Vickers Viking

Steve Fremgen, e-mail, 11.04.2017 18:01 I rode on a BWIA Viking with my father when we were on holiday, from Trinidad to Tobago in 1954. Tobago's Crown Point Airport at that time only had a grass runway which made it even more fun. BWIA ran DC-3s and Vikings on that run on alternating days. We rode back on a DC-3. reply

Geraldine Fitzgerald, e-mail, 06.02.2017 20:47 At the age of 11 (1956), I also flew with my mother in a Viking from Salisbury, Rhodesia to London. There was just one hostess and she allowed me to help collect cups from some of the passengers. It was a trip of 4 days, stopping overnight at 3 different countries on the way. We flew back on a new Viscount. A trip I shall never forget. reply

Peter Hill, e-mail, 02.02.2017 13:20 I was a LAME (Instruments) with Airwork at Blackbushe 1949 - 1956. Also member 622 Aux. Sqdn. reply

George Adams, e-mail, 02.02.2017 05:57 1955 august. Heathrow to Nice ( lunch) Malta (night stop Phoenicia hotel), next morning Benghazi, wadi Halfa for the night. Then Khartoum,Entebbe, and finally Nairobi. Airwork. A month later return by Hunting Clan. Miss the sound of the big pistons reply

Patrick Ford, e-mail, 30.09.2016 23:41 I remember flying in one of these planes - it was a test flight for S.A.A I guess in the late 40s or early 50s.It was seriously bumpy and very noisy and I remember being very sick. reply

Chris Cooke, e-mail, 11.04.2016 00:05 I have a picture of a Viking at my local Pub. it has the signage of the Royal Radar Establishment, must have been late '50s. Anyone any idea what it might have been doing in Buxted, East Sussex reply

Max moscrop, e-mail, 17.02.2016 16:09 in about 1950 when I was 9 years old I flew from Nairobi to blackbush in what I believe was a vickers viscount, I was travelling alone having to leave Africa rather urgently due to mau mau. I have not been able to trace any flight details but the name viscount does ring a bell, would anyone know if the viscount was used on this trip. I seem to recall staying overnight in Khartoum. reply

Michael, e-mail, 07.10.2015 22:24 I flew from Bovingdon,Herts to Malta in 1953 in a Huntings Airline Viking----we stopped at Nice for refuelling. I remember sitting just behind the hump which allowed me to put my feet up and have a sleep. reply

Bruce Williams, e-mail, 27.06.2015 02:06 I flew from Blackbush to Luqa (Malta) on 8th February 1957. We stopped at Nice for refueling where I remember buying a postcard in the small airport lounge and posting it to my grandmother back in the UK. The flight seemed to take forever - I'd love to know how long it really took. reply

roy harvey, e-mail, 01.04.2015 17:31 I think it was a Vickers Viking that I flew on to Nairobi in 1949. We were going to meet my father who worked on the peanut scheme. If it wasn't a Viking, then it was an aircraft with a wingspan that you had to climb over to get to the front of the cabin. reply

Alan McFarland, e-mail, 03.12.2014 23:43 I flew many times in a Viking from Belvedere (Salisbury) to Ndola and experienced a number of heart stopping drops in the bumpy air. Stepping over the hump across the aisle was rather odd. Just missed the flight that lost a wing over Southern Tanganyika. One bump too many there! Shauri ya Mungu The Salisburyites ponder mightily when the Vikings and Dakotas flew over the city on takeoff from Belvedere! Airport! reply

Tony Porter, e-mail, 31.10.2014 13:52 I flew in Vikings throughout the 50s & early 60s, as my father was an exec with first Airwork (out of Elmdon Airport) and later Tradair (Southend) which converted the sold-off Kings Flight Vikings to run package tour charters. We were among the earliest of the first wave of British tourists to the Costa Brava, when places like Lloret were just sleepy fishing villages. Also flew to Rotterdam and Paris a few times. My father was heavily involved in the Airwork 'Safari' tours to Kenya, mentioned elsewhere by John Hopkins. Loved the Vikings - old crates, but such character! (And they flew low enough that you could watch the landscape roll past like an unfolding survey map.) reply

Surendra Shirali, e-mail, 14.06.2014 18:17 Struggling very hard to obtain a Plastic Model Kit of Vickers Viking 1B. scale models 1 /72 or bigger. Can someone tell me where to get one. Will be extremely grateful for the information. reply

Frank Astor, e-mail, 07.06.2014 11:18 I too have flown in a Viking! It was on 26 /4 /1956. We left from. Ciampino (Roma) for Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia. It snowed on Rome the day before so we were delayed by a day and we arrived on 29 /April, my 22nd birthday! We spent one night at Marsa Matruk, (Egypt) one at Whadi Halfa (Sudan) and last at Entebbe (Tanganyka). At Whadi Halfa, we slept on a river boat anchored in the Nile, it was my first experience of sleeping under a net as mosquitoes buzzed outside trying to get at me! At Entebbe, as we waited for supper to be ready, I ran to the edge of Lake Victoria as I saw some Hyppos grazing. Camera in hand I took 3 photos and ran back when I heard the dinner's tune played on the xylophone. We had lunch at Malta, at Entebbe (Sudan) and Ndola (Northern Rhodesia), while we had suppers in the hotels where we slept. The pilot flew low after Entebbe and zigzagged to afford us better sightings of herds of buffaloes, wildebeests, giraffes and elephants. In Sudan we saw mile after mile of flat sand with here and there a rock or a boulder with a tail of sand pointing to north from its top to eventually reaching the floor. They looked as so many cones of ice-cream all fallen on the sand, all in the same direction. We left Ciampino at about 8am and reached Bulawayo at about 5pm four days later, having flown at 388km /h cruising speed. Smooth landings all the way: excellent pilot and good weather! My first flying experience! The worst plane I flew in, afterwards, was a BEA Canberra from Rome to Johannesburg: noisy and vibrations all the way! The smoothest flights: a DC10 and the latest 303s jumbos, with TV games and on board cameras looking ahead (pilot's view) and down to the ground below. Beautiful when the plane is not full and I can use three screens: one to see where we are (on a map), one to look down, play a video game in another and see the clouds from the windows. That's flying! Yet I remember the Viking's as one of my most cherished experiences. Frank Astor reply

keith humphrey, e-mail, 28.03.2014 13:41 Hello, I to traveled from Ndola in Northern Rhodesia to England in one of these planes in both 1951 and again in 1953.The route on both occasions was Ndola ,Tabora Entebbe (night Stop) Juba Wadi Halfa (night stop) either Bengazo or MursaMatru Valleta (night stop)Nice (sometime night stop owing to head winds)and the UK .I would love to do the route again in the same aircraft.I believe they were all operated by Hunting Clan. In 1953 we remained at Wadi Halfa for 3 or 4 days as the aircraft developed a technical fault and we had to await spares coming from England.Whilst we were there ,there was some people travelling overland from the U.K. to South africa in an old Bentley and they had been in Wadi for some months awaiting new tyres so they could continue.During the late 60 and early 70 the Rhodesian airforce operated dc3's as cargo - resupply aircraft in which i was fortunate to fly in. I have some pictures of the Viking at Ndola airport cica 1951 reply

John Hope, e-mail, 23.03.2014 21:09 I flew from the UK to Luqa Malta in May 1956 but cannot remember where from but remeber calling at Nice and also Naples on the way. As I am writing a book which incorporates this flight any enlightenment would be appreciated. reply

John Spencer, e-mail, 04.02.2013 05:49 I don't remember my first trip in a Viking as I was only 5 months old. It was from London, Blackbush to Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia in November 1947 and I was accompanied by my mother and grandmother. Years later my family lived less than a mile from the then Salisbury airport at Belvedere and mum worked for Central African Airways. I would often ride my bike to the airport and would visit the hangers and ride around the taxi tracks. No security in those days and there would always be a mechanic around to let a little boy climb aboard the CAA Vikings and DC3s parked there. CAA disposed of their Vikings in about 57 or 58 but, just before they did mum took me to Bulawayo and back on one as I'd always had a great affection for them. I've flown many times since on many different aircraft but none will ever be as memorable as that last Viking flight. reply

David Alan Smith, e-mail, 16.01.2013 08:14 At age 5 I flew in a Viking from London on our family's first trip in a plane (possibly Bovingdon and I cant remember if it was hunting Clan or BEA) via Rome, Haifa, Wadi Halfa then to Entebbe and finally Nairobi. We stayed overnight in Rome, Haifa and Wadi Halfa. That was in early 1949. The pilot brought the plane down to a much lower height over Northern Uganda so we could see some wild life. But in the process I remember feeling airsick because the hot African air caused airpockets as the plane rose and fell through them. reply

Ross Cameron, e-mail, 03.12.2012 11:43 My first flight was an Eagle Airways from Blackbush in 1956 to Gibraltar doing my National Service.We were taken off the plane twice while they corrected a fault before finally getting away at the third attempt.Landing at Gibraltar in a storm was a frightening experience.The return trip in '58 was in a Viscount landing at Northolt. A much more comfortable flight. reply

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