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The Viscount is undoubtedly the most successful British aircraft of the postwar years and formed the backbone of BEA's fleet well into the 1960s. Interestingly originally the type was to be called the 'Viceroy' but the indepedence of India in 1947 rendered that name obsolete and Viscount was the chosen replacement.
The original V630 flow for the first time on July 16, 1948 and quickly proved its superiority over the piston engined Airspeed Ambassador. It was this early version that entered service with BEA on July 29, 1950 - though only as a test. After 25 days of airline service G-AHRF was returned to Vickers for inspection. By then BEA was a signed up fan of the type and in August 1950 ordered 20 aircraft - though all of these would be the stretched Viscount 700. Only two Viscount 600s were manufactured.
For the updated version of this article see the following blogpost:
Unlike Germany, Italy had a national airline less than two years after World War Two had ended when the British government helped setup, and took a 30% stake in, the new Alitalia. The airline grew strongly through the 1950s and was a major international force during the 1960s, by which time jets had supplanted the piston props in the fleet.
Czechoslovakia like several European nations was caught in a tug of war between Superpowers in the immediate postwar era and unfortunately for them after years of Nazi domination traded one form of tyranny for another when the Iron Curtain rose up and they were on the wrong side of it.
The air network, which had flourished in the immediate postwar era, was curtailed in 1948 but despite this the reformed CSA Československé státní aerolinie (Czechoslovak State Airlines) was one of the more successful and progressive of the Eastern Bloc airlines. During the 1950s and 60s it was fairly standard for European flag carriers to act as consultants to developing nations nascent airlines especially if there was a colonial legacy. One of the most impressive relationships however was between Scandinavian Airlines and Thailand. Thai Airways International started operations in 1960 as a joint venture between SAS and the Thai government to create an international airline for the nation.
Turkish Airlines can trace its history back to 1933 but became Türk Hava Yollari (THY) in 1956. Their first jet, a DC-9, joined in 1967 and during the late 60s the airline experienced a period of major growth. Only a year after receiving a trio of new 707s in 1971 the first widebodies joined the fleet in the form of three DC-10s. THY at the time was notorious for delays and safety issues and the first of the DC-10s, TC-JAV, crashed outside of Paris in 1974 killing all 346 onboard. This was however not the fault of the airline but of the aircraft, when a faulty cargo door opened in flight. A similar issue had almost caused the loss of an American Airlines in 1972, but terribly the issue was not fixed until the massive loss of life near Paris.
Union de Transports Aériens (UTA) was formed in 1963 from the merger of UAT and TAI to create a powerful private international airline for France. With its own spheres of influence it had the largest African network of any Airline and connections with many other outposts of French influence, especially in Asia and the Pacific. Interestingly it also had regional traffic rights between Japan, New Caledonia and New Zealand and that is where the Caravelle comes onto the scene.
The departure of Apollo (Witty) from the 1:400 scene is unfortunate as they produced some fine models at times. I didn't care much for their DC-10s (long legs) and their recent 727 noses look a bit odd, but the models they made on their 747, L1011 and CV880 moulds were always excellent -plus they came with very nice stands. Certainly the Apollo 747-200/300 mould is superb (my understanding is it is the old Big Bird mk1 mould). One of my last new Apollos was the beautiful delivery scheme 747-300 - HB-IGG. February 1946 saw the initiation of services by the joint Soviet/Romanian airline TARS which was renamed TAROM in 1954 when the Romanians became full owners. TAROM was unusual amongst Warsaw Pact nations in that it was able to purchase western types (though LOT did have Viscounts). This followed the 1965 coming to power of Nicolae Ceausescu who conducted Romania's foreign policy independently of Russia - not taking part in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, establishing diplomatic ties with Israel and West Germany etc. Needless to say Ceausescu's moderate start didn't last but that's another topic. Within aviation Romania's new independence first became visible in 1968 when One-elevens were ordered for European and Middle-Eastern destinations instead of TU-134s. BA 757s were so common at Heathrow that it was hard to imagine that they would ever disappear. The 757 looked great in the Negus and Landor schemes but the low blue bottom never seemed to suit the 97 colours and the black nose ring most BA 757s had made them look worse. BA should have really curved off the blue belly like Delta did with the 2001 scheme - that would have preserved the beauty of the 757. Anyway British Airways was launch customer for the Boeing 757 and went on to operate over 50 of the type on their European and Shuttle services, replacing their Tridents. |
AuthorI'm Richard Stretton: a fan of classic airliners and airlines who enjoys exploring their history through my collection of die-cast airliners. If you enjoy the site please donate whatever you can to help keep it running: Archives
May 2024
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