The Viking was no more a "bag of nails" for its day than any others of the period. It suffered mostly by comparison with its stablemate, the Varsity ... tail wheel v 'trike' and lower performance.
We operated the military version, the Valetta, and, given what was asked of it, it served us well. Operating into and out of the pretty basic 'up-country' strips in and around Aden and the Middle East the job got done. A whole different 'kettle of fish' from today's vastly overpowered equivalents and which needed a bit more crew input to arrive safely at 'B'.
It was a good learning experience but maybe more so for one of my colleagues who survived no less than 6 (yes, SIX) crashes during his two year tour. His emergency drills became immaculate!! I only managed one, which was quite sufficient, thank you!
Airborne, it handled nicely but, like a great many 'tail-draggers' it needed skilled hands and a great deal of luck to 'grease it on'. Unlike our civilian contemporaries, we operated single pilot with the Signaller (radio operator) as 'Pilot's Assistant'. Comms was courtesy of the abominable T1154/R1155 and navigation was in the hands of the hardest worker in the crew - the navigator ... sextant for star shots and three line fixes from dubious MF beacons ... Aaah, nostalgia isn't what it used to be!
