Old giant of the air comes to Wear museum

Article from the 'Sunderland Echo'

Motorists were left waiting as this 70ft passenger plane made its way up the A19. The rare Vickers Viscount was brought from Durham Tees Valley Airport, near Darlington, to its temporary home at the North East Aircraft Museum in Sunderland, England.

G-AZLP is hoisted into place at the North East Aircraft Museum.

Fixed on the back of a transporter, it was escorted along the busy dual carriageway, taking two-hours to reach its destination in Old Washington Road. A giant crane was then used to manoeuvre the plane into position at the popular Wearside attraction before staff made preparations for it to go on public display.

Linda Ross, company secretary at the museum, said: "It was a huge operation, not only to bring the plane here from the airport but to get it into position. The aircraft had to be set on a special trailer for the journey. We also had to use a special crane to lift it off and set it down in the museum. Motorists must have thought they were seeing things when they saw it on the roads."

G-AZLP while in service with BMA - British Midlands Airways.

This Viscount, a V.813, was built for SAA - South African Airways as ZS-CDT first flew on Wednesday, 17 September 1958 at Hurn, England powered by Rolls-Royce Dart 525 engines. After 14 years service with SAA it was sold to BMA - British Midland Airways and re-registered G-AZLP. Retired in November 1983 it was used by the CAA Fire School at Teesside, England until June 2008. The plane is expected to spend the next 18 months on Wearside before being moved to its new home at RAF Millom Aviation and Military Museum in Cumbria.

"It's going to be a good addition to our collection here and, hopefully, the public will come along and see it," said Linda. "It's basically been sitting at the airport for the past 25 years, but the aircraft is 50 years old."

Linda, who thanked GCS Johnson Haulage and J Hewitt Crane Hire for helping with the operation, added: "There aren't many of the planes still in existence and it's pretty special to have one here in Sunderland. Once the health and safety checks are carried out, we're also hoping people can actually get inside it and have a look around. It'll eventually be taken to Cumbria once they find room for it, but it'll probably be here for about a year and a half as part of our joint partnership."

For mor information visit the North East Aircraft Museum’s web site.