Vickers-Armstrongs

01 May 2024

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Museum search

Viscount Survivors

59 of the 444 Viscounts built survive as complete airframes or major components. Some are in very good condition and are looked after by museums while others are just wrecks. They can be found in 24 countries.

Viscount history

Letter from HRH Prince Philip

See and hear a Viscount

Newsletters

Flight Magazine Reports

Aircraft operational
records and photos

Viscount illustrations
by David Carter

Discover the history of the Viscount with film, video, contemporary reports from the pages of Flight Magazine, our newsletters, and aircraft operational records and photos from our database.

Share your photos and stories

Live Magazine

Our 'Live Magazine' is used by members and non-members to share their Viscount photos and stories with fellow enthusiasts located throughout the world in real time.

You are able to send in your photos, stories and comments by Facebook, Twitter or email and we will post them for all to enjoy.

Contact us

information@VickersViscount.net

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Featured pages

Our website contains over 20,000 pages of photos and information that can all be accessed from the menu at the top of every page. Here are a few to get you started.

In the Beginning

The Turboprop World-Beater

Sir George Edwards

The Rolls-Royce Dart

c/n 1 G-AHRF V.630
The Prototype Viscount

c/n 2 VX217 V.663
The Tay powered Viscount

c/n 3 G-AMAV V.700
The V.700 series prototype

c/n 4 G-ALWE V.701
The first BEA Viscount

c/n 5 G-ALWF V.701
The oldest surviving Viscount

c/n 8 F-BGNK V.708
The first Air France Viscount

c/n 30 EI-AFV V.707
The first Aer Lingus Viscount

c/n 40 CF-TGI V.724
The first TCA Viscount

c/n 44 VH-TVA V.720
The first TAA Viscount

c/n 67 YI-ACK V.735
The first Iraqi Airways Viscount

c/n 70 CF-GXK V.737
The first Canadian DoT Viscount

c/n 71 VP-TBK V.702
The first BOAC Associated
Companies Viscount

c/n 74 G-ANRR V.732
The first Hunting-Clan Viscount

c/n 77 LN-FOF V.736
The first Fred Olsen Viscount

c/n 79 IU-683 V.723
The first Indian Air Force Viscount

c/n 88 N7402 V.744
The first Capital Airlines Viscount

c/n 97 VH-BAT V.747
The first Butler Air
Transport Viscount

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Books about the Viscount,
its development, and its career

These books have been chosen for their Viscount content,
and for the people and events that made the Viscount so enduring

Vickers Viscount and Vanguard

by Malcolm L Hill

For more information and to check availability click the book image

Built in response to the famous Brabazon Committee's requirements for an aircraft to replace the Douglas DC-3 on European and Empire routes, the Viscount became the world's first turboprop-powered airliner, and the most successful British airliner of all.

Operated initially by BEA, the Viscount soon became a favourite of passengers, pilots and aircraft enthusiasts alike. Its heyday was brief, as the advent of the jet airliner soon relegated it to secondline service, in which it remained.

This book presents the complete design, development and operational history of the Viscount and its bigger sibling, the Vanguard.

Vickers Viscount

by Robin Macrae Dunn

For more information and to check availability click the book image

Introduced in 1948, the Vickers Viscount became Great Britain's most successful airliner by the late '50s, as well as the most widely used turbine-powered air transport in the world. Its huge windows and quiet, comfortable ride made it a favorite with passengers, and airlines found it to be a reliable, inexpensive plane to operate. In fact, in 1955 Flight magazine referred to the Viscount as, 'a machine so patently superior to its rivals that it has set in its field wholly new standards of comfort, performance and reliability'.

In this book, author Robin MacRae Dunn covers the entire Viscount history, from the development of turboprop engines in England after World War II, on through the plane's 50-year service history. In addition to a step-by-step look at the Viscount's major systems and components, this comprehensive book also details its development, certification, variations, accident record and worldwide service record. Appendixes include significant dates, specifications, and the disposition of those Viscounts still in existence.

It's a Viscount: Vickers Viscount

by Nick Corrie

For more information and to check availability click the book image

This is the concise illustrated history of the world's first turbine-powered passenger airliner. With its combined Vickers-Armstrongs and Rolls-Royce pedigree, the revolutionary turbo-prop Viscount was bought by some 60 airline operators in some 40 countries - it became a familiar sight in the skies around the world from 1948 to the late 1960s.

It was this British aircraft which proved the viability of turbine-powered commercial flying until the advent of the jet. This is the story of the plane's development, it's first prototype test flight from Wisley, Surrey in 1948 and it's prestigious introduction to the public by BEA - British European Airways Corporation.

Photo of BEA - British European Airways Viscount G-AOJC

The Vickers Viscount Network is always interested to hear from anyone who has information or photographs to help complete the story of the Viscount. If you can help please contact us at
Information@VickersViscount.net.

Click here for more details about the Vickers Viscount Network