Originally Posted by
GAXLN
Mooncrest, I have completed some research on the BEA Viscount. I am 99% certain it is G-APIM. This appears to have been the only BEA Viscount in summer 1971 that was not in the Speedjack colour scheme or had already been passed onto Northeast or Cambrian. I have based this on examination of a large number of BEA pictures from the late 60’s and early 70’s dotted around the internet. If you freeze frame the video, it also very much looks like a G-APXX registration rather than a G-AOXX one. G-APEX was out of Red Square livery by May ‘70 and G-APEY by June ‘69. G-APIM itself appears to have passed to Cambrian Airways on 3rd November 1971. It may well have owed the fact it was the last one in Red Square livery due to being stored at Marshall’s of Cambridge between February and November 1969 at a time when repaints into Speedjack livery were well underway.
I have also perused some Yorkshire Air Magazines I stumbled across online looking at LBA movements in summer ‘71. There was no mention of the VC-10 movement which appeared to be XR808. Annoyingly, the only reference I could find to BEA Viscounts movements at LBA that summer was in September ‘71. G-AOJC visited on 14/9, G-AOHW on 16/9, G-AOJB on 21/9 and ‘JB again on 23/9. These were all well out of BEA Red Square livery by this time. I did wonder whether these might have been Channel Islands, Belfast or Dublin movements as they were all Tuesdays or Thursdays. Unfortunately, I do not have a Northeast timetable for ‘71 to hand to see what the aircraft rotations were and whether that might be why G-APIM was there. However, there also looks to be part of the film from inside a Viscount parked where G-APIM was. Was this the usual LHR stand being close to the terminal? I have come to the conclusion that G-APIM was probably on the Heathrow service and that the film company were from London and filmed the Viscount’s engines after start-up from inside the aircraft on their return to London. Perhaps Northeast were short of a Viscount for the whole or part of that summer and borrowed one from BEA. All speculation of course on my part, of course.
Anyway, this helps what I found to be an fascinating thread.
That was an interesting and meticulously researched response. Thankyou for going to such an effort.
I suppose another possibility is the BEA was doing a charter, either to the Dutch bulbfields or perhaps to Lourdes.