December 1961 to July 1963
Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd
G-ASDP - c/n 451 - a V.843 series Viscount
United Kingdom registered
1 December 1961
After protracted negotiations, an order was placed by The Ministry of Foreign Trade through the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (Machimpex), on behalf of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
The contract was for the supply of six Type 843 aircraft and spares at a total value of £4,500,000.
This was the first of six aircraft.
4 December 1961
US Government representatives (on behalf of President John F Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk) voiced their objections to this sale through the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (CoCom) at a meeting in Paris, France but were out-voted 7 to 4 by the participating countries.
As a result, the US Government would not allow any equipment manufactured in the USA or from companies from affiliated countries to be fitted to these aircraft.
This resulted in long delays in completing these aircraft compared to those without the equipment and spares restrictions.
8 November 1962
Due to the political nature of this order the aircraft was initially registered to Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd.
14 March 1963
First flight from Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.
26 June 1963
A final test flight from Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England was carried out prior to the issue of a UK Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA).
The aircraft was then transferred to Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England prior to delivery.
The test flights totalled up to 31 hours and 40 minutes.
2 July 1963
Departed from Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England on delivery to CAAC with a British flight crew.
The aircraft was painted white with a polished metal lower half of the fuselage.
It was fitted with integral front 'airsteps'.
It was noted at Palam Airport, Delhi and Dum Dum Airport, Calcutta, India on refuelling stops during the delivery to China.
6 July 1963
Arrived at Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong.
It was placed in a hangar belonging to the Royal Air Force. It clearly stayed here until the 14th July for some reason.
On the delivery sector from Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong to Canton (now Guangzhou), China it used the callsign '84301'.
14 July 1963
Arrived at Canton Airport, China.
16 July 1963
UK registration cancelled as aircraft exported.
|