March 1958 to December 1972
Indian Airlines Corporation (IAC)
VT-DIZ - c/n 293 - a V.768D series Viscount
India registered
6 March 1958
First flight from Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
18 March 1958
Ferried to Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England under contract by Hunting-Clan Chief Flying Instructor Brian Alexander Powell. The flight took 45 minutes.
The IAC pilot was Captain Kathpalia.
18 March 1958
Handed over to Indian Airlines Corporation (IAC) named as 'Rajasthan'.
The name was not carried externally.
It had English titles on the port side of the fuselage and Hindi script on the starboard side.
It was then ferried to Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England under the contract guidance of Hunting-Clan Chief Flying Instructor Brian Alexander Powell.
19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 27, March 1958
Noted at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England carrying out crew training flights under the contract guidance of Hunting-Clan Chief Flying Instructor Brian Alexander Powell.
28 March 1958
Ferried from Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England to Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England under the contract guidance of Hunting-Clan Chief Flying Instructor Brian Alexander Powell.
It returned to Wisley later in the day.
29, 31 March 1958
Noted at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England carrying out crew training flights under the contract guidance of Hunting-Clan Chief Flying Instructor Brian Alexander Powell.
8, 9, 11 April 1958
Noted at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England and latterly at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England carrying out crew training flights under the contract guidance of Hunting-Clan Chief Flying Instructor Brian Alexander Powell.
11 April 1958
It then flew to London Airport (Heathrow), Middlesex, England before finally departing on delivery to India.
On board was Mr Khuller who was the Indian Airlines Engineering Superintendent - Technical.
He was in the UK attending training courses at Vickers, Weybridge and also at Rolls-Royce in Derby.
As he was returning to India he arranged to return on this aircraft and also brought his wife, son Raymond and daughter with him as he had decided to sell up the family home in St Albans and move the family to India.
After arriving at Ciampino Airport, Rome, Italy to refuel they were forced to stop overnight due to a problem with the pressurisation system.
Presumably Alitalia or BEA engineering staff were able to assist in rectifying the defect.
12 April 1958
Departed from Ciampino Airport, Rome, Italy to Hellinikon Airport, Athens, Greece (568 nautical miles) and on to Beirut Airport, Lebanon (622 nautical miles) and then on to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf (907 nautical miles) where it nightstopped.
13 April 1958
Departed from Bahrain to Santa Cruz Airport, Bombay, India (1,306 nautical miles) where it nightstopped.
14 April 1958
Departed from Santa Cruz Airport, Bombay, India to Safdarjung Airport, Delhi, India (629 nautical miles).
The Indian Airlines Corporation (IAC) headquarters were at Thapar House, Janpath, New Delhi, India
27 May 1959
After departure from Karachi International Airport, Pakistan at 15:33 the aircraft climbed to its cruise level of 19,000 feet. Passing Jodhpur, thunder clouds were encountered so the Captain elected to steer to the right to avoid them but soon encountered more clouds which he could not avoid. In the middle of these clouds a violent hailstorm smashed the three main cockpit windows and severely damaged the fuselage nose, wings, tailplane and tail leading edges. Thankfully the Rolls-Royce Dart engines were not affected by the hail ingress.
Pressurisation was lost and the remainder of the flight was completed at a reduced speed of 160 knots and at a lower altitude of 7,000 feet.
A normal landing was made at Palam Airport, Delhi, India at 18:00 despite the impaired vision suffered by the flight crew.
The only injuries amongst the 3 passengers and 4 crew were to the flight crew as a result of flying glass particles.
Repaired and returned to service.
circa June 1970
Repainted in a new livery but retaining the name 'Rajasthan'.
13 January 1972
Withdrawn from service and stored at Palam Airport, Delhi, India.
Broken up for scrap.
The date is not known.
Details please to information@vickersviscount.net
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