23 May 1946
Vickers VC.2 Viceroy registered to the Ministry of Supply.

27 August 1947
Ministry of Supply approved the fitment of Rolls-Royce Dart RDa1 MK 502 engines in place of the Mambas before assembly was finalised. Airframe was built at Foxwarren, England and re-named Viscount due to the change of status in India to an independent state within the Commonwealth.

Model now known as V.630

Aircraft transferred to Wisley, Surrey, England for final assembly in 12 passenger configuration.

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

16 July 1948
First flight from the grass runway at Wisley, Surrey, England piloted by J 'Mutt' Summers and G R 'Jock' Bryce. The flight lasted for twenty minutes around the local area. The only defect was a faulty fuel flow gauge. J 'Mutt' Summers verdict after the flight was 'the smoothest and best I have ever flown', a coment that was to be echoed by hundreds of airline pilots and thousands of their passengers in the following years.

September 1948
Exhibited at the SBAC show at Farnborough, England including flying demonstrations with total time of 15 hours in full Vickers Armstrongs livery.

20 September 1948
Flown to Villacoublay, France for demonstration flights.

October 1948
Civil registration cancelled and military serial VX211 allocated.

19 August 1949
Re-registered from the Ministry of Supply - VX211 to Vickers - Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd for trials use.

6 - 11 September 1949
Exhibited at the SBAC show at Farnborough, England with BEA - British European Airways titles, logo and Union flag applied to the basic Vickers livery.

15 September 1949
Restricted Certificate of Airworthiness (No.7796) issued after 290 hours and 160 flights which did not include the pressurisation or thermal de-icing systems or tropical operations. This was the first C of A issued to a turbine transport aircraft anywhere in the world.

September 1949
Pressurisation trials carried out involving flights above 30,000 feet and emergency descents.

January 1950
De-icing trials carried out off the coast of Ireland with the aircraft based at Shannon, Ireland.

20 March 1950
Departed from Northolt, England on an eight European capital tour with the aircraft painted in a new BEA livery. 4,400 miles were flown by G R 'Jock' Bryce and BEA Captain W J Wakelin involving 61 hours and 70 landings. One sector was flown with two engines feathered during descent to demonstrate the engines reliability and potential fuel economy measures at low altitudes, although this was later abandoned for safety reasons. The aircraft remained in BEA colours for the rest of its life.

5 June 1950
Departed for tropical trials at Nairobi, Kenya and Khartoum, Sudan, flown by G R 'Jock' Bryce with BEA Captain Richard Rymer. They were accompanied by a Vickers Valetta flown by J 'Mutt' Summers to carry all the support equipment. Mutt Summers and Jock Bryce swapped roles during the various flights. Representatives from Vickers, BEA, Rolls-Royce and A & A E E Boscombe Down travelled with them. Eighty takeoffs were performed using a new Water Methanol injection system developed by Rolls-Royce for the Dart engine.

July 1950
Returned to UK after successful completion of the tropical trials.

26 or 27 July 1950
Full Certificate of Airworthiness (No.A-907) issued to allow BEA - British European Airways to carry out commercial operations.

23 August 1950
Returned to Vickers - Armstrongs after a total of 127 flying hours in commercial service.

September 1950
Exhibited at the SBAC show at Farnborough, England in BEA livery but did not take part in the flying display.

27 August 1952
Damaged beyond repair when starboard main undercarriage leg collapsed during a simulated forced landing in the Sahara Desert near Khartoum, Sudan. Total time 931:15 / TC. No fatalities among the 5 on board. It appeared that the light alloy machined bracket securing the right hand main gear radius rod to the rear spar had failed and the bolt pinning the radius rod to the bracket was broken.

21 November 1953
Registration cancelled as aircraft written off.

Reportedly the remains were buried in the sand after recovery of all useful spares. A 1958 account stated 'its twisted skeleton now 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?