Ministry of Supply

23 May 1946
Registered to the Ministry of Supply, Thames House, Millbank, London SW 1.

11 November 1946
It was in the Flight Magazine 'Paris Aero Show' report that the Vickers VC.2 was first referred to as the Viceroy.

Flight Magazine - 28 November 1946 - Vickers VC2 becomes the Viceroy

7 August 1947
Vickers-Armstrongs announces that the type name of the VC.2 is to be changed from Viceroy to Viscount. This change is due to the political changes in India resulting in an independent state within the British Commonwealth.

Flight Magazine - 7 August 1947 - Viceroy becomes Viscount

27 August 1947
Ministry of Supply approved the fitment of Rolls-Royce Dart RB.53 Mark 502 engines in place of the Armstrong Siddeley Mambas before assembly was finalised.

The airframe was initially built at the temporary Vickers experimental facility at Redhill Road, Foxwarren, near Cobham, Surrey, England.

Flight Magazine - 20 November 1947 - Introducing the Viscount

The prototype was now known as the type V.630.

The aircraft was transferred by road from Foxwarren to Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England for final assembly in a 12 passenger configuration.

Wisley Airfield was owned by Vickers-Armstrongs.

June 1948
Aircraft rolled out at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England in natural metal with no markings except for the registration.

First flight from the grass runway
at Wisley, Surrey, England

16 July 1948
First flight from the 6,600 foot grass runway at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England piloted by Joseph 'Mutt' Summers and Gabriel (Gabe) Robb 'Jock' Bryce.

A tarmac 6,688 foot runway at Wisley wasn't built until 1952.

The flight lasted for twenty minutes around the local area. The only defect was a faulty fuel flow gauge for one of the Dart engine instruments. Mutt remarked after the flight that it was 'the smoothest and best flight I have ever flown', a comment that was to be echoed by thousands of airline pilots and tens of thousands of their passengers in the following years and decades to come.

Flight Magazine - 22 July 1948 - Another British first

2 September 1948
Introduced to the press at Brooklands Airfield, Weybridge, Surrey, England, including flying demonstrations, now in a full Vickers-Armstrongs livery.

September 1948
Exhibited at the Society of British Aircraft Constructors (SBAC) air show at Farnborough Airfield, Hampshire, England including flying demonstrations with a total time of only 15 hours flying at that point.

20 September 1948
Flown to a French military airfield at Villacoublay, near Paris, France for demonstration flights.

29 October 1948
Captain Mutt Summers took the aircraft to Hucknall Airfield, Nottinghamshire, England and Rolls-Royce staff, including Managing Director Mr E W Hives and Chief Development Engineer Mr R N Dorey were taken on a local demonstration flight. They were all very impressed on how quiet and smooth the flight was.

Other Dart powered aircraft based at Hucknall at that time for flight trials were an Avro Lancaster and a Vickers Wellington.

November 1948
Allocated military serial number VX211.

The civil registration was not cancelled during the period it was operating with military markings.

Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd

19 August 1949
Returned to Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd, Broadway, London WC 1 for continued trials use.

6 - 11 September 1949
Exhibited at the Society of British Aircraft Constructors (SBAC) air show at Farnborough Airfield, Hampshire, England with British European Airways Corporation (BEA) titles, logo and Union flag applied to the basic Vickers livery.

14 September 1949
Airworthiness Approval Note (AAN) (No.741) re-issued to cover the normal category Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA)..

15 September 1949
Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA) (No.7796) issued after 290 hours and 160 flights which did not include the pressurisation or thermal anti-icing systems or tropical operations.

Pressurisation trials were then carried out involving flights above 30,000 feet and included emergency descents.

December 1949
During a demonstration flight to Aer Lingus from Collinstown Airport, Dublin, Ireland with George Edwards on board there was an incident near Dublin which could have been disastrous.

Vickers test pilot Gabe Robb 'Jock' Bryce found that the elevators, ailerons and rudder became jammed as he reached 19,000 feet. He advised the Aer Lingus passengers to put on their seat belts due to 'bad weather' and requested that George Edwards should join him in the cockpit. Jock explained the serious situation to George and after they both attempted to move the controls Jock started to gently manoeuver the aircraft by reducing engine power. As he descended towards Dublin Airport the controls gradually became free and he was able to make a normal landing without the need to alert the control tower of his difficulties. The Aer Lingus representatives were unaware of the drama and were advised that the demonstration was cut short due to the impending bad weather.

After the aircraft was pushed into a hangar puddles of water started to appear on the floor adjacent to both tailplanes and the rudder. Both Jock and George began to realise that the control problem had been caused by an ice build-up in the small gap between the elevators and rudder and the static tailplanes and tail fin. This gap was covered by a thin fabric which had frozen as the altitude increased.

Both Jock and George were grateful that this design problem was found so quickly and hadn't resulted in a crash, which could have been disastrous for the Viscounts' reputation at such an early stage in its career. The fabric covering was deleted from this and all subsequent aircraft.

January 1950
Anti-icing trials were carried out, with the aircraft based at Shannon Airport, County Clare, Ireland. Over a three day period it flew out into the Atlantic at altitudes between 4,500 and 15,000 feet to locate areas of icing. A total of 10 hours flying was utilised in performing these trials which proved to be very successful.

13 March 1950
Airworthiness Approval Note (AAN) (No.741) re-issued to cover the revised Type Approval. The normal category now removed all of the previous restrictions.

16 March 1950
Departed from Wisley Airport, Surrey, England with the aircraft now painted in a new British European Airways (BEA) livery on a demonstration flight for the press, flown by Vickers test pilots Gabe Robb 'Jock' Bryce and Joseph 'Mutt' Summers. A Vickers Varsity flew along side with other press representatives on board with the emergency windows removed to allow photography and movie photography. The Varsity was being flown by Vickers Test Pilot Brian Alexander Powell. The aircraft remained in BEA colours for the rest of its life.

18 March 1950
Departed from Wisley Airport, Surrey, England on a test flight flown by BEA Captain Wylie James Wakelin along with Vickers test pilot Brian Alexander Powell. The flight lasted for 45 minutes.

20 March 1950
Departed from Northolt Airport, Middlesex, England on an eight European capital tour. 4,400 miles were flown by Vickers test pilots Gabe Robb 'Jock' Bryce and Joseph 'Mutt' Summers together with BEA Captain Wylie James Wakelin ex RNZAF which involving 61 flying hours and 70 landings. One sector was flown with two engines feathered during a descent to demonstrate the engines reliability and potential fuel economy measures at low altitudes, although this was later abandoned for safety reasons.

14 April 1950
Departed from Wisley Airport, Surrey, England on a test flight flown by Vickers test pilots Gabe Robb 'Jock' Bryce and Brian Alexander Powell. The flight lasted for 35 minutes.

1 June 1950
Airworthiness Approval Note (AAN) (No.1152) issued to cover the increase in gross weight to 43,500 lb which gave it a disposable load of 13,031 lb.

4 June 1950
Departed from Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England to Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England, flown by Vickers test pilot Joseph 'Mutt' Summers and BEA Captain Richard 'Dickie' Rymer, who was the first airline pilot to have a turboprop endorsement on his licence. They were accompanied by Ministry of Supply Vickers 607 Valetta C Mk.1 VX541 on loan to Vickers flown by Brian Alexander Powell and Gabe Robb 'Jock' Bryce.

5 June 1950
Departed from Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England at 07:57 (local) for tropical trials at Khartoum Airport, Sudan and Eastleigh Airport, Nairobi, Kenya, flown by Vickers test pilot Joseph 'Mutt' Summers and BEA Captain Richard 'Dickie' Rymer. They were accompanied by Ministry of Supply Vickers 607 Valetta C Mk.1 VX541 on loan to Vickers flown by Brian Alexander Powell and Gabe Robb 'Jock' Bryce to carry all the support crew and equipment and described as a 'tender'. Mutt Summers and Jock Bryce swapped roles during the various test and demonstration flights. Representatives from Vickers-Armstrongs, BEA, Rolls-Royce and A & A E E Boscombe Down travelled with them. During the month of trials eighty takeoffs were performed using a new Water Methanol injection system developed by Rolls-Royce for the Dart engine.

Arrived at Cote D'Azur Airport, Nice, France at 10:54 (local) from Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England.

Departed from Côte D'Azur Airport, Nice, France at 13:05 (local).

Arrived at Luqa Airport, Malta 15:42 (local).

6 June 1950
Departed from Luqa Airport, Malta 14:29 (local).

Arrived at RAF El Adem, near Tobruk, Libya at 16:56 (local).

Departed from RAF El Adem, near Tobruk, Libya at 23:38 (local).

7 June 1950
Arrived at Wadi Halfa Airport, Northern Sudan 03:03 (local) .

Departed from Wadi Halfa Airport, Northern Sudan 06:21 (local).

Arrived at Khartoum Airport, Sudan at 08:24 (local).

8 June 1950 to 14 June 1950
A total of 2 hours 22 minutes of test and demonstration flying was carried out whilst based at Khartoum Airport, Sudan.

The flights were flown by Vickers test pilots Gabe Robb 'Jock' Bryce and Brian Alexander Powell.

15 June 1950
Departed from Khartoum Airport, Sudan at 03:18 (local) on its way to Nairobi, Kenya.

Arrived at Malakal Airfield, South Sudan at 05:07 (local).

Departed from Malakal Airfield, South Sudan at 06:17 (local).

Arrived at Kisumu Airfield, Kenya at 09:17 (local).

Departed from Kisumu Airfield, Kenya at 10:05 (local).

Arrived at Eastleigh Airport, Nairobi, Kenya at 10:55 (local).

16 June 1950 to 24 June 1950
A total of 11 hours of test and demonstration flying was carried out whilst based at Eastleigh Airport, Nairobi, Kenya.

The flights were flown by Vickers test pilots Gabe Robb 'Jock' Bryce and Brian Alexander Powell.

22 June 1950
A photographic sortie was carried out near Mount Kilimanjaro, (Kibo cone), Tanganyika. The photographs were taken from the removed port rear door position of Ministry of Supply Vickers 607 Valetta C Mark 1 VX541 which was flown by Vickers test pilot Brian Alexander Powell. They reached an altitude of 19,600 feet which was bitterly cold for the four on board, even those in the cockpit with the door shut. They were all using oxygen and wore flying clothing that was designed for WWII bomber crews.

26 June 1950
Departed from Eastleigh Airport, Nairobi, Kenya at 03:29 (local) on its way to Khartoum Airport, Sudan. At an early point during the flight the radios (WT) failed, so they returned to Nairobi at 06:04 (local).

27 June 1950
Departed from Eastleigh Airport, Nairobi, Kenya at 03:15 (local) on its way to Khartoum Airport, Sudan after the radios (WT) were repaired.

Arrived at Malakal Airfield, South Sudan at 06:55 (local).

Departed from Malakal Airfield, South Sudan at 08:16 (local).

Arrived at Khartoum Airport, Sudan at 10:07 (local).

28 June 1950 to 5 July 1950
A total of 13 hours of test and demonstration flying was carried out whilst based at Khartoum Airport, Sudan.

The flights were flown by Vickers test pilots Gabe Robb 'Jock' Bryce and Brian Alexander Powell.

6 July 1950
Departed from Khartoum Airport, Sudan at 05:14 (local) on its way back to the UK.

Arrived at Wadi Halfa Airport, Northern Sudan at 07:18 (local).

Departed from Wadi Halfa Airport, Northern Sudan at 08:06 (local).

Arrived at Cairo International Airport, Almazah, Egypt at 10:38 (local).

7 July 1950
Departed from Cairo International Airport, Almazah, Egypt at 15:20 (local) on a one hour demonstration flight with representatives from Misrair on board.

8 July 1950
Departed Cairo International Airport, Almazah, Egypt at 04:32 (local) to continue its journey back to the UK.

Arrived at RAF El Adem, near Tobruk, Libya at 06:38 (local).

Departed from RAF El Adem, near Tobruk, Libya at 07:59 (local).

Arrived at Luqa Airport, Malta at 10:52 (local).

10 July 1950
Departed from Luqa Airport, Malta at 07:10 (local).

Arrived at Cote D'Azur Airport, Nice, France at 10:14 (local).

Departed from Cote D'Azur Airport, Nice, France at 12:16 (local).

Arrived at Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England at 15:32 (local) and cleared customs.

Departed from Blackbushe Airport, Hampshire, England at 16:37 (local).

Arrived at Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England at 16:46 (local) after a successful completion of the tropical trials.

The Vickers 607 Valetta C Mk.1 VX541 support aircraft (tender) arrived back at Wisley Airfield at 17:05 (local), having followed the same route home.

The Valetta was eventually delivered to the Ministry of Supply 26 July 1950 with more flying hours than was normal for a new aircraft.

20 July 1950
British European Airways (BEA) approached Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and the Ministry of Supply with a request to carry out trial commercial operations on their London to Paris and London to Edinburgh routes.

This would give them some more experience of operating a turbine aircraft prior to the introduction of the V.701 fleet and also find out what the passengers thought of it.

Any shortcomings encountered with the V.630 would also help the development of the V.701 before it entered service.

27 July 1950
Full Certificate of Airworthiness (No. 7796) with Category Normal, Sub-divisions A,B, C, D, E, H and I issued to allow BEA to carry out trial commercial operations.

28 July 1950
Delivered on loan to British European Airways (BEA) under contract.

Ministry of Supply

23 August 1950
Returned from British European Airways Corporation (BEA) loan after a total of 127 flying hours in commercial service.

September 1950
Exhibited at the Society of British Aircraft Constructors (SBAC) air show at Farnborough Airfield, Hampshire, England still in the BEA livery but did not take part in the flying display.

Vickers were advertising the production Viscount for £167,000.00 compared to the de Havilland Comet 1 for £450,000.00 and the de Havilland Dove for £17,500.00.

8 March 1951
Airworthiness Approval Note (AAN) (No.1464) issued to allow the fitment of a Decca Navigation system to the tail.

1951
According to Flight International magazine dated 16 March, BEA planned to operate some more services from London to Edinburgh and also to Paris. Did this happen? Details please to information@vickersviscount.net

27 August 1952
Damaged beyond economic repair when the starboard main undercarriage leg collapsed during a landing at Khartoum Airport, Sudan 12:00 (local time).

This information came from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) World Airline Accident Summary. We have never seen a formal accident report.

The aircraft was being used for trials of various landing and navigation aids manufactured by several British companies.

There were no serious injuries among the 3 crew and 2 passengers on board.

A light alloy machined bracket securing the undercarriage leg radius rod to the rear spar had failed and the bolt pinning the radius rod to the bracket was also broken.

21 November 1953
Registration cancelled as the aircraft was written off.

Due to its location it was considered to be beyond economic repair and had served its purpose.

The success of the V.700 prototype (C/N 3) and potential orders also had an influence on this decision.

Total time 931:15 hours.

After removal of all useful parts and equipment the gutted remains were reportedly buried in the sand.

circa 1958
Remains noted by Central African Airways (CAA) flying mechanic Roy Downes inside a Sudan Airways storage compound.

He robbed it of some sealing rings to rectify a leak on their CAA Viscount nose leg steering hydraulic system.

1958
An eyewitness stated: 'Its twisted skeleton still lies half buried in the shifting sands, a solitary monument to civil aviation among North Africa's many war-time graves'.

Is it still there? Details please to information@vickersviscount.net

This seems very unlikely as the airport has been extensively developed over the subsequent years.

31 March 1961
A Viscount fuselage was noted at the BEA Viking Training Centre, Green Man Lane, Hatton Cross, Feltham, Middlesex along with an Ambassador fuselage.

Both were apprarently being used for cabin-crew training and were identified as being the prototypes G-AHRF and G-AGUA respectively.

Does anyone have any more information to confirm whether this really is the prototype, returned from Sudan after its accident.

8 December 1962
Another visit to the BEA Viking Training Centre, Green Man Lane, Hatton Cross, Feltham, Middlesex only resulted in the sighting of the Ambassador fuselage, which was now in very poor condition.

1 January 2008
All Airworthiness Approval Notes (AAN) relating to this aircraft were finally cancelled by the CAA.