Vickers Vanguard

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Vickers Vanguard
BEA's G-APEC at London Heathrow (1965) The plane crashed over Belgium on October 2, 1971
Type: Airliner
Design country:

United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom

Manufacturer:

Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd.

First flight:

20th January 1959

Production time:

until 1962

Number of pieces:

44

The Vickers Vanguard was a four-engine turboprop passenger aircraft for short and medium-haul flights from Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd. It was put into service from 1959 as the successor to the Vickers Viscount shortly before the arrival of the large passenger jets and was therefore hardly noticed by the market. The Vanguard was the last large European propeller-driven passenger aircraft. After 44 machines had been built, production was stopped in 1963.

history

development

Air Canada's Vickers 952 Vanguard CF-TKE (1967)

Two years before the Vickers Viscount was introduced, the planning department of British European Airways (BEA) was working on a successor model in 1951 . While numerous Viscount components were to be used in the initial projects, Project 900 , developed in 1953, was a fundamental redesign. The specifications of the BEA provided for 93 passenger seats or a payload of 9525 kg. The aircraft, powered by four Rolls-Royce-Tyne propeller turbines, should have a takeoff weight of 52,160 kg. However, further investigations showed that such an aircraft could not be used economically. Vickers therefore developed an enlarged project under the type designation 950 Vanguard with a starting weight of 61,235 kg. As one of the first passenger aircraft, the machine was designed as a double-decker, which was not generally used until then. In the lower fuselage area there was space for extremely large and bulky cargo.

First flight and traffic approval

In July 1956, BEA placed an order for 20 V.951 aircraft, and six months later Trans-Canada Air Lines received another order for 23 aircraft. These aircraft, designated as V.952, were equipped with the more powerful Tyne R.Ty.11 Mk.512 of 5,545 shaft horsepower (4076 WkW), whereby the take-off weight could be increased to 66,448 kg. The first flight of this variant took place on May 21, 1960. In the summer of 1958, the BEA also decided on this more powerful version. The original order for the V.951 was reduced to six and replaced by an order for 14 V.953. The V.953 has the same take-off weight as the Canadian version, but is equipped with the less powerful Tyne 506 engines.

The 18-minute maiden flight of the first Vanguard prototype G-AOYW took place on January 20, 1959 from the plant in Weybridge to the test center in Wisley . The G-APEA followed on April 22 of the same year, the first of the V.951 intended for the BEA. The engine test carried out with the fourth production aircraft (G-APED) uncovered serious deficiencies in the compressor, which delayed the issue of the certificate of airworthiness until December 1960.

use

Invicta's Vanguard 952 G-AZRE , 1974
Vanguard 952 F-BXAJ of Europe Aero Service in passenger version , 1976

On March 1, 1961, the BEA began scheduled flight operations with its V.951, followed in May of the same year by the V.953. Trans-Canada Air Lines started as a launch customer with the regular service with their V.952 on February 1, 1961 and the model performed reliably until it was decommissioned and sold in 1971. One of the machines was converted into a cargo plane similar to the Merchantman models. Six more too, but without the large cargo hatch.

At BEA, the Vanguard remained in passenger service until 1968. In 1969, the airline had nine of its aircraft converted into pure freighters by Aviation Traders , which were given the new type designation "Merchantman". The first Merchantman was handed over to BEA on November 29, 1969. The model remained in use with the airline (later British Airways ) until 1979 . Then they were sold to Air Bridge Carriers (later Hunting Cargo). The Merchantman had a large loading door in the left front half of the fuselage and was equipped with a reinforced roller floor cabin floor for transporting palletized cargo.

The French company Europe Aero Services bought several aircraft from Air Canada and BEA and operated them mainly in passenger charter operations.

The last Vanguard built, a 952 series, was in service with the Indonesian airline Merpati Nusantara Airlines (PK-MVH, C / N 746) until 1984 , while the last was converted into a Merchantman (V.953C G-APEP, C / N 719) was only decommissioned by Hunting Cargo Airlines on October 17, 1996 and can now be seen in the Brooklands Museum.

Operator of brand new machines

Operators of used machines

The following airlines also used the Vickers Vanguard:

Incidents

From the first flight in 1959 to the end of the mission in 1996, 5 of the 44 Vanguard built were destroyed in accidents. In 4 of them 210 people were killed: Complete list:

  • On October 27, 1965, the Vanguard 951 with the aircraft registration number G-APEE of British European Airways crashed on the flight from Edinburgh at 1:23 night during the third attempted approach in the fog at London-Heathrow Airport during a go-around on runway 28R. All 36 inmates were killed. The causes identified included fatigue, a lack of experience and training as well as incorrect operation of the unergonomically designed landing flap levers.
  • On October 2, 1971, the Vanguard 951 G-APEC of British European Airways crashed on the flight from London to Salzburg via Belgium. The cause of the accident was identified as the tearing off of both horizontal stabilizer surfaces caused by corrosion of the rear pressure bulkhead, which made it impossible to control the machine. All 63 occupants were killed (see also British European Airways flight 706 ) .
  • On April 10, 1973, the Vanguard 952 G-AXOP of the British Invicta International Airlines crashed into heavy snow on a hill in the municipality of Hochwald in Switzerland. 108 of the 145 passengers and crew members died. The cause was navigation errors after a go-around maneuver on the approach to Basel-Mulhouse airport. The majority of the passengers were housewives from Bristol and the surrounding area who were on a shopping trip to Basel (see also Invicta International Airlines flight 435 ) .
  • On January 29, 1988, the Vanguard 953C F-GEJF of Inter Cargo Service crashed next to the runway immediately after taking off from Toulouse-Blagnac Airport . For the cargo flight to Paris-Orly , engine no. 4 (far right) was idling because it had previously been very hot. There was a loss of control and the aircraft was destroyed. All 3 crew members survived.
  • On February 6, 1989, the Vanguard 952F F-GEJE of Inter Cargo Service crashed into the sea immediately after taking off from Marseille-Marignane airport. All 3 crew members were killed. Royal Air Maroc had leased the aircraft from Inter Cargo Service for a cargo flight to Paris-Orly. The cause of the accident was a broken or loose timing chain in the drive of the left aileron.

Technical specifications

Parameter Data 952 and 953
length 37.45 m
span 36.15 m
height 10.64 m
Wing area 142 m²
Wing extension 9.2
Payload
  • 952: three crew members and up to 139 passengers
  • 953: three crew members and 19.5 tons of cargo
Empty mass 37,421 kg
Max. Takeoff mass 66,448 kg
Max. Cruising speed 684 km / h
Service ceiling 9145 m
Range 4400 km
Engines

literature

  • Peter W. Davis: Vickers Viscount and Vanguard. Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., Tonbridge 1981, ISBN 0-85130-091-X .
  • FG Swanborough: Turbine-engined Airliners of the World. Temple Press Books, London 1962.
  • Vanguard. A presentation of Britain's new turboprop airliner. In: Flight. January 9, 1959, pp. 61-73.
  • Alan J. Wright: Right Aircraft, Wrong Time. In: Air International. Vol. 52, No 4, April 1997, ISSN  0306-5634 , pp. 240-245.

Web links

Commons : Vickers Vanguard  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flight Global 1961: Vanguard
  2. ↑ FliegerRevue February 2009, p. 57, The Vickers Vanguard came too late
  3. ↑ a b c FliegerRevue January 2012, p. 77, Vickers V.953C
  4. ↑ rzjets.net, accessed on November 18, 2013
  5. ^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Zurich Airport 1966–1996.
  6. ^ Ulrich Klee, Frank Bucher et al .: jp airline-fleets international . Sutton, UK, 2008-2013.
  7. ^ Tony Eastwood, John Roach: Turbo Prop Airliner Production List . West Drayton: The Aviation Hobby Shop, 2007.
  8. ↑ Accident statistics Vickers Vanguard , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on November 26, 2019.
  9. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report from Vanguard G-APEE in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 28, 2016.
  10. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report from Vickers Vanguard G-APEC, October 2, 1971 in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on November 18, 2013.
  11. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report by Vickers Vanguard G-AXOP, April 10, 1973 in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on November 18, 2013.
  12. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report from Vanguard F-GEJF in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 28, 2016.
  13. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report Vickers Vanguard F-GEJE, February 6, 1989 in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 5, 2014.