December 1954 to March 1963
Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA)
CF-TGI - c/n 40 - a V.724 series Viscount
Canada registered
November 1952
An order was placed by Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) for fifteen Type 724 aircraft at a total cost of Can$11,500,000. This was the first one built.
Production Aircraft No. 39 - the 39th production Type 700 series Viscount built,
was the 31th Viscount fuselage assembled at Weybridge, Surrey, England,
and the 25th Viscount assembled at Weybridge, Surrey, England.
Weybridge, Surrey, England
Production Order No. F01/724. Sales Order No. F01/51B. Stock Order No. F05/21B.
23 February 1954
Fuselage assembly commenced at Weybridge, Surrey, England.
Weybridge, Surrey, England
1 May 1954
Fuselage to Erecting Shop 'E' at Weybridge, Surrey, England after the completion of the pressurisation tests.
13 October 1954
First flight from Brooklands Airfield, Weybridge, Surrey, England.
It was fitted with Rolls-Royce Dart RDa3 Mark 506 engines.
It landed at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England for fitting out and test flying.
7 December 1954
Aircraft passed off by TCA inspectors as completed and ready for delivery.
8 December 1954
Departed from Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England on delivery to Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) with fleet number '601'.
It was flown by Vickers test pilot Gabriel (Gabe) Robb 'Jock' Bryce and TCA Flight Superintendent Captain George Lothian with George Edwards on board.
Other crew members were Mr D L Jones and Mr D Wood (Navigators) and Mr E Walker and Mr E Day (Engineers).
The aircraft was delayed overnight at Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, Scotland due to radio problems.
9 December 1954
Departed from Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, Scotland to Keflavik Airport, Iceland, making the 740 nautical mile journey in 2 hr 28 min.
Here, gale force winds caused a further delay of two days.
11 December 1954
Departed from Keflavik Airport to Bluie West One (BW1) Airfield, Narsarsuaq, Southern Greenland (804 nautical miles), Goose Bay Airport, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada (672 nautical miles), Dorval International Airport, Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada (810 nautical miles).
BW1 was built during WWII to assist the transfer of military aircraft from North America to Europe and was opened in January 1942.
 Viscount illustrations by David Carter
12 December 1954
Arrived at Dorval International Airport, Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada from Goose Bay.
This was the first Viscount delivered to a North American operator.
13 December 1954
Departed from Dorval International Airport, Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada to Winnipeg Airport, Manitoba, Canada which was the main TCA maintenance base for the Viscount.
It was initially used to train the technical staff and to try out some of the new equipment such as the staging system specially designed for the Viscount.
The cabin seating was installed in Canada, as the seats used by TCA were of American manufacture.
However, there is a photo of this aircraft taken by Vickers of the aircraft at Weybridge with a complete interior, so perhaps this aircraft was a one-off trial fit of the American seats, or a slave set of Vickers seats were used to allow a photo to be taken.
The cabin was fitted out with 40 seats which was a reduction from the original 48 seat specification and provided more leg room.
This was heavily marketed and resulted in a high load factor compared to the 18 seat Douglas DC-3 that it replaced on some routes.
23 February 1955
Operated a pre-inaugural service from Malton Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Idlewild Airport, New York, USA carrying members of the press in 99 minutes compared to the 120 minutes previously taken by the Rolls-Royce Merlin powered Canadair DC-4M-2 North Star.
March 1955
Demonstrated to US operators at Idlewild Airport, New York, USA by flying to Dorval International Airport, Montreal and Malton Airport, Toronto, Canada.
This was on behalf of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd.
Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) Viscount Routes in 1955
21 March 1955
TCA issued technical instruction V-05.04-1/1 to apply the word 'Viscount' to the tail section in 8.5 inch high red letters edged in white at the first opportunity.
2 June 1955
TCA issued technical instruction V-31.02-2/1 to apply the word 'Viscount' to the inside of the passenger loading door in 4 inch high red letters edged in white at the first opportunity.
March 1956
TCA President Gordon McGregor stated that he was very pleased with the first year of Viscount operations and that the Viscount route load factor had achieved 81%.
July 1956
Cabin interior changed to a two class 44 seat arrangement.
Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA)
'White Top' livery
10 July 1957
TCA issued instructions that all Viscounts would be repainted in a 'White Top' livery when a suitable maintenance period became available.
1 January 1958
Cabin changed to a high density single class 54 seat arrangement that resulted in five abreast with three seats on the starboard side of the isle. By using modern materials the empty weight of the aircraft was actually 10 lbs less than the 44 seat arrangement. A 58 seat and 66 seat arrangement had also been considered but rejected in favour of 54 seats.
31 August 1960
Total time 14,271 hours and 11,015 total landings.
3 January 1963
Ferried to Winnipeg Airport, Manitoba, Canada and withdrawn from service.
20 March 1963
Leased to Transair (Canada) Ltd of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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