
December 1953 to January 1956
British European Airways Corporation (BEA)
G-AMOM - c/n 26 - a V.701 series Viscount
United Kingdom registered
12 December 1953
Registered to British European Airways Corporation (BEA), Keyline House, Ruislip, Middlesex.
17 December 1953
Engine ground running commenced.
22 December 1953
First flight from Brooklands Airfield, Weybridge, Surrey, England.
It landed at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England for fitting out and test flying.
25 January 1954
Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA) issued.
27 January 1954
Delivered to British European Airways (BEA) named as 'R M A James Bruce'.
It was fitted with Rolls-Royce Dart RDa3 Mark 505 engines.
The cabin was fitted out as a 47 seat all-tourist class layout.
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.
20 January 1956
Crashed on takeoff at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England during a crew training session.
After arriving from London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England the aircraft was scheduled for a training flight. Takeoff commenced at 08:50 GMT and just after lifting off at the V2 point the training captain, who was occupying the left hand seat, started to simulate a No.4 engine failure. He moved the No.3 engine high pressure cock lever to the feather position and throttled the No.4 engine back to idle. This resulted in the loss of all power from both starboard engines at a critical point of the takeoff. The aircraft banked to the right and struck the ground 250 yards from the runway, then cartwheeled to a stop. The rear section of the aircraft was consumed by fire. All five crew members on board luckily survived.
20 January 1956
Registration cancelled as aircraft written off.
Remains broken up for scrap.
Total time 3,796 hours and 1,898 total landings.
FURTHER READING: Books about BEA - British European Airways
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