iscover
The Vickers Viscount is the most successful British airliner ever constructed, with over 400 built. The aircraft pictured was originally built for TM, but instead it operated in Iran before its procurement by the RMF. (Defence PR)
Aircraft of the ADF, A6 – Vickers Viscount
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A6 – Vickers Viscount
The route by which two Vickers Viscount airliners, originally intended for TransAustralia Airlines (TAA), ended up in RAAF service was quite an unusual one.
The prototype Vickers Viscount, registered G-AHRF, first flew on July 16 1948 and was the first propeller turbine aircraft to enter airline service. TAA ordered six of the Viscount 700 series in 1952 and by 1958, Viscounts had captured 27 out of the 28 Australian airline speed records. The stretched Viscount 800 series became available in 1959 with TAA receiving two of these,known as V816 models. A further two,VH-TVR (Vickers constructor’s number 435) and VH-TVS (c/n 436), were completed for TAA but were not delivered. Instead, 435 was delivered to the Union Carbide Corporation in USA as N40N in 1960,and 436 went to the Iranian Government as EP-MRS in 1961.
By 1964 the hard pressed Convair Metropolises and Douglas Dakotas of 34 Squadron needed supplementing, and so these two Viscounts were obtained. Number 435, now registered N140N, became A6-435 with the RAAF and 436, then operated by Iranian Airlines,became A6-436.
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A6-435, under command of 34 Squadron CO WGCDR W Addison MVO AFC, departed the USA on August 12 1964. Via a North Atlantic crossing, through Europe,Iran, India,South East Asia and Western Australia,the final leg from Edinburgh to Fairbairn was completed on August 28.
A6-436 was collected in the UK, again by WGCDR Addison and crew,on October 1 1964. They flew a more southerly route through North Africa,and from India transited through Hong Kong, Okinawa, Guam, and then south. A6-436 arrived at Fairbairn on October 10.
In 1965 the Duke of Edinburgh became the first member of the Royal family to fly in a RAAF Viscount when A6-435 flew him from Sydney to Canberra on February 20. Viscounts, Metropolises and Dakotas served together on VIP duties at Fairbairn until the arrival ofthe new HS. 748s and Mystere 20s in 1967, which enabled the withdrawal from seIVice of the Dakotas, and eventually in April 1968 of the Metropolises. The Viscounts served well on these tasks in Australia, but were hampered by their short legs for overseas journeys. Asa result, with the arrival in 1968 of the new BAC One Elevens, the Viscount was replaced as the flagship of 34 Squadron’s VIP fleet.
Both Viscounts were withdrawn from service in March 1969 and in August were put up for disposal by the Department of Supply. Each aircraft had under 5000 airframe hours. A6-435 was initially to return to the USA in November 1969 as N40DA andA6-436asN40NB, but then changed as JetAirAustralia obtained the aircraft. The Viscounts, now VH-EQP and VH-EQQ, changed hands several times in Australia over the next year as a result of the then Two Airline Policy which restricted new airline operators.
In 1971 both Viscounts were bought by the Sultan· Oman’s Air Force (SOAF), where they served serial numbers 501 and 502, sometimes flown by ex RAAF pilots. After seven more years on military VIP duties, the aircraft again reverted to civil identities in 1978 with Royal Swasi Air as 3D-ACM and 3D-ACN. The following year both aircraft returned to UK, where they entered service and flew with several scheduled airline operators. 435 became G-BFZL and 436 became G-BGLC.
Eventually G-BGLC went to Air Zimbabwe as VP-WGB,and later became Z-WGB.
A total of 459 Viscounts had been built when production ceased in November 1962. These two examples had a fairly unremarkable service with the RAAF between 1964 and 1969, but rarely have aircraft that served in the RAAF had such diverse ownership and carried so many identities.
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