Therefore despite the government's attempt to create parity between the two airlines ANA had thrown the doors of competition wide open by buying the DC-6s. For the nine months until TAA's Viscounts arrived they would have a competitive advantage but after that point the Viscount would be clearly superior.
October 13, 1954 was the day that TAA's first Viscount VH-TVA 'John Batman' arrived at Melbourne. Pilot training began four days later and the first fare paying service was flown on October 21 with regular scheduled services due to start in November. Sadly VH-TVA wasn't to be able to operate these services as on October 31 disaster struck and the new aircraft crashed on a training flight whilst undergoing engine stop/gos. The aircraft wasn't blamed and neither were the three deceased pilots instead the coroner's inquiry gave a verdict of misadventure. Fortunately the remainder of the Viscount order arrived from December 4 to late February and scheduled services began on December 18 between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
1 Comment
Robert
19/5/2015 01:30:44 am
Fantastic article. My all time favourite airline and aeroplane.
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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
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