Per the curious convention, by Rolls-Royce, for naming their (turbine) engines after rivers, there was once a highly successful and famous Rolls-Royce engine, a most unique one of the times, designed and developed by the engine maker, back in 1945/1946, which is/was, on the record, world's first turboprop...it was named after the River Dart. The River Dart is a river in Devon, England, that rises high on Dartmoor and flows for ~50 miles, southeast, to the sea at Dartmouth (see SimBrief MAP below). The Dart engine and its evolutions remained in production for over 40 years, with approx. 7,100 units produced, while flying and powering a/c, for some 170 million hours...! Most significantly, the (original) turboprop concept by Rolls-Royce, sometimes stated to be "strikingly simple", continues to play a major role even today for both commercial and military transport.

Here are e.g., the cream of the crop of best-selling and popular (GA) turboprop a/c (per 2021 data) that run the show in our modern times, continuing the tradition first started by the Dart engine: (1) Pilatus PC-12 (2) Kingair 350 (3) TBM 940 (4) Cessna Grand Caravan (5) Piper M600...

Visually speaking, the (conspicuously) protruding propeller shaft at the front of the engine is the trademark signature of all turboprops. Seen for the first time in the Dart engine (see below images), that design set the characteristic (visual) trend, once and for all. The Dart engine powered the Vickers Viscount (see images below) on its maiden flight in 1948. A flight on July 29 of that year, which carried 14 "paying" passengers between Northolt and Paris–Le Bourget Airport in a Dart-powered Vickers Viscount, was the first regularly scheduled airline flight by a turbine-powered aircraft ever, a remarkable milestone in aviation history. The Viscount was also the first turboprop-powered aircraft to enter airline service with British European Airways (BEA) in 1953. With the advent of turboprops, the (bothersome) vibrations and noise of the (prior) piston-prop engines were considerably reduced, and the Vickers Viscount, on the wings of the Dart, went on to become one of the most successful and profitable of the first post-WWII transport aircraft.

If we were to name the 4 most significant Turboprop (commercial) airliners, powered by the Rolls-Royce Dart, here they are (1) Vickers Viscount (1948) (2) Fokker F27 (1958) (3) Hawker Siddeley H.S. 748 (1960) (4) NAMC YS-11 (1962). In this post (in 2 parts), I have chosen to illustrate 3 out of these 4 airliners, with River Dart, as my central theme. The common denominator of all these 3 turboprop airliners, seen in the images, here, is the (Rolls-Royce Dart Mk series) engine that powered them...! See close-up shots, below, of these individual engines...

Now, a bit about River Dart...Rivers being always fascinating, out of curiosity, I inquired a bit about River Dart itself, after which Rolls-Royce had named the world's first turboprop. Geographically, this river begins as two separate branches (the East Dart and West Dart), which join at Dartmeet. I read, "The paths along these rivers offer very attractive walking, and there are several small waterfalls. The rivers are crossed by a number of iconic bridges..." For my flight, here, I lift off in a (quad-prop) Vickers Viscount (800), in the endearing (BMI blue) color British Midland Airways (This was the only Viscount to wear the then new color scheme of British Midland Airways). My trip begins from Exeter Airport (EGTE) in East Devon, direct to the confluence of the East Dart and West Dart, at Dartmeet. Since Dartmeet has no airport, I've created a fictitious waypoint with its LAT/LONG co-ordinates, on my SimBrief FlightPlan, for navigation to it. In my images, below, (e.g., the top-down view, last but one shot), you will spot the meeting of the two branches of Dart, at Dartmeet, and also the Road across the moors (B3357), that crosses the river just north of this meeting point.

You'll also notice, below, that, after the takeoff shots with the BMA Viscount, my cruise level shots belong to a H.S. 748, in the classic color of Dan-Air (London), an airline that had, at one time, operated 21 H.S. 748s as the work-horse of their fleet, and the airline was eventually absorbed into British Airways. Hope you enjoy this collection of pictures of my Part 1. 

Please continue on to my Part 2, for the rest of the flight...!

Thanks for viewing...!!

Interesting post 🙂.

And more fine shots, nice plane by the way..

cheers 😉

A very interesting read and some excellent images too.

I enjoyed visiting Dartmouth many times over the years when I lived in England and was lucky to have relatives living in Teignmouth. A beautiful part of the country.

I also remember the noise of the Channel Airways Viscounts from my spotting days at Hurn as it was called then. They really made the ear drums tingle when parking!

 

 

Very interesting and great shots!

Really excellent shots. And always a learning experience!

 

Great set of shots! 😉 

Folks: Appreciated the feedback...🙂...!!

Also, always good to hear from someone who has either visited or lived...in the places we try to visualize virtually from the SIM ....🙂...