Coventry team meet Duxford team
Tim Moores trusty trailer loaded with a Rolls-Royce Dart.
Update by Martin Garrett
The project is missing a prop unit, can you help?
This month we have been planning for the arrival of our Viscount at the Midland Air Museum and looking at
depth into the dimensions of the concrete pads we require. To save on costs and time we are initially going
to lay three pads for the aircraft to stand on. As time goes on we will look at covering the remainder of
the area where she will rest with concrete or a similar material.
One of F-BGNR's Rolls-Royce Dart RDa6 Mark 506 engines.
Many years ago I designed and built a radio control scale aircraft. Using original manufacturers drawings
and dimensions I was most disappointed when the model was completed to find that the information on these
drawings was incorrect. I had been assured that this wouldn’t be the case with the dimensions listed for the
Viscount in the manuals and handbooks……… but just to be on the safe side we decided to visit both Cosford
and Duxford to double check some measurements. Any excuse for a day out to another museum.
The Coventry team meet the Duxford team.
The trip to Cosford was straightforward and after explaining to museum staff what we wanted to do we put
the tape measure into action and measured some key dimensions on the area once occupied by the Viscount
which now rests at East Fortune. Although we were confident with the measurements we took, the pads were
not sitting in a perfect triangle so we were unsure how the aircraft would sit on them.
Two days later we were at Duxford. Dave Waters of the Duxford Aviation Society had arranged a visit where
we could have a look in and around G-ALWF which is affectionately known as Alfie. Upon arriving at Duxford
we were met by Chris Giles who kindly showed us around the DAS Viscount spares holding and then allocated a
volunteer to us who showed us in and around Alfie, as a bonus we were also given a guided tour of the DAS
Avro York inside and out.
Mark Painter moving the museums Bofors gun.
Alfie presently sits in the restoration facility of the Airspace complex and looks in stunning condition.
Tape measure’s out we now have accurate dimensions from a complete aircraft and guess what………… the manuals
were spot on. We also took a lot of pictures of Alfie as reference material ready for when
we get to work on Vicky. Before readers assume that we will be going to go down the BEA route I will say
we will not I repeat NOT be painting our girl in those colours. Many thanks to Chris and his team for
making us feel so welcome on our visit.
Despite giving the impression we have just been swanning around the country visiting museums we have been
working hard at the Midland Air Museum preparing for F-BGNR’s arrival as have a number of other individuals
for which we are hugely grateful.
A couple of months ago we moved the first airframe, the Folland Gnat. This was more to aid measuring the
area where she will sit than for any other reason. Next removal was the museums Bofors gun. A good friend
and huge supporter of our efforts Mark Painter used his trusty Land Rover to tow the gun up the site.
Cheers Matey your efforts will be rewarded.
Our chief engineer Malcolm Lambert has also been aiding us and assembled a team to remove the blades from
the museums Westland Whirlwind G-APWN so that she could be moved to a new location on the site. This move
being successfully undertaken late afternoon early evening on Friday 18th May.
Interestingly we have found out that the IPMS group which holds its meetings at the Midland Air Museum has
two huge Vscount fans. Very kindly these guys have offered the loan of a large number of Viscount models
once the aircraft is assembled so we will be able to do a small display within the aircraft telling people
just how important this wonderful aircraft type is.
For more information about this project please e-mail
the 'Viscount
35 Association' , or visit the
Viscount 35 Association’s web site
and also watch the news pages here at the Vickers Viscount Network for further developments.
Cowl petals, propeller spinner and engine mounts.
