April 1953 to August 1962
British European Airways Corporation (BEA)
G-AMOD - c/n 15 - a V.701 series Viscount
United Kingdom registered
24 April 1953
Registered to British European Airways Corporation (BEA), Keyline House, Ruislip, Middlesex.
12 June 1953
Engine ground running commenced.
17 June 1953
First flight from Brooklands Airfield, Weybridge, Surrey, England.
It landed at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England for fitting out and test flying.
24 June 1953
Certificate of Airworthiness issued.
26 June 1953
Delivered to British European Airways (BEA) named as 'R M A John Davis'.
It was fitted with Rolls-Royce Dart RDa3 Mark 505 engines.
The cabin was fitted out with a 47 seat all-tourist class layout.
13 April 1954
Operated the first Viscount service from Ringway Airport, Manchester, England to Lohausen Airport, Düsseldorf, West Germany, replacing the 32 seat Douglas DC-3 Pionair.
30 April 1954
First noted at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England.
8 August 1955
Operated the first Viscount service from London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England to Cairo, Egypt route via Riem Airport, Munich, West Germany and Ellinikon Airport, Athens, Greece.
1954 to 1962
The original ‘cutlass’ design propeller blades were gradually replaced by new symmetrical ‘needle’ blade propeller sets.
From photographic evidence, both propeller types were fitted to Rolls-Royce Dart RDa3, Mark 505 and Mark 506 engines and many aircraft flew with an ‘intermix’ of both types of propeller blades.
May 1955 to December 1956
All BEA Type 701 aircraft were gradually retrofitted with Rolls-Royce Dart RDa3 Mark 506 engines which were upgraded using modified Mark 505 engines.
Aircraft are known to have flown with an ‘intermix’ of both engine marks between these dates.
When completely retro-fitted with Mark 506 engines, the Type 701A designation was applied to these aircraft although this has not been seen widely used or quoted.
17 February 1959
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England due to a London Airport (Heathrow) weather diversion.
BEA ‘Red Square‘ livery
March 1959
A new BEA 'Red Square' livery was adopted and aircraft were repainted during the early 1960s when they next went in for overhaul.
Sadly, after repainting, the aircraft no longer carried a name including the nameplate on the forward cabin bulkhead.
9 October 1959
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England carrying out multiple ILS approaches and overshoots.
10 February 1960
Last noted at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England.
30 November 1961
An emergency return to Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands after departure was carried out due to an engine fire warning.
circa June 1962
Offered for sale for £110,000.
30 August 1962
Sold to Viação Aérea São Paulo SA (VASP).
FURTHER READING: Books about BEA - British European Airways
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