aviation - the past, present and future of flight

O

ne of the very last of the big

Rolls-Royce-powered propliners,

the Viscount was a remarkable

success for the British Aviation

industry, and Vickers-Armstrong of Weybridge

in particular. It sold in large numbers to many

of the world’s leading airlines and offered

passengers the luxury of  ying above the

weather and in comfort.

The Viscount was one of several

airline designs submitted to the Brabazon

Committee on Transport following World War

Two. The board was charged in 1942 by

Prime Minister Winston Churchill to identify

the post-war market needs for the British

aircraft industry and to recommend new

designs for a number of different airliners,

each one targeted to a speci c market.

The Brabazon committee’s Type

II recommendation and subsequent

speci cation was subdivided into two

different categories. Type IIA called for

a medium-sized airliner powered by

conventional piston engines capable of

serving short- to medium-haul routes and

the Type IIB, for a similar machine but this

time to be powered by four gas turbine

powerplants. Two manufacturers put forward

designs for the Type IIB competition, these

being Vickers-Armstrong with its VC2

Viceroy, and Armstrong Whitworth with the

AW.55 Apollo.

VISCOUNT

TURBOPROP

ARISTOCRAT

Bob O’Brien profi les the history of the Vickers Viscount which fi rst fl ew in 1948.

42 Aviation News incorporating Jets September 2018

BRITISH AIRLINERS SPECIAL

Above: British Midland Airways’ Viscount 813

G-AZNB on approach to London’s Heathrow

Airport in January 1977. AirTeamImages.com/

Carl Ford