July 1953 to June 1963
British European Airways Corporation (BEA)
G-AMNZ * - c/n 20 - a V.701 series Viscount
United Kingdom registered
28 July 1953
Registered to British European Airways Corporation (BEA), Keyline House, Ruislip, Middlesex.
28 August 1953
Engine ground running commenced.
3 September 1953
First flight from Brooklands Airfield, Weybridge, Surrey, England.
It landed at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England for fitting out and test flying.
24 September 1953
Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA) issued.
3 October 1953
Delivered to British European Airways (BEA) named as 'R M A James Cook'.
It was fitted with Rolls-Royce Dart RDa3 Mark 505 engines.
The cabin was fitted out with a 47 seat all-tourist class layout.
It was to have been fitted with extra fuel tanks to participate in the London to New Zealand Air Race. However BEA could not release the aircraft from service so Viscount G-AMAV (C/N 3) was borrowed for the event from Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. The registration ending in 'NZ' would have been appropriate.
16 November 1953
Operated the first Viscount 'Ulster Flyer' service from London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England to Nutts Corner Airport, Belfast, Northern Ireland with Captains E W Lowden and C G Klimcke.
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.
9 October 1954
Ferried to Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England for modification work.
circa November 1954
Returned to BEA at London Airport (later known as Heathrow), Middlesex, England.
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.
31 January 1956
During a flight from London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England to Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands a near miss was reported with a USAF Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star near Ijmuiden, Netherlands.
27 October 1956
Ferried to Field Aircraft Services Ltd at Tollerton Airfield, Nottinghamshire, England for modification work.
11 December 1956
Returned to BEA at London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England.
12 November 1958
Noted at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England due to a London Airport weather diversion.
18 May 1957
Ferried to Teversham Airport, Cambridge, England for modification work with Marshall's.
25 May 1957
Returned to BEA at London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England.
2 February 1958
Ferried to Wymeswold Airfield, Leicestershire, England for wing spar modification work with Field Aircraft Services Ltd.
18 June 1958
Returned to BEA at London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England.
BEA 'Red Square' livery'
circa 1959
A set of lightweight BEA designed integral front 'airsteps' were installed.
1959
Tony Short remembers that during a stop at Benina Airport, Benghazi, Libya the aircraft was caught by a sudden sandstorm.
After clearing out as much sand as possible, the aircraft was ferried back to London Airport (Heathrow).
A maintenance Check 4 had been carried out a few weeks earlier but had to be repeated to clear out all the sand contamination.
Whilst this check was in progress, the BEA Engineers working on it were instantly recognisable by the red sand smudges on their white overalls.
There was so much contamination, what would normally be done in one week took about three weeks to complete.
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.
20 March 1959
Noted at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England carrying out crew training flights.
5 June 1960
Operated the first Viscount service from London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England to Alghero Airport, Sardinia, Italy and Luqa Airport, Malta under the command of Captain R P Priest.
6 September 1960
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England due to a Ringway Airport, Manchester weather diversion.
January 1961
Converted from 40/47 seats to 60/63 seats in a new 'high density' configuration.
This modification also entailed the installation of an 11th standard size window on the rear starboard side and a small window behind the rear entrance door on the port side.
26 June 1963
Sold to Cambrian Airways.
 FURTHER READING: Books about BEA - British European Airways
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