May 1956 to December 1960
Capital Airlines (USA)
N7421 - c/n 119 - a V.745D series Viscount
United States registered
June 1954
This was the seventeenth of thirty Type 745 ordered by Capital Airlines.
The first nine aircraft (C/N 103 to 111) were built as Type 745 aircraft with Rolls-Royce Dart RDa3 Mark 506 engines.
All subsequent aircraft in the order were built as Type 745D with Rolls-Royce Dart RDa6 Mark 510 engines.
December 1954
An additional order for 20 Type 745D aircraft was placed by Capital Airlines.
Altogether, the total order was worth $67,000,000 US. This was the highest ever US Dollar export order for the UK at the time.
Production Aircraft No. 111 - the 111th production Type 700 series Viscount built,
was the 72nd Viscount fuselage assembled at Hurn, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England,
and the 74th Viscount assembled at Hurn, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
Production Order No. F17/745. Sales Order No. F17/68B. Stock Order No. F17/27B.
24 August 1955
A drawing showing the cabin seating arrangement was approved and issued.by Capital Airlines and showed 11 rows of 2 + 2 seats with two toilets at the front, one on each side and a large galley at the rear.
12 November 1955
Fuselage assembly commenced at Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
2 January 1956
Fuselage to Erecting Shop 'E' at Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
24 April 1956
First flight from Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
2 May 1956
Departed from Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England on delivery to Capital Airlines with fleet number ‘340’ fitted with integral front 'airsteps'.
This was the first Viscount operator in the USA, preceded by Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) as the first North American operator with routes into the USA.
circa 1958
Large registrations on the rear fuselage appeared after the use of small registrations on the tail were banned by the newly formed Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Also by this time weather radar had been fitted resulting in a change to the nose cone.
May 1960
Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd filed a foreclosure suit on the entire Viscount fleet of Capital Airlines as the overdue payments now totalled $34,000,000.
1 December 1960
Repossessed by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd due to the financial debt owed.
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