Viscount In Australian Service

Vickers initially referred to the aircraft as the VC2 during 1945 and envisaged an aircraft with a gross weight of 24,500 lb powered by four Rolls Royce Darts of 1,0;30 ehp each. The fuselage was to be a “double bubble” type. During 1946 the more familiar circular fuselage with an outside diameter of 128 inches was settled on. The project was renamed the V. 609 Viceroy and the aircraft was planned to have a fuselage length of 74′ 6″ wing span of 89′ with a gross weight of 39,500 lb. The aircraft was developed from Vickers’ experience with the Viking and the structural and aerodynamic design evolved from that earlier aircraft, but with other improvements.

Following the abolition of the office of the Viceroy in India, the project was renamed the V. 630 Viscount. The fuselage could accommodate 31 passengers and the cabin differential was set at 6. 5 p. s. i. to give an internal altitude of 5,000 ft at 25,000 ft and 8,000 ft at 30,000 ft.

The prototype V. 630 Viscount G-AHRF first flew on 16 July, 1948 and Vickers were immediately buoyed by its handling characteristics. The design was further enhanced by the availability of the Rolls Royce RDa3 Dart of 1,547 ehp. What emerged from the subsequent redesign was the V. 700 series with a 60-inch span increase, an 80-inch fuselage stretch, passenger load lifted to 53, gross weight to 50,000 lb and a cruising speed up by 35 mph to 310 mph. The first V. 700 had its maiden flight on 28 August 1950.

Another significant advance was accomplished in 1952 with the V. 800 series. Rolls Royce’s constant improvement of the Dart gave birth to the 1,690 HP Dart RDa5. This enabled Vickers to produce the V. 800 series with a further 38-inch fuselage stretch. By relocating the aft pressure bulkhead 5′ 5″ to the rear, the internal cabin length was extended by 9′ 3″. Gross weight was increased to 64,500 lb and passenger accommodation to 71. The final major improvement was the V. 810 series powered by the Dart RDa7/1 MK 525 of 1,990 ehp. Gross weight went up to 72,500 and the fuselage was eight inches longer. Production of the Viscount terminated in 1962 with 440 having been produced. Further details of the Viscount are contained in the September 1980 edition of Australian Aviation.

The Australian association with the Viscount can be traced back many years prior to their introduction into service. This interesting information has been obtained from TAA’s distinguished retired Director of Engineering, Mr. John L. Watkins, O. B. E. , amongst other observations.

John Watkins as early as July, 1943 assisted in preparing Australia’s reply to a request from the U. K. Government for comments to guide the Brabazon committee in the design of aircraft for post-war air transport. Visiting London in August 1946 he found that both Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers were working on a Brabazon proposal for a four-engined inter-city airliner using powerplants originally intended for fighter pilot trainers. The A. W. 55 with four Armstrong Siddeley Mambas and the Vickers VC2 with four Rolls Royce Darts were both expected to fly by mid-1948.

During a demonstration flight of TAA’s first Convair 240 at Heathrow, London on 31 August 1948, Watkins· obtained from Sir Hew Kilner, Vicker’s Chairman, an enthusiastic report of progress with that Company’s project. Now christened the Viscount. the V. 600 series prototype had recently begun test flying. A year later at the 1949 Farnborough Air Show, Watkins and TAA Chairman Arthur Coles flew on the Viscount demonstration and were very impressed. This led to a continuing interchange of correspondence with Vickers’ designer George Edwards and with Rolls Royce indicating TAA’s real interest.

On 19 August, 1952, in the Weybridge boardroom of the factory where he had begun his aeronautical career twenty years earlier, Watkins had what he described as “the enormous satisfaction” of signing for TAA the contract that secured Australia’s very first turbine-engined airliner. It was the arrival of the first of these, in October, 1954, and the break-away from the piston engine that it represented, which gives the Viscount its unique importance in the history of Australian air transport.

The decision to order six V. 720 Viscounts was interesting, as it was divergent from ANA’s contention to stick with piston engines and order the well-proven Douglas DC-6, introduced into Australian operations during 1953. TAA believed that the greater reliability of the Dart coupled with reduced servicing costs would place them in a strong competitive position. Another consideration was that the 44-seat Viscount fleet would be preferable to a lesser number of larger aircraft in the prevailing Australian market conditions. At the time of the order TAA became only the fourth airline in the world to purchase a non-piston-engined airliner, a bold move that was to pay dividends in the years ahead.

Deliveries of the Viscounts to TAA began with VH-TAA “John Batman” on 5 October, 1954 with 1 December set as the date of introduction into service. These plans were deferred following the tragic loss of VH-TAA on a training flight at Mangalore on 30 October, 1954. Three pilots were lost in the accident but fortunately, there were five survivors. The accident occurred while the Viscount had been engaged in making a practice three-engine takeoff and the cause was later identified as the aircraft becoming airborne below a speed (about 56 kt) necessary to maintain control. VH-TAA had first flown on 29 August and had flown 100 hours up to the time of the accident. An additional V. 720 was ordered to replace VH-TAA. This was VH-TVG subsequently delivered during January, 1956.

It became necessary to revise the introduction schedule and TAA’s second Viscount VH-TVB “Gregory Blaxland” made a non-stop demonstration flight on 13 December, from Melbourne to Brisbane. It covered 927 miles in 3 hours 13 minutes and set a new height record for a commercial aircraft in Australia by flying at 25,000 ft. Regular services commenced a few days later on 18 December. Deliveries of the Viscount to TAA continued with the final aircraft of the initial order being received on 1 April, 1955. During this time ANA were taking delivery of their first Douglas DC-6B and the stage was set for an interesting competitive tussle between the two types.

When TAA first ordered the Viscount, the expected gross weight was 52,500 lb. With only minor increases in empty weight the gross weight was lifted to 60,000 lb with a further increase to 62,000 lb with two 145-gallon wing-mounted slipper tanks. Additionally, the TAA Viscounts had a 239-gallon greater internal fuel capacity through the installation of additional wing tanks. During this growth period in gross weight, fuel capacity had increased from 1,400 gallons initially to 1,950 gallons or 2,240 gallons with the slipper tanks installed. This internal fuel enabled a non-stop flight from Melbourne to Brisbane with a fuel reserve of 8,040 lb. Or it could fly a 1,000 nautical mile stage length with a full 44-passenger load plus 2,600 lb of freight in zero wind with a one-hour fuel reserve. The slipper tanks gave approximately an extra one hour of cruising time with a 5 kt reduction in cruising speed. The fuel consumption of a V. 720 Viscount on a typical Melbourne to Sydney flight in summer at a TOW of 53,000 lb averaged 2,360 lb/hour (296 gph). On an actual flight which took 1 hour 44 minutes from engine start up to stop, fuel consumption was 4,100 lb. This makes for an interesting comparison with the airliners in service today.

The sixth Viscount was delivered with slipper tanks fitted and had the Dart 506 installed and another earlier aircraft was converted to this configuration by Rolls Royce at Bankstown. With these long range Viscounts, TAA had turboprop aircraft suitable for the Melbourne-Adelaide-Perth route. The ANA DC-6Bs were already operating the route and were proving popular with the public. During April, 1955 TAA put the Viscounts onto the run and restricted the load to 32 passengers. Although TAA thought that occasionally they may need to refuel at Kalgoorlie the initial flight exceeded expectations. Against a 35 knot headwind, the Viscount flew Adelaide-Perth nonstop and arrived with 600 gallons to spare. ANA’s DC-6Bs were fitted with 52 seats which gave them a wide capacity margin over the Viscount.

The introduction of new aircraft onto this route created a classic see-saw effect for both operators. When ANA introduced the DC-6B onto the service on 9 March they were competing against TAA’s DC-4s and were able to register an average passenger load factor of 82%. When TAA changed to a daily Viscount service on 20 April, the DC-6B load factor dropped as far as the low 60s before climbing back over the 80% mark. As for the TAA Viscounts they were recording 76% Westbound and 80% Eastbound. Satisfaction with their relative mainline equipment prompted TAA to order four more Viscounts and ANA placed a provisional order for two more DC-6Bs (pending the allocation of dollars) which would give them 4 DC-6Bs and 2 DC-6s. To further add to the competition, Ansett Airways applied to purchase another Convair 340, their third. These were indeed interesting competitive times.

By September 1955, TAA decided to order a further two Viscounts for 1957 delivery which would bring their fleet to twelve. Three of the aircraft were now fitted with slipper tanks for the East-West route and the other two Viscounts had the Mk 506 Dart which gave a 30 knot speed improvement. The load factor after 10 months of operation had settled in the 84-85% range and TAA were looking to further expand the Viscount routes to Cairns when the equipment became available.

Apart from TAA, Butler Air Transport was another early operator of Viscounts in Australia. Inroads being made by Ansett Convair 340s into Butler’s share of the market in areas such as Coolangatta prompted an order for two Viscount 747s, the first to be delivered late in 1955 followed by another aircraft in 1956. However whereas TAA had a virtual dream run with the Viscount, Butler was destined to encounter severe problems introducing the type into their network. An inkling of the problems which lay ahead emerged on 21 October, 1955 with the announcement of the Department of Civil Aviation’s policy on the development of country aerodromes.

The then Mr. D. G. Anderson (later Sir Donald Anderson) who was the Director-General-Designate of DCA said that Butler Air Transport had bought a Vickers Viscount airliner without regard to the aerodromes it could use. Mr. Anderson said “As a result, Mr. Butler has quite a problem on his hands if he wants to operate his new aircraft to areas he has suggested. ” The retiring Director General, Sir Richard Williams said the Department’s policy would not permit the improvement of country aerodromes to allow Convair or Viscount operations while other suitable aircraft, which were more efficient and had a larger capacity than the DC-3, could operate the same aerodromes. An aircraft that DCA had in mind was the Handley Page Herald.

Butler Air Transport had found after ordering the Viscounts, that both Bourke and Evans Head, which were currently served with DC-3s, had runways of insufficient length and strength. Against the uncertain future, Butler introduced the first Viscount, VH-BAT “Warral” onto the Melbourne-Sydney route on 12 December, 1955. Two services a day were flown, one via Wagga and the other direct to Sydney with an extension to Coolangatta. Apart from these routes the Viscount also operated Sydney-Dubbo and Sydney-Parkes several times a week. It is no wonder that Butler once held the record for the highest utilisation of a Viscount at 9 hours 8 minutes per day. The second Butler Viscount VH-BUT “Warrawee II” arrived late in 1956 to join the fleet.

During 1957 Butler’s problems with country airfields deteriorated further. On 13 February DCA announced that Coffs Harbour was being closed to Viscount operations following the formation of cracks in the runways. In addition, DCA expressed concern over the wear and tear caused by Viscount operations at Bourke, Broken Hill, Dubbo and Parkes. Butler’s Managing Director said that the Company’s DC-3s could not handle the Coffs Harbour traffic and that it would be difficult to economically operate the Viscounts if access were denied to the aerodromes named by DCA. As a means of maintaining services, Butler ;:icquired three ex-BEA Airspeed Ambassadors and they arrived in Sydney on 18 June, 1957. Butler planned to operate routes previously served by DC-3s with the Ambassadors and hopefully to avoid the problems caused by the Viscounts.

Meanwhile TAA continued to expand its fleet. A total of seven V. 756D Viscounts were delivered between 1956 and 1958. This version was powered by Dart 51Os and featured improved cockpit layout, autopilot (Smiths SEP2) and synchroniser. Some cabin refinements were incorporated such as twin toilets. After operating the five V. 720Ds for periods up to one year, an overall load factor of 86% had been achieved. TAA said that the Viscount had been relatively free of maintenance troubles apart from some electrical problems. To combat this, TAA rewired their existing aircraft and later models featured heavier wiring. Additional Viscounts were later acquired by TAA. These were three V. 816s, two were delivered in 1959 and an ex-Cubana one in 1962. Apart from these purchases, a V. 745D originally intended for Capital, but not delivered to them, was leased from 15 March, 1958 to 31 January, 1959. This aircraft was then returned to Vickers. This brought the total of Viscounts flown by TAA to 18 aircraft, which gives some indication of the satisfaction enjoyed by the type in their operations. •

NEXT ISSUE: In Australian Service examines the battle that was waged between Ansett-ANA’s piston-engined DC-6Bs and TAA’s turboprop Viscounts, a battle which ultimately saw not only Ansett acquiring its own Viscounts but leasing several of TAA’s aircraft. We also provide a technical description of the various Viscount marques in addition to a ready reference chart detailing the history of each Viscount on the Australian civil register.