March 1956 to September 1973
British European Airways Corporation (BEA)
G-AOJD - c/n 153 - a V.802 series Viscount
United Kingdom registered
6 March 1956
Re-registered to British European Airways Corporation (BEA) from G-AOHD.
Although the reason for this registration change is not known, it is likely to have been done to avoid conflict operationally with V.701 Viscount G-ANHD (C/N 64).
Production Aircraft No. 4 - the 4th production V.800 series Viscount built,
was the 4th V.800 Viscount fuselage assembled at Hurn, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England,
and the 4th V.800 Viscount assembled at Weybridge, Surrey, England.
Production Order No. F04/802. Sales Order No. F04/63B. Stock Order No. F04/26B.
11 May 1956
Fuselage assembly commenced at Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
July 1956
Fuselage transported by road from Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England to Weybridge, Surrey, England.
13 July 1956
Fuselage to Erecting Shop 'E' at Weybridge, Surrey, England.
29 November 1956
First flight from Brooklands Airfield, Weybridge, Surrey, England.
It landed at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England for fitting out and test flying.
29 December 1956
Noted at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England.
10 January 1957
Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA) issued.
11 January 1957
Delivered to British European Airways (BEA) named as 'R M A Sebastian Cabot'.
19 January 1957
Noted at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England due to a London Airport weather diversion.
13 February 1957
Operated the first BEA V.802 Viscount service from London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England to Abbotsinch Airport, Glasgow, Scotland flown by Captain MacKeown.
15 February 1957
Operated the first international V.802 Viscount service from London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England to Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands, flown by Captain Werner and carrying 26 passengers.
31 March 1958
BEA annual report quotes a total flying time of 2,297 hours.
This was the highest total amongst the Viscount V.802 fleet which had all been delivered by this date.
16 November 1958
Noted at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England due to a London Airport weather diversion.
February 1959
Noted at Teversham Airport, Cambridge, England awaiting overhaul with Marshall's.
March 1959
A new BEA 'Red Square' livery was adopted and aircraft were repainted during the early 1960s when they next went in for overhaul.
Sadly, after repainting, the aircraft no longer carried a name including the nameplate on the forward cabin bulkhead.
31 March 1959
BEA annual report quotes a total flying time of 4,312 hours.
This was the highest total amongst the Viscount V.802/806 fleet for the second year running.
31 March 1960
BEA annual report quotes a total flying time of 6,612 hours.
This was again the highest total amongst the Viscount V.802/806 fleet for the third year running.
18 December 1960
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England due to a London Airport (Heathrow) weather diversion.
15 October 1961
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England due to a London Airport (Heathrow) weather diversion.
25 January 1963
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England due to a London Airport (Heathrow) weather diversion.
31 March 1963
BEA annual report quotes a total flying time of 13,154 hours.
This was again the highest total hours in that year for the BEA Viscount V.802/806 fleet.
25 January 1964
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England due to a London Airport (Heathrow) weather diversion.
circa 1968
A new BEA ‘Flying Union Jack‘ livery was adopted and most aircraft were repainted when they went in for major overhaul, which took some of them into the early 70s before this was accomplished. ‘Juliet Delta’ is believed to have been the first Viscount painted in this livery.
21 December 1969
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England due to a Jersey Airport, Channel Islands weather diversion.
3 June 1970
Total time 28,402:15 hours and 22,377 total landings.
16 January 1971
Operated BE3146 from Heathrow Airport, London, England to Guernsey Airport, Channel Islands with a flight time of 62 minutes.
It was flown by Captain A E Ayris and a limited edition (125) first day cover was issued to commemorate the 20th anniversary of this service.
20 January 1971
Operated BE3358 from Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England to Guernsey Airport, Channel Islands with a flight time of 36 minutes.
Captain Leighton-White was in command and a large number of first day covers were carried on board with a special BEA stamp affixed along with an Alcock & Brown Vickers Vimy commemorative 5D stamp.
April 1971
The V.802 Viscount fleet was split into two entities at this time. The then Chairman of BEA, Henry Marking, split the airline into several divisions as part of his profit centre philosophy, with each division being responsible for its own financial performance.
The ‘Scottish Airways' division sub fleet was based at Abbotsinch Airport, Glasgow, Scotland with eight Viscounts. The ‘Channel Islands' division sub fleet of twelve had four Viscounts operated from Jersey Airport, five from Birmingham International Airport, West Midlands England and one from Guernsey Airport, Channel Islands. The remaining two aircraft were used on charter to GB Airways to operate the Gibraltar to Tangier, Morocco service and as operational spares. All aircraft had either ‘Scottish Airways’ or ‘Channel Islands’ titling applied to the upper fuselage for the allocated division.
19 April 1971
Total time 29,940:55 hours and 24,179 total landings.
Mid 1971
Allocated to the 'Channel Islands' division and ‘Channel Islands' titles were applied alongside the ‘BEA’ titling on the upper fuselage.
In practice to maintain operational flexibility, there was considerable mixing of the aircraft. On one occasion in August 1971 it was noted as one of two ‘Channel Islands’ Viscounts present at Sumburgh, Shetland Islands, Scotland, some 750 miles (1250 km) from their normal island base.
31 March 1972
BEA annual report quotes a total flying time of 31,720 hours.
This was the last year that individual aircraft flying hours were reported.
31 July 1973
‘British Airways’ adopted as the trading name for all former companies. During this month or shortly thereafter, all aircraft had ‘British Airways’ main titling applied to the fuselage and therefore effectively became operated by British Airways (BA).
 FURTHER READING: Books about BEA - British European Airways
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