed that it can be expected to provide maximum passenger comfort on TAA's domestic
routes.
The company-planned radio installation worked perfectly throughout the flight. Long-range HF radio-telephony and VHF were used throughout and not once was it necessary to revert to CW operation.
VHF communications were excellent, 5 x 5 reception conditions at 250 nautical miles being the normal experience on every leg and between Alice Springs and Melbourne; a trial call to Adelaide from
420 nm at 15,500ft gave a strength report of 3 X 3.
From the passengers' viewpoint, this ferry flight presented what has probably been the most comfortable air journey ever made from England to Australia. Every night was spent on the ground at an
interesting city and every mid-day meal was served on the ground at an airport terminal.
Customs and other transit facilities were all handled most expeditiously, and flying concluded each day at an hour which generally allowed adequate time for sightseeing and shopping.
During the whole trip there were only two occasions, of about two minutes each, when turbulence was experienced - and one was man-made, when Captain Fischer took the Viscount over the Equator with
appropriate control movements. This was for the benefit of Messrs Tupman and Birchill, whose first crossing was celebrated by their being crowned with pineapple rinds and presented with certificates.
A day's stay-over was made at Darwin so that the aircraft could be checked and cleaned. Here TAA’s assistant general manager, Mr J P Ryland, and the Director of Operations, Captain J Chapman,
joined for the flight to Melbourne.
VH-TVA taxiing on its inboard engines
After the arrival of VH-TVA at Essendon, work immediately began on the installation of the Australian designed and manufactured buffet equipment, and this work was completed within three days.
Flight training then proceeded and the programme was so satisfactory that the first paying-passenger turboprop flight in Australia was made on Thursday the 21st - within eight days of the delivery.
Passenger reaction was such as to justify completely TAA's faith in the Viscount.
Mr G Thompson, the film expert, had stayed with the TAA engineering party at Vickers’ Hurn factory throughout the final manufacturing stages and flight acceptance trials, covering the various
activities for a documentary film and newsreel; and during the ferry flight he photographed scenery and recorded the activities of all on board. It was expected that in due course TAA would be
able to make copies of this film available at their London office.
Editor's Postscript. - It will be remembered that VH-TVA was destroyed in a training accident near Melbourne less than three weeks after delivery. The second and third aircraft, however, are now
in Australia, and TAA's Viscount services on the Melbourne – Sydney and Melbourne - Brisbane routes were due to be in operation by Christmas. The fourth Viscount was to have left Hurn for Melbourne
last week-end, and delivery flights of the fifth and sixth machines are scheduled for January and February. The sixth of TAA's Viscounts, incidentally, will be the first to have Dart 506s and
external slipper tanks, and the fifth has built-in provision for the extra tanks.
Table I: Viscount 720 VH-TVA: London-Melbourne performance data (Operational Conditions: 58,800 lb auw; 13,600 rpm for climb and cruise; climbing speed 150 kt lAS; average rate of climb 550 ft/min under hot conditions; average rate of descent 1,500 ft/min.)
Date
Stage
Naut
Stat
Altitude
Time
Time
Fuel
Block
Fuel
6
London-Rome
809
932
19,500
3.07
3.15
7,680
249
2.360
7
Rome-Athens
505
674
19,500
2.21
2.33
5,701
229
2.240
Athens-Beirut
620
714
19,500
2.24
2.36
6,176
227
2.260
8
Beirut-Bahrein
927
1,068
17,500
3.53
4.07
9,055
227
2.200
Bahrein-Karachi
898
1,034
17,700
3.50
4.01
9,499
224
2.360
9
Karachi-Delhi
580
668
17,000
2.45
2.56
6,500
198
2.220
Delhi-Calcutta *
728
839
17,000
3.37
3.43 *
8,620
196 *
2.320
10
Calcutta-Bangkok
858
988
17,500
3.49
3.56
9,208
237
2.340
Bangkok-Singapore
781
899
17,500
3.36
3.46
8,301
208
2.210
11
Singapore-Djakarta
482
555
17,500
2.18
2.27
5,275
197
2.150
Djakarta-Den Pasar
552
636
17,500
2.41
2.45
6,143
201
2.230
Den Pasar-Darwin
949
1,093
15,500
4.08
4.15
9,607
224
2.260
13
Darwin-Alice Springs
709
817
17,500
3.15
3.20
7,993
213
2.400
Alice Springs-Melbourne #
1,010
1,163
17,500
4.34
4.42 #
11,217
240 #
2.390 #
TOTALS
10,488
12,080
43.50
45.50
110,975
213
2.280 ^
* Times include diversion to Agra, descent, and two photographic circuits of Taj Mahal at low level.
Table II: Cruise Summary (Comparison of actual ferry-flight performance with manufacturers' estimates)
Flight performance
Estimated performance
Percentage gain
Obs
TAS
nm/
TAS
nm/
TAS
nm/
1
256
10.65
252
10.61
+1
0
2
261
10.90
259
10.95
+1
0
3
256
10.70
252
10.55
+1.5
+1.5
4
244
10.15
237
9.95
+3
+2
5
244
9.85
243
9.70
0
+1.5
6
249
10.40
245
10.35
+1.5
0
7
248
10.30
237
9.80
+4.5
+5
8 *
255
10.85
237
10.50
-
-
9
236
9.95
234
9.95
+1
0
10
248
9.80
237
9.60
+4.5
+1
* Observations doubtful near cumulus clouds. 260 kt = 300 mph.
