August 1955 to June 1964
Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA)
CF-TGT - c/n 57 - 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 twelfth one built.
Production Aircraft No. 68 - the 68th production Type 700 series Viscount built,
was the 34th Viscount fuselage assembled at Hurn, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England,
and the 37th Viscount assembled at Hurn, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
Production Order No. F12/724. Sales Order No. F12/51B. Stock Order No. F06/22B.
18 December 1954
Fuselage assembly commenced at Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
7 March 1955
Fuselage to Erecting Shop 'E' at Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
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-31.02-2/5 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.
21 July 1955
First flight from Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
It was fitted with Rolls-Royce Dart RDa3 Mark 506 engines.
4 August 1955
Aircraft passed off by TCA inspectors as completed and ready for delivery.
The word 'Viscount' had not been added to the tail at this stage.
It then departed from Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England on delivery to Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) with fleet number '612'.
It was flown by Captain Marsh with Leslie Worsdell in the co-pilot's seat.
Leslie worked for Marshall's of Cambridge as a test pilot and they were often called upon to help out with the delivery of Viscounts and Leslie recorded the following events: -
After arriving at Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, Scotland they stopped overnight.
5 August 1955
Departed from Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, Scotland to Keflavik Airport, Iceland (743 nautical miles) where they again refuelled.
They then set off for Bluie West One (BW1) Airfield at Narsarsuaq, Southern Greenland but when they arrived they found that the area was completely covered in cloud and they were unable to make radio contact with the local air traffic control and so they had no choice but to return to Keflavik Airport, Iceland.
They remained there for four days while waiting for the weather to improve.
BW1 was built during WWII to assist the transfer of military aircraft from North America to Europe and was opened in January 1942.
9 August 1955
Departed from Kevlavik Airport, Iceland for another attempt at reaching Bluie West One (BW1) Airfield at Narsarsuaq, Southern Greenland having been given a favourable weather forecast but again found the area to be covered in cloud and were advised by air traffic control that the cloud base was well below the 1,250 feet minimum so they decided to divert to Bluie West 8 (BW8) Airfield, Sondre Stromfjord, Western Greenland (880 nautical miles) which was further west and right at the limit of their fuel range with no opportunity to divert.
When they arrived they found that the weather there was also close to their landing minimum so they descended slowly at 300 feet per minute with the option of landing at the Airfield or making a forced landing somewhere close by. Luckily they broke cloud and managed to land safely.
After their arrival they checked the fuel tanks and found only about 150 gallons available. They stopped here overnight.
BW8 was built during WWII to assist the transfer of military aircraft from North America to Europe and was opened in October 1941.
10 August 1955
Departed from Bluie West Eight (BW8) Airfield, Kangerlussuaq, Western Greenland to Goose Bay Airport, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada (872 nautical miles), Dorval International Airport, Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada (810 nautical miles).
The cabin seating was installed in Canada, as the seats used by TCA were of American manufacture.
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.
July 1956
Cabin interior changed to a two class 44 seat arrangement.
10 July 1957
TCA issued instructions that all Viscounts would be repainted in a 'White Top' livery when a suitable maintenance period became available.
21 November 1958
Scheduled to enter the Winnipeg Airport, Manitoba, Canada TCA maintenance facility for the replacement of the life expired wing lower inner spar boom at approximately 6420 landings for this component. This usually took 28 days to complete.
31 August 1960
Total time 12,947 hours and 10,017 total landings.
1 June 1964
Transferred to Air Canada due to a corporate name change.
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