Vickers-Armstrongs

09 February 2026

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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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Viscount histories told by photos

Viscount c/n 447 had a long and varied career

Viscount c/n 447 had a
long and loyal career with Deutsche Lufthansa AG

Photos of 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 photos 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 photos that we have on file for that aircraft. However, the photo history may be incomplete, so any help you can give in completing it will be appreciated.

Featured aircraft - c/n 5 - G-ALWF

Photo of Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd Viscount G-ALWF c/n 5

England

G-ALWF - Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd - January 1950 to February 1953

Registered to Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. Taken at Weybridge, Surrey, England in February 1952.

The fuselage has now been assembled and completed the pressure testing in a safe open area in case of an explosion and will now go into the old erecting shop for the completion of the assembly.

The building in the background is the newly constructed second erecting shop, which allowed for an expansion of Viscount and Valiant production to cope with the ever increasing demand.

Photo source - George E Cooper collection

Aircraft Summary

British European Airways Corporation (BEA)

This aircraft c/n 5, a V.701, was built for British European Airways Corporation (BEA) as G-ALWF and first flew on Wednesday, 3 December 1952 at Weybridge, Surrey, England.

During its life it was also owned and/or operated by Channel Airways, British Eagle International Airlines Ltd, Cambrian Airways and the Viscount Preservation Trust

Its final owner/operator was Duxford Aviation Society (DAS) as G-ALWF.

Its fate:-

Withdrawn from service by Cambrian Airways and stored at Rhoose Airport, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales 24 December 1971.

Saved by the Viscount Preservation Trust and now preserved by the Duxford Aviation Society (DAS) within the Imperial War Museum facility at Duxford Airfield, Cambridgeshire, England in early British European Airways (BEA) livery.

The aircraft was initially loaned for a period of 99 years but on 26 November 2011 the title of the aircraft was officially handed over to the Duxford Aviation Society (DAS) by Paul St John Turner and Romer Adams who had founded the Viscount Preservation Trust when they first purchased 'WF' in April 1972. The aircraft entered the main hangar for a fresh repaint in BEA red stripe livery 9 Januard 2019. Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) the museum closed to the general public until further notice in March 2020. The museum re-opened 19 May 2021 but entries must be pre-booked. The museum is now operating normally.

History and photos of Viscount c/n 5 G-ALWF
Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd Viscount fleet list and photos
United Kingdom issued Viscount registrations
Photos contributed by George E Cooper collection

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