Vickers Viscounts at Southend & over fly Heathrow and Brooklands
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- Опубліковано 26 лип 2009
- A look round BAF at Southend Airport and 'shoot up' Heathrow- Back in the summer of 1992, The Friends of Vickers Viscount Stephen Piercey were holding events to raise money for the restoration of the Brooklands Viscount.
This trip on the 1st of August 1992 saw a coach fully of enthusiasts driving to Southend Airport to explore British Air Ferries collection of Viscounts. This was followed by a short flight up the Thames to Heathrow and having held up flights, on to Brooklands. At Brooklands Capt. Towle demonstrated he ability to fly a four engine Viscount, like a single engine fighter. This regrettable induced a small of sickness, amongst the passenger. Once back at Southend, we dined out on America finest.
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This is one in a group of videos about this Viscount, visit www.andysvideo.com for more info and to see other video work. There is also a website for G-APIM at www.vsp.org.uk - Авто та транспорт
These were so cool back in the 1950's ....my dad was a bomber pilot in WWII and was fascinated with the new technology of these Viscounts. He would always take us kids out to the airport on Sunday night to watch the Capital Airlines new Viscounts land and takeoff again loaded with "rich" people dressed up flying to all points on the globe. :) What fond memories this brings back.
Thanks for sharing!
Love the engine noise. Remember flying in one to Spain in the late 1950s
As you say a unique sound. You can see a lot more about Viscounts in the viscount play list at www.andysvideo.com
Fantastic my Friend!
Thank you! Cheers!
I flew on one each summer from Belfast to London beginning when I was 5 in 1966. I remember this aircraft very very well despite the passage of time.
Aldergrove airport , l trust it is still flourishing .
This aircraft once flew with BKS (AT Ltd). I have in my possession the registration name plate of this very aircraft. (Removed after being sold on.)
Well done with the restoration. I'm very fond of the Viscount. At the end of the 1950s, I was "commuting" in a BEA Viscount to and from my school in Malta and my home in Libya. Loved the high-pitched whistling whine of the engines, specially from outside when they were idling or taxiing.
Nice to see two concordes at heathrow in that footage.
I've never heard the viscount sound from inside a viscount before and it sounds even better than hearing it from outside!
Find that a bit tough to grasp. Of all the aircraft I paxed on in the NAC fleet, Viscount was the one I disliked. Others were DC 3, Fokker F 27 and B 737. Viscount just had a horrible cabin sound.
If only my flight sim was as real as this! Thank you for putting it up
My first flight in a prop aircraft (brought up on jets) was 1981 in a British Midland Viscount, Heathrow to Leeds Yeadon and back every week (during a train strike). Wonderful; no vibration, no bumps, big windows, seats with lots of leg room and the sight of those whopping great props on the wings quietly taking us on our way. It felt like 'proper' flying. Thanks for sharing this vid.
Yes just as you say Al, PROPER flying. On several of the trips we did to raise money for VSP, we flew at lower altitudes than normal, so those huge windows were even more impressive.
I am too young to have experienced the flying boat era, but I reckon it must have been one of the few ways even better to have travelled the world.
I think what impressed me most about the Viscount was the sound of the engines, that I could actually hear their furious activity on the wing but no corresponding 'violence' in the cabin. Hard to explain here but I dined out on this story for years - none of my friends had been in a prop passenger aircraft - and made furious engine noises (rather like a prolonged raspberry) set against the calm serene inside the passenger cabin. I had remind myself we were moving. I think my father (RAF 1943-46) understood what I was getting at; bring them back!
One possible point of interest for you - back when I was flying on the Viscount, Yeadon Airport still had a short runway so the pilot went to full power while still on the taxiway and did a fast turn onto the runway. The first time this happened I had a near fit of the willies but got used to it. It sure sorted out the nervous fliers from us old lags.
Now I'm retired I plan one last film; the history of Air Anglia based at Norwich airport, 1970-80. They used Daks and later Fokkers plus others. Ill give to a shout when it goes straight to youtube. Oooooh Daks - a design icon.
+andysvideo I liive near Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island Canada. Where the flying boat era lived on from 1959 to 2015 with the biggest one of them all. two, giant four engine Martin JRM Mars water bomber aircraft used for battling forest fires. Sadly, after 55 years of firefighting service they are now retired. one is heading to the Florida Naval air Museum very soon. another will likely head to another museum also. For me the flying boat era ended just last summer in 2015. R.I.P.
+Al Stokes Veteran Film Maker One of my regrets is that I never flew on a Viscount. I've been on board the Stephen Piercey at Brooklands and I used to see and hear them flying over my home in Greenford, Mddx. I also used to watch them flying in and out of Heathrow during my frequent trips to the Queen's Building during school holidays - but never got to fly in one. My uncle was stationed in Germany at that time and used to come home on leave fairly regularly. He would always do his best to fly BEA because they had the quiet and smooth Viscount, whereas, at that time, Lufthansa was still operating the noisy, vibratory Convair Metroliner.
+promerops The flights we did on other Viscounts to raise money for VSP convinced me it was the only civilised way to fly. Huge windows, the smooth ride and the sound of those Dart engines. Incredible!
I have made a playlist of some of those flights and the recovery of VSP back to Brooklands at ua-cam.com/play/PLD33A4B11B2017A4D.html
@mikecawood Thank you Mike very generous of you to say that. I wish my video skills had been better back then, but at least we have a record of those great events we took part in, to share with others.
No it was an 'Over Fly' or 'Shoot Up'. Basicly in years gone by Viscounts used to be very much part of Heathrow's daily life, but by then and with so few left, they had become a rarity. So the guys were more than happy to see one up close, on our way to Brooklands and gave permission for us to fly through the main runway.
I sailed from Harwich on " Empire Wansbeck " in 1961 , a posting to BAOR . But retuned to UK in Nov. from Hamburg in luxury ! My first ever aircraft flight , the memory of being in a Viscount is never forgotten ,as l'd made a " Great Escape " from a tank workshop . Next flight was quite different , a H . P .Hastings from RAF Abingdon . My 15 yr. career with the Para. Bgde. had begun . Many thanks for this vid. Best wishes to you and yours .
Thanks William you may also want to look at ua-cam.com/play/PLD33A4B11B2017A4D.html which is a playlist of all my Viscount footage.
Believe this or not, I remember this flight, but from the ground...
When you overfly Wisley, you see a large body of water (6.08 in the vid). 14 year old me was very surprised to see a 4-engine propliner flying very low overhead.
First thought was that the plane was going to be very disappointed if it was trying for a landing on Wisley's airstrip. (It has barriers across it halfway down)
Can't have been too many other airliners flying that low down the A3 in 1992!
On a side note, do you think they would let you shoot up Heathrow's main runway nowadays.
Excellent vid, bought up my hackles when I realised what I was watching, I never have forgotten seeing that plane that day...
A lovely aircraft. I flew as a passenger; Belfast to London Gatwick on a British Midland Aiways Viscount. An ex South African Airways aircraft it was immaculate with plenty of wood-effect Formica and, of course those huge windows. As a Passenger Service Agent at LGW I often checked in passengers and boarded and met aircraft. In those days, during The NI troubles LGW/BFS was a top securty flight.
A little shaky but a good video. Love those wonderful turboprop airliners. Sad that they're gone out of main stream aviation.
This is machine! Machine! Thanks to show us this fantastic video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic! My first flight ever was in a BEA Viscount, from Aberdeen to Wick, in 1970, and back again 2 days later. I remember its (5 seat) wide cabin & huge oval windows. For years they were the stock-in-trade of regional BEA/BA Scottish regional services. Then they passed to smaller operators, like BAF. And then they were gone...
Awesome.I flew onthis beautiful aircraft from Jakarta to Bali back in 70's. Got a beautiful view from those big round windows. Love it. BTW can I share this video to my group?
Yes they were the most wonderful aircraft to be a passenger on and you will find more of my videos in the Viscount playlist at www.andysvideo.com Regarding sharing please feel free to share any of the videos, but if possible please give www.andysvideo.com a mention.
Replay from our Captain on the day Colin Towle-
The Viscount had an auto-pilot manufactured by Smiths Industries, which was quite advanced for its time, using analogue electronic technology. It could follow both horizontal and vertical inputs, locking onto the heading bug or an electronic signal such as a VOR or the ILS LOC for directional control, and could either maintain altitude or descend following the ILS GP signal in the vertical plane.
In 1971 we went to Southend to collect two Viscounts. (ex Lufthansa if I remember right). We then flew them to Oman after they had been repainted for Sultan of Oman's Air Force. I enjoyed working on them in Oman for about 3 years by which time we had bought two more Viscounts.
Don't see a Decca Navigator in the cockpit. Way ahead of its time.
Absolutely fantastic video, looks like a great day out! What I wouldn't give to have been there....
This just has to be one of the best videos on the internet. Really great.
Sad such an Incredible aircraft is far and few between seen now. I loved to see it fly, at the time I lived in Leigh ,it was always a delight. Great Video.
If only the original Comets had had those oval type windows fitted instead of the square ones!
So true John we may still have been world leaders in aircraft supply.
Thanks for the information. Good video!
Great to hear those Darts again, spent my childhood at EMA watching the BMA Viscounts come in and out from the viewing balcony. Could smell the fuel as they taxied out after being pushed back, then came the jets, Comet of Dan Air in the evening. Just wish there was a Viscount left flying, a proper plane!!
I joined the mile high club in Echo Yankee when I worked for BAF in Aberdeen in the early eighties.
Top class Video, thanks
I worked for Channel Airways here in Jersey, they had series 700 & 806 in the fleet.
lovely Aircraft, and the sound of those Rolls-Royce Darts ! Golden Days, great to relive the moment on U-Tube.
Peter B Jersey . C.I.
Thank you for the kind words. Yes you will find one or two other aviation videos on my page.
Glad you liked it, you will find a few more Viscount clips on my page. I posted the flight to Paris from Northolt, yesterday
You are right about the Darts, littleelse sound that good (apart from a Merlin I guess)
Sadly I never saw the Viscounts at Eastleigh (I live just down the road), only Southend.
Andy
I worked at Jadepoint Ltd as it was in 1988 for 3 months servicing and repairing the Viscounts,good solid planes built to last ! I remember being up where the tailplane joins the fuselage trying to get a bolt out from the rudder assembly for 2 hrs with big hammers blow torches and no scaffold,very dodgy,also working under the floor area was very cramped.I also did what I consider to be my best repair where the wing joins the fuselage took me a full day of double rolling to get 2 halfs perfect.
Neat - thanks for sharing this :-)
Fantastic video, would like to see more please
I was first officer on a Viscount 810 back in the 80's. This vid brought back some memories. Some of the instruments on this one were different than what I had, but the engine noises sure were familiar.
You will find other of my Viscount flight videos in this playlist along with the recovery of Viscount Stephen Piercey ua-cam.com/play/PLD33A4B11B2017A4D.html
Sorry about your right ear I had a problem with the mic.
Replay from our Captain on the day Colin Towle-
With respect to the flight over Brooklands, I remember it well as the weather was appalling. We were cleared to leave London Heathrow on an Epsom departure but had an altitude restriction of something like 2000 ft and had to remain clear of cloud for the flypast. All of the flying in the Brooklands area was done manually and on return to LHR there were very strong cross-winds, such that the aircraft appeared to be going sideways.
He also adds: It may be of interest that a similar auto-pilot was fitted to the Vulcan. It was a Vulcan with advanced modifications to its auto-pilot that was used for the early auto-land or blind landing trials, which from memory took place at RAE Bedford in the early 60s.
Viscount Steven Piercy named after the aviation photographer and good friend of a friend of mine Cliff Barnett both of whom sadly died in a mid air collision during the Hamburg Airshow many years ago.
Thanks for your support and rating!
There are a couple more videos of the trips we did I want to post, but time is against me at the moment. I will post them this year I hope, but I have a couple of The Brooklands Vimy' last few flights to do first.
Best bet is to subscribe to me and then you will be notified as I post them.
Regards Andy
Looked like a rough ride. You needed more than a snack from McDonald's after taming that bucking bronco: maybe a full body massage.
Excelente video del viscount
I was on a few Viscounts during the 60's and 70's before TCA replaced then with the DC 9.
The Viscount was a nice ride. Went Lon-Ber in one years ago,
Wow, a wing vertical 90 degree banking turn to the left. That takes guts
We did have a few air sick passengers that day.
The same pilot on another of our fund raising trips took us out over the English Channel and broadcast to the passenger that the channel ferry beneath us was in fact a German E boat and our Viscount was a Hawker Typhoon. He then winged over and dived down towards the ferry accompanied with cries of Rat- A-Tat, Rat-A-Tat, Rat- A-Tat, Rat-A-Tat from some of the passengers. Regrettable I did not film that one, but would probably have to delete it afterwards anyway.
My first flight was in a viscount happy days
Yes that's right, we were just above Stephen Piercey's home (where his parents still lived at that time).
great!
Great video. I'm still in contact with the Captain of this flight. A great pilot.
Thanks Kevin and you will find Colin in a few of my Brooklands videos, he is a great character.
What a plane-been looking for a good viscount video for ages-well done ! p.s any more ?
Love! the R.R. Dart!
@MyJerseybean Thanks Peter, you will find some more memoires I suspect, in the rest of my playlists.
What are the handles on the control yoke?!!
7:28 is Addlestone Town Centre. You can see Surrey Towers.
I would love to see that....I have never really heard a proper full on noise take off of a Viscount!!!!!
as a steward BEA worked on 802/806 into berlin 1966 chief steward RAY SHORT.EX RAF. top guy we both whent to gatwick to start up B/AIRTOURS as pursers.the viscount was well appointed with stand up full bar at rear of a/c ,then over 3hours to marselaux in france my father wasa/c inspector for vickers at hurn airport hamps.
Yes it is Sad, but there are a few videos on my channel (and others) that give you a taste of what it was like. The most incredible thing was the wonderful views out of the window.
There is a video in on my channel called Northolt to Le Bourget Paris. The return part of this flight was done at very low altitude as a private flight and the view was just outstanding Unfortunately by them my batteries were spent and I was unable to capture it, to share with others.
@kmentt It felt pretty real to me, I have sat in jump seats behind pilots a few times, and that is pretty much how it is. When you are looking for the field, it is a bit like zooming. Maybe you have never tried finding Lydd on a hazy day with thermals bouncing you on a first land away solo.
Amusing comment about the Captain and his Hurricane........yea, I'm sure it is true; there were many WWII RAF veterans in commercial aviation then.
It is true the Capt. was (and still is) a great bloke with a huge sense of humour and the plane was full of aircraft nuts, so these thing happen.
LIKE!!!!
Painful, harmonious prop-flutter to my ear. Love turboprops, but the Viscount's engine - prop match maybe might not make the sweetest melody.
This was UKs most successful airliner 500 sold and world first turboprop
cerca a mi caso cayó uno en el 74, 44 personas perdieron la vida, esto fue cerca a Cúcuta Colombia
Does it has an Autopilot ?
Used to fly in Rhodesia in 70s
What's that instrument in the middle of the panel going haywire?
If it had three mini props it is the prop synch indicator the shows the rpm of three engines relative to one datum engine. If the little prop is spinning then that engine is spinning faster or slower. Aim is to get them all near stationary. In practice you can hear out of synch props by a beat frequency, a sort of drumming and it is more common to get the engines synched by ear.
US Capital airlines holds the record for having two Vicounts crash within 15 minutes of each other ca. 63/63
Ca. 63/64
4 in 2 years. One of them in my home state...and still the most deadly crash in state history. Capital Flight 20.
Old turboprops were never pleasant - if you happen to be a passenger!
Ninety mins. on a Dan Air HS748 (Gatwick to Newcastle) was just about enough to be mildly interesting:
Eleven hours on a Bristol Britannia 312 (Prestwick to Toronto) was nothing less than torture!
Give me a VC10 any day!
We were issued with ear defenders , when firing on the range . But they came in handy if we used them for long distance flights . And to reduce the noise of Sgt. Majors !
Is there any airworthy Viscount left today?
Sadly no - the last one flying was down in Africa, but stopped many years ago. Elsewhere on my U-Tub channel you will find the last UK flight which I also filmed, as well as several other trips we did to raise funds for our own Viscount VSP.
That's a pity...
The Vickers Viscount 700D was the mainstay aircraft of Air Rhodesia.....
I just remember 90% of people on board calling for "Ralph". :)
Worst Flight Attendant ever, that Ralph guy... *snort*
How on earth I managed to not join everyone in that battle cry, I will never know...
Where I was up front in the Cockpit filming, it sounded more like 'Huey' they wanted! Still despite the lightweights it was a great flight.
There should be a film course on "how to shoot movies on the cockpit" cause many still dont get the grip of it. If its the cockpit you are showing, focus on the cockpit, after all, it is the Viscount story. Never, and I repeat, never use "zoom" for outside vew, its a trick that doesnt work, show it how the hman I woud see it. And many other tips...but well...each one should know, and Im just an amateur.
sorry my is gary gaffikin my father is tony gaffikin , I LEFT 16YEARS with b/a on the old oriana 1981 great life 66now still working in australia see ya.
I wish todays Dash 8 Q400 had those cool big windows like the Viscount.
rEdf196 bit late but they do have big windows tbf
was that an aborted landing at Heathrow? What went wrong?