December 1955 to April 1978
Iraqi Airways
YI-ACM - c/n 69 - a V.735 series Viscount
Iraq registered
circa 1954
This was the 3rd Type 735 ordered by Iraqi Airways.
Production Aircraft No. 78 - the 78th production Type 700 series Viscount built,
was the 41st Viscount fuselage assembled at Hurn, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England,
and the 46th Viscount assembled at Hurn, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
Production Order No. F03/735. Sales Order No. F03/54B. Stock Order No. F28/22B.
1 March 1955
Fuselage assembly commenced Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
19 May 1955
Fuselage to Erecting Shop 'E' at Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
8 November 1955
First flight from Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
2 December 1955
Delivered to Iraqi Airways named as 'Ibn Battouta' with a Kingdom of Iraq national flag on the tail.
Ibn Battuta was a Muslim Berber Moroccan scholar and explorer who widely travelled the medieval world during the 14th century.
16 April 1956
Operated a proving flight from Baghdad Airport, Iraq to London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England prior to the commencement of scheduled Viscount services.
28 May 1956
Operated the first Iraqi Airways Viscount service from Baghdad Airport, Iraq to London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England.
June 1957
To Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England for flap modifications.
1958
Noted with an Arab Federation national flag on the tail.
March 1958
To Weybridge Airfield, Surrey, England for a cabin pressure test.
2 May 1958
Damaged during a heavy landing at London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England.
Temporarily replaced by leasing Hunting Clan Air Transport Viscount G-ANRT (C/N 76).
May 1958
Temporary repairs carried out for a ferry flight to Teversham Airport, Cambridge, England for futher repairs by Marshall's.
1959
Noted with a Republic of Iraq national flag on the tail.
22 January 1959
Returned to Iraqi Airways at London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England after repair by Marshall's at Teversham Airport, Cambridge, England.
Viscount illustrations by David Carter
1963
Noted with a later Republic of Iraq national flag on the tail.
8 August 1966
During a takeoff run at Baghdad Airport, Iraq, at a speed of approximately 60 knots the crew heard a screaming noise from the nose undercarriage area.
After takeoff the undercarriage was retracted but this resulted in three green lights remaining on and also a red light for the nose undercarriage leg.
There was clearly a problem with the nose leg, so the undercarriage was recycled, with the same result.
The Captain now noticed that the hydraulic pressure gauge had dropped to zero and the Co-Pilot went to check the main resrvoir and found that it was empty.
The undercarriage was again selected, but with the same warning light, so an emergency landing was attampted, which at first appeared to be normal but the nose undercarriage leg suddenly became detatched due to the failure of a brace structure.
There were no reported injuries to the 41 passengers and 5 crew on board but two passengers suffered minor injuries during the evacuation.
The incident was caused by the rupture of a nose steering hydraulic hose which allowed the wheel to turn, preventing the full retraction of the nose leg.
Repaired and returned to service.
9 April 1978
Sold to Alidair.
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