Vickers Viscount....
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michaelmaltby
Colonel
that and the Vanguard .... real memories there.
Crimea_River
Marshal
I grew up with those flying over my house which was about 5 miles away and in line with runway 24R at the Toronto airport.
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Lucky13
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Isn't there an Vickers Viscount, in one of the The Saint episodes? 
michaelmaltby
Colonel
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Vanguard.
Good one!
The Basket
Senior Master Sergeant
- 3,712
- Jun 27, 2007
Lovely airplane
Crimea_River
Marshal
We still have a TCA one at our National Aviation Museum. It's the scheme I remember before TCA became Air Canada.
cammerjeff
Staff Sergeant
My ears hurt just looking at that picture!!!! I remember working on YS11's and they only had 1/2 the RR Dart's!!!!!!
Crimea_River
Marshal
Every time I hear "Back in the USSR" by the Beatles, I'm pretty sure it's a Viscount in the background track.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Lovely aircraft, the Viscount, and one of Britain's "best sellers" World-wide.
I still remember the flight to Jersey and back (Channel Islands, not USA !), in the very hot summer of 1976 - very smooth, comfortable and roomy. But then, after a Herc, anything was an improvement !!
Pics below show the example at the Brooklands Museum, and its cockpit.
I still remember the flight to Jersey and back (Channel Islands, not USA !), in the very hot summer of 1976 - very smooth, comfortable and roomy. But then, after a Herc, anything was an improvement !!
Pics below show the example at the Brooklands Museum, and its cockpit.
A lovely looking aircraft for sure.
Ditto here, Fokker F27 "whistlepigs". If you're standing out front marshaling the aircraft, those 1st stage centrifugal compressors are kerosene powered sirens, and those tapered intake ducts are megaphones beaming that shriek right past your Dave Clarks and drilling through your eardrums and into your brain.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
I never really thought the Viscount, or the Argosy (which had the sane engines ), was particularly noisy on the ground, and was relatively quiet, inside, when airborne.
On the other hand, the Handley Page Herald, also using RR Dart turbo-props, screamed like a demented b*tch, and was actually painful to the ears when running-up on the ground.
On the other hand, the Handley Page Herald, also using RR Dart turbo-props, screamed like a demented b*tch, and was actually painful to the ears when running-up on the ground.
cammerjeff
Staff Sergeant
I can't actually speak of the sound the Darts made on a Viscount, my only experience with them were YS11's & Convair 640's. Compared to those 2 applications, the Convair 580's with the Allison 501's were almost silent! But it may be a Engine/Propeller combination that makes the difference. Good Memories.
Another component of that scream on some of the pressurized Dart powered airliners was the use of Rootes blowers to provide cabin pressure. They added another shrill note to the Darts, which is why I think the background track in Back in the USSR was contributed by a Herald or an F27 rather than a Viscount.
Anybody remember the old school "chromium bomb" sirens that used to be mounted on the front fenders of fire trucks? Well, dissect one of those and you'll find something that looks very like the first stage compressor on a RR Dart, albeit driven by an electric motor rather than burner cans and turbine wheels.
As the plane taxis toward you, you are treated to that siren amplified through the megaphones of the air intakes. As it passes, you get the blatt of propeller noise, supplemented by the even higher pitched scream of the Rootes blowers, again, amplified by their megaphone shaped intake ducts. As that begins to fade the slightly lower pitched howl of the turbine wheels assaults your ears through the tailpipe. Unheard beneath this cacophony is the "chuff chuff" of the pneumatically operated brakes and nose wheel steering, though quite audible onboard.
As the plane taxis toward you, you are treated to that siren amplified through the megaphones of the air intakes. As it passes, you get the blatt of propeller noise, supplemented by the even higher pitched scream of the Rootes blowers, again, amplified by their megaphone shaped intake ducts. As that begins to fade the slightly lower pitched howl of the turbine wheels assaults your ears through the tailpipe. Unheard beneath this cacophony is the "chuff chuff" of the pneumatically operated brakes and nose wheel steering, though quite audible onboard.
I always thought it was something like a 707, but my Hi-Fi system was cheap and nasty.
Looking around on the net, some sites insist it's the sound of a Viscount....
Did the Viscount use Rootes blowers for cabin pressurization, or some other method?
Dart compressors were well matched to the airflow demands of the hot section, so there wasn't the plentiful bleed air you get with an axial flow or hybrid centrifugal/axial turboprop. Our PT6s were hybrids and never lacked for bleed air.
Dart compressors were well matched to the airflow demands of the hot section, so there wasn't the plentiful bleed air you get with an axial flow or hybrid centrifugal/axial turboprop. Our PT6s were hybrids and never lacked for bleed air.