
July 1953 to August 1963
British European Airways Corporation (BEA)
G-AMOH - c/n 21 - a V.701 series Viscount
United Kingdom registered
28 July 1953
Registered to British European Airways Corporation (BEA), Keyline House, Ruislip, Middlesex.
19 September 1953
Engine ground running commenced.
1 October 1953
First flight from Brooklands Airfield, Weybridge, Surrey, England.
It landed at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England for fitting out and test flying.
12 October 1953
Certificate of Airworthiness issued.
14 October 1953
Delivered to British European Airways (BEA) named as 'R M A Henry Hudson'.
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 January 1954
Operated the first Viscount service from London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England to Barcelona Airport, Spain route with Captain A J Holderness and Captain Wylie James Wakelin.
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.
24 October 1955
Noted at London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England with an experimental 'Red Square' on the tail with white BEA lettering. This was larger than the 'Red Square' on G-AMOL (C/N 25) circa September 1958 and finally adopted by the fleet from March 1959. It was then repainted in the standard 'red stripe' livery.
BEA experimental 'Red Square' livery being applied
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.
31 March 1959
BEA annual report quotes a total time of 10,118 hours.
24 September 1960
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England due to a London Airport (Heathrow) weather diversion.
August 1963
Sold to Channel Airways.
FURTHER READING: Books about BEA - British European Airways
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