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P_7878

The Vickers Viscount - World's 1st Turboprop

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As one sees the nice King Air 350s, here, in the forum, in recent days, being flown (so passionately) by the members, one might think back to the days when the Turboprop (the type of engines that power the KA350) made its very first flight...It was in 1948, the Vickers Viscount was introduced as the first commercial airliner to use turboprop power (equipped with four Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engines). The Vickers Viscount made its maiden flight 70 years ago on Friday, 16 July 1948. Regular passenger flights were launched by British European Airways (BEA) on April 18 (1953), the world's first scheduled turboprop airline service.

Rolls-Royce is still a catchword in automobile engineering, and their aircraft engines have been an integral part of advanced airliners since the first half of the Twentieth century. BTW, Dart is the name of a (smooth-flowing, fast-running) river in Devon, England. Rolls-Royce named their first such engine (and at the time their most unique one) after this river - unique because this engine was the first turbine in the world to drive a civil aircraft.

The Rolls Royce Dart Engines have a very distinctive sound (or noise...cannot be sure which word is more appropriate...I guess what's noise to someone is music to another...). It's a high pitched whine! For this SIM, the developer has included the "High-fidelity sound set showcasing the distinctive Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engines". I did listen, for a bit, to it at "full-volume" violating the family noise-abatement rules...🙂...but, I think, it was worth it...

The differences between piston and turboprop engines were revolutionary! One commentator/traveler, wrote, in 1953: "Noise level was less than that of piston engines. It was a definite relief to be rid of the rough vibrations...the turboprop is an excellent short-haul airplane and a definite crowd pleaser. The substitution of a constant pitch noise and smoothness for the vibration, grunts, and groans of the piston engine gives the hesitant passenger a feeling of confidence."

So, when compared to piston-engine aircraft, the turboprop Viscount offered a much smoother flight with less noise and vibration. With better fuel efficiency and the ability to carry a large number of passengers, the Viscount also offered lower operational costs. This turboprop airliner soon became highly regarded for its comfortable, luxurious flying experience. Even though, such large turboprop airliners were eventually replaced by the fast-evolving short-range jet-liners (such as Douglas DC-9), many smaller turboprop aircraft continue to be extremely popular today (e.g. Beechcraft King Air, Pilatus PC-12, ATR, Bombardier Dash8, Saab-340 etc. being primary favorites).

The Vickers Viscount was originally named "Viceroy" after the Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, but because India had just become independent (in 1947), the office of "Viceroy" no longer existed, and therefore the name was changed to Viscount. It was the most successful and profitable of the post-war transport aircraft, and gained worldwide popularity. It was also one of the few (if not the only) British types to achieve significant sales in North America. Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA), later relabeled "Air Canada", and (Capital, Continental, Northeast) Airlines were the major North American operators of Viscount.

It is believed that the last airworthy Viscount, 9Q-COD, last flew in January 2009 for Global Airways in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is the last known flight of a Vickers Viscount anywhere in the world. If you're interested, please click on the link below (or search for 9Q-COD on the internet) to get a glimpse of this aircraft:
http://www.vickersviscount.net/Index/VickersViscount170History.aspx

Anyway, here, below, are a few images of the Viscount (Type 800), which was the improved version of the 700 with an extended fuselage powered by Dart 510 engines, flying the virtual skies along the southern coastline of Norway from Oslo (ENGM) to Bergen (ENBR). I've chosen to use one of my favorite liveries, Lufthansa, in its vintage colors. Hope you enjoy these pictures of this pioneer plane. Thanks for viewing. [Orbx(Norway),JF(Viscount),REX]

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Nice screenshots of a nice airliner. My first ever commercial flight was on a Viscount (EINN-EGLL) with those great big cabin windows giving a good view of some very threatening stormy weather over London on arrival - the last 15 minutes or so of that flight were just a little rough! 

It’s a pity that Just Flight doesn’t give their Viscount a good upgrade similar to the Pro treatment that it has just applied to the VC-10. It certainly is not their best product and such an iconic airliner deserves better.

Bill

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Ah the nostalgic unique scream of a Dart... Yes it's a shame that JustFlight/Aeroplane Heaven didn't do the systems justice, fuel trimmers are not modelled but they are an integral part of operating the engines. As was water methanol injection for hot and high ops.She's quite an elegant looking bird with the proud cockpit and large cabin windows. Although I must confess to being more of a HS.748 or Dart Herald man myself!

Edited by ckyliu
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ckyliu, proud supporter of ViaIntercity.com. i5 12400F, 32GB, GTX980, more in "About me" on my profile. 

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Thanks both for your notes and comments.

Bill: Glad, you had a chance to experience this iconic airliner in RL...Oh yes, those large elliptical cabin windows on the Viscount....must have been quite a novel idea...

I agree with you both, this aircraft SIM is highly deserving of a Pro-upgrade...and also, I'm happy, they are doing so for the VC10. I understand the VC10 revision includes realistic fuel transfer etc...

JF/AH are, at least, giving us some of these classic planes which no one else seems to bother about, I guess...though they lack full realism...

Thanks all!

Edited by P_7878
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***Fantastic History***

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100%75%50%d8a34be0e82d98b5a45ff4336cd0dddc

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Patrick

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Flew from Heathrow to Tripoli North Africa in one in 1962.

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Raymond Fry.

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Great screenies P_7878. I remember that in the late 1960s, they made for German TV a nice series, with a young Lufthansa copilot learning the ropes in that plane

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Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwinds

My specs: AMD Radeon RX6700XT, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 32GB RAM, 34" monitor, screen resolution: 2560x1080

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This is not only a great and educative story about an epic plane - thanks P_7878!

...but it shows a wonderful livery, too. Although the first Lufthansa livery (before WW II) was without yellow, one got familiar with the blue and yellow livery over the years. I'm always embarassed how boring the brand new livery of Lufthansa looks without the smallest piece of yellow.

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   Harald Geyer
   Gründer der Messerschmitt Freunde Dresden v. V.

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1 hour ago, HaraldG said:

I'm always embarassed how boring the brand new livery of Lufthansa looks without the smallest piece of yellow.

+1

And we are not alone, Harald 😉 But others have made similar mistakes. I remember, it was in spring 1991, when I boarded in Seoul a Northwest 747 to bring me to LA. It was the fist time that I saw their new "Bowling Shoe" livery and I thought to myself, OMG, how ugly is that. During the flight I was invited to the flight deck and the captain said the same thing. But in the following years I have met quite a few people, who really liked it, so I guess, this will be the same with the new Lufthansa livery 

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Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwinds

My specs: AMD Radeon RX6700XT, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 32GB RAM, 34" monitor, screen resolution: 2560x1080

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Harald, Bernd: I just made a short (separate) post related to the Lufthansa Liveries...whether you like or not like the new livery, hope you enjoy it...but I know you are partial towards the earlier/older liveries...🙂...

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On 4/27/2019 at 9:43 PM, P_7878 said:

JF/AH are, at least, giving us some of these classic planes which no one else seems to bother about, I guess...though they lack full realism...

I am a big fan of these planes from the classic era and JF/AH, as you say, are one of the very few developers that seem to pay attention to that segment of the flight sim world. Up until now most of them seem to have been developed by AH and marketed under the JF label and, although many iconic and unique aircraft have appeared, unfortunately their quality has been variable and most could do with a JF Pro type upgrade.

The good news however is that JF now seem to have built up an excellent in-house development team and it looks like they are separating products developed by their own team from those of AH. The latest classic airliner which they have announced, the Fokker F28, is in the hands of the in-house team (as is the classic 747), so hopefully these will be of very high quality. The Caravelle however remains with the AH development team and has now been removed from the JF ‘In Development’ webpage.

Although I would be very happy to purchase quality upgrades of the existing JF/AH airliners should they ever make them available, I am hopeful that further down the line we might see a few more neglected classics announced by JF - the Britannia, CV440, Bristol 170 and Airspeed Ambassador are just a few examples which come to mind. One can always hope!  

Bill

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15 hours ago, scianoir said:

I am a big fan of these planes from the classic era and JF/AH, as you say, are one of the very few developers that seem to pay attention to that segment of the flight sim world. Up until now most of them seem to have been developed by AH and marketed under the JF label and, although many iconic and unique aircraft have appeared, unfortunately their quality has been variable and most could do with a JF Pro type upgrade.

The good news however is that JF now seem to have built up an excellent in-house development team and it looks like they are separating products developed by their own team from those of AH. The latest classic airliner which they have announced, the Fokker F28, is in the hands of the in-house team (as is the classic 747), so hopefully these will be of very high quality. The Caravelle however remains with the AH development team and has now been removed from the JF ‘In Development’ webpage.

Although I would be very happy to purchase quality upgrades of the existing JF/AH airliners should they ever make them available, I am hopeful that further down the line we might see a few more neglected classics announced by JF - the Britannia, CV440, Bristol 170 and Airspeed Ambassador are just a few examples which come to mind. One can always hope!  

Bill

Good to know, Bill. Thanks for the details. I think JF has been making progress to shake off their perception of being "Lite" - especially with some of their latest products. But, yes, I agree, they need to do more "Pro" type conversions, and, also raise the realism of their new simulations (even if not fully to the level of the premier developers), to attract the seasoned simmers...

Glad, they are assigning dedicated resources, as you say, "in-house" for such development, which will certainly help. Let us hope to see more of the neglected classics (many cited by you above) from them...and such iconic aircraft clearly deserve more that just "Lite" treatment...🙂...

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