History of the Viscount
Built in the aftermath of W.W.II, the origins of the Viscount stretch back to the requirements
of the wartime Brabazon Committee, who set down a series of design briefs for British civil
aircraft, post war. One such brief was the Brabazon Type IIB Specification intended to produce
a short haul airliner for European routes.
Two major contenders were ready by 1948, the AW 55 Apollo powered by the Mamba turboprop and
the Vickers Viscount powered by the locally designed and built Rolls Royce Dart. Both engines were
revolutionary, being that they were the first turboprop engines developed successfully in the world.
The Viscount prototype (G-AHRF) flew for the first time on 16th July 1948 from Wisley. At the controls
were test pilots ‘Mutt’ Summers and ‘Jock’ Bryce. The results could hardly have been better. The pilots
reported that ‘the new engines ran like sewing machines and the aircraft proved beautiful to fly’.
On 27th July 1950 the prototype was flown from London-Northholt to Paris-le Bourget and the flight
was the first scheduled turbine powered service in the world. The flights continued for one month and
passenger appeal was so overwhelming that an order from BEA and Air France quickly followed.
In 1954 BEA announced that it had placed orders for the stretched series 800 aircraft and by the time of
the flight of the V.810, Viscounts were flooding off the assembly lines. To assist the production demands,
the V.800 series were built at the newly-established factory at Hurn, Dorset (Bournemouth Airport). The
final aircraft to roll of the line was a Viscount 843, one of six delivered to the Civil Aviation Administration
of China (the country’s first airliner purchase from the West).
Viscounts were flown by many of the worlds airlines including Aer Lingus, Air France, Air Inter, Alidair
(based here at the airport) Alitalia, All Nippon Airways, Austrian Airlines, BEA, British Midland (based
here at the airport), BKS, British Air Ferries, British Airways, British Eagle, BOAC, British United, Capital
Airlines, Channel Airways. Cyprus Airways, Dan Air, Hunting Clan, Indian Airlines, KLM, LOT, Lufthansa,
Manx Airlines, NZ National Airways, Northeast Airlines, Pakistan International, PLUNA, Silver City Airways,
South African Airways, Trans Canada Airlines, United Airlines, VASP, and Virgin Atlantic. In total, over 120
airlines world-wide have operated Viscounts.
