The Airwork/Hunting Clan Viking Colonial Coach coastal service was introduced (but later than 1952 I think) as a low cost alternative to BOAC's more expensive trans-Sahara route whic was operated by Yorks 1949/50, then Hermes 50-52 and Argonauts from 1954 until the temporary pre Britannia arrival of the surplus North Atlantic Stratocruisers which were a response to criticism of the Argonauts being old , noisy and unsatisfactory and only operated because of BOAC's colonial cabotage monopoly Accra and Lagos-London .The basic BOAC routing from the Yorks onward was London-Tripoli-Kano-Lagos but from the Argonaut days onward other European points were added and Accra and Lagos progressively split. The Viking coastal services were in due course replaced by Viscounts (and BUA) and later One-Eleven 200s, the latter even retaining an en route nightstop. Eventually the coastal route was replaced by a Nigeria and Ghana Airways services as far as Dakar, and BUA abandoned the intermediate points except for Freetown which they flew with a Britannia.
The Colonial Coach concept to West, East and Central Africa was very progressive for its time and a pioneer of low cost long haul. Apart from this scheduled service, other Viking services were operated by UK independents for MoD and the colonial governments and these took the more direct Sahara routes described as they were not interested in intermediate business.