
October 1957 to October 1965
Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (KLM)
PH-VIF - c/n 177 - a V.803 series Viscount
Netherlands registered
June 1955
An order for nine Type 803 was placed by Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (KLM).
This was the 6th aircraft for KLM.
Production Aircraft No. 34 - the 34th production 800 series Viscount built,
was the 7th 800 series Viscount fuselage assembled at Weybridge, Surrey, England,
and the 34th 800 series Viscount assembled at Weybridge, Surrey, England.
Production Order No. F06/803. Sales Order No. F06/83B. Stock Order No. F28/26B.
2 February 1957
Fuselage assembly commenced at Weybridge, Surrey, England.
29 April 1957
Fuselage to Erecting Shop 'E' at Weybridge, Surrey, England.
28 September 1957
First flight from Brooklands Airfield, Weybridge, Surrey, England.
It landed at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England for fitting out and test flying.
22 October 1957
Handed over to Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (KLM) named as 'Leonardo da Vinci' with a 53 seat mixed-class cabin.
It was then noted at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England.
The original livery had ‘The Flying Dutchman’ titles on the port side and ‘De Vliegende Hollander’ titles on the starboard side.
The seating was later increased to a 59/64 all-tourist class cabin configuration.
1 December 1959
Noted at Gatwick Airport, Surrey, England due to a London Airport (Heathrow) weather diversion.
2 December 1959
Noted at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England due to a London Airport (Heathrow) weather diversion.
7 December 1959
Noted at Speke Airport, Liverpool, England due to a Ringway Airport, Manchester weather diversion.
KLM 'diagonal striped tail' livery.
circa 1960
Painted in the new KLM 'diagonal striped tail' livery with ‘KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines’ titles.
12 January 1960
During an approach to runway 24 at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands the Captain reported a problem with the landing gear. He elected to make a low pass along the runway so that engineers on the ground could make an assessment. As everything appeared to be normal he made a landing on runway 05 without further incident.
KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines 'horizontal striped tail' livery
circa 1965
Painted in the new KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines 'horizontal striped tail' livery.
19 July 1965
Noted at Renfrew Airport, Glasgow, Scotland operating on behalf of Aer Lingus. It arrived from Dublin at 1819 hours and departed back to Dublin at 1909 hours. Also see PH-VIE (C/N 176) for another instance of this event. Does anyone know more about this? Details please to information@vickersviscount.net
30 September 1965
Ferried to Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, Scotland for the installation of a weather radar system and a repaint in Aer Lingus livery by Scottish Aviation Ltd (SAL).
7 October 1965
Dutch registration cancelled.
29 October 1965
Sold to Aer Lingus and registered to them.
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