Vickers-Armstrongs

10 June 2023

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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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Aircraft operational records

Viscount c/n 435 had a
long and varied career

Records for all 445 aircraft built are available

The story of each Viscount is as varied as the number of aircraft built. Some like c/n 248 G-AOXU and c/n 435 G-BFZL had long and varied careers. Others like c/n 84 VH-TVG and c/n 447 D-ANAF had loyal careers with only one owner. Some however had very short careers like c/n 337 AP-AJE that crashed after only 5 months service.

To retrieve an aircraft's operational record enter either its construction number (1-459) or one of the registrations it used during its life. Note that some registrations were allocated to more than one Viscount and are marked (*).

Enter the construction number Construction number must be between 1 and 459

or registration

Displayed will be all the information that we have on file for that aircraft. However the history may be incomplete, so any help you can give in completing it will be appreciated.

Featured aircraft - c/n 101 - VP-YND

Photo of Central African Airways Corporation (CAA) Viscount VP-YND c/n 101

Rhodesia

VP-YND - Central African Airways Corporation (CAA) - July 1956 to January 1968

Delivered new to Central African Airways (CAA) named 'R M A Mweru'. Taken at Jan Smuts International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa circa June 1967 operating a service for Air Rhodesia.

In the background is a Botswana National Airways (BNA) Douglas DC-4, a South African Airways (SAA) Boeing 707 and a Union de Transport Aeriens (UTA) Douglas DC-8.

BNA purchased Viscount A2-ZEL (C/N 374) to replace the DC4 but it was only in service for three months before being impounded here at Johannesburg.

Photo source - Phil Evans

Aircraft Summary

Central African Airways Corporation (CAA)

This aircraft c/n 101, a V.748D, was built for Central African Airways Corporation (CAA) as VP-YND and first flew on Thursday, 14 June 1956 at Hurn, Bournemouth, Hampshire, England.

During its life it was also owned and/or operated by Air Malawi and Zambia Airways

Its final owner/operator was Air Rhodesia as VP-YND.

Its fate:-

Shortly after departing from Kariba Airport, Zimbabwe Rhodesia at 17:06 hours 12 February 1979 while on scheduled flight 827 to Salisbury International Airport, Kentucky, Zimbabwe Rhodesia, the Viscount was hit in the jet pipe of the No.2 Rolls-Royce Dart engine by a heat-seeking SAM-7 (Soviet 9K32 Cтрела (Arrow) Strela-2) surface-to air-missile. The port wing burst into flames and the aircraft crashed out of control into a ravine in the Vuti African Purchase area.

Fighters from Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe Peoples Revolution Army (ZIPRA) were held responsible for shooting down the aircraft.

A memorial dedicated to all those killed on this aircraft and also those who were killed during the earlier attack to VP-WAS (C/N 297) was unveiled in the gardens of the South African Voortrekker Monument at Pretoria, South Africa 2 September 2012.

History and photos of Viscount c/n 101 VP-YND
Central African Airways Corporation (CAA) Viscount fleet list and photos
Rhodesia issued Viscount registrations
Photos contributed by Phil Evans

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