I had the great pleasure of flying the Viscount for 1800+ hours in the late 60s.
Having completed a sponsored CPL course with exactly 200 hours under my belt I joined an airline and was put on the HS748. Some two months and 100 flying hours later I was given a very brief conversion to the Viscount spanning a week either side of my 21st. birthday and after 5 hours base flying (no simulator for the 700 in those days) was sent on my way rejoicing – all pilots had to fly two types with the outfit I was in, sometimes on the same day!
Having had a brief acquaintance with the 748, the Viscount was a delight. In the early days we had a mix of four 700Ds, built for the American market and an ex Bahamasair 702 and, very briefly an ex Aer Lingus 707. The only problem was that Vickers outfitted the types according to the customers requirements and since all the 700Ds came from different airlines the only things in the same place on the flight deck were the throttles and HP cocks. (Thrust levers and HP valves to the cousins – the latter was much too vulgar).
The 700D was much heavier on the controls as apparently the Americans liked it that way but were to a much better spec with heated windscreens and automatic changeover from fast to slow with the engine deicing. Unfortunately the CAA (or was it the ARB in those days?) wouldn’t approve the Janitrol cabin heater, the Freon cooler or the slipper tanks we had on one of them so it was hot in summer and freezing in winter until we got airborne.
After a couple of years later we also acquired some ex BEA 806s which had the same Dart 510 engines on the 700D, consequently the 700Ds (smaller and lighter) were much better performers.
Flying all these sub-types was somewhat of a challenge because apart from all the knobs and switches being in different places we had the Collins FD 101 flight director, a zero reader (never did get to grips fully with that), one with no flight director at all and the Smiths Fight System on the 800s. I still have my certificate from Collins stating I completed the official FD 101 course.
Certainly in the UK it was enjoyed by pilots and passengers alike and was far superior to the piston types it replaced. It was smooth in flight with huge picture windows to survey the passing countryside and was faster than the then new HS748, Herald and F27.
Of course the autopilots were different too, they being Bendix and Smiths as far as I remember. They were a joy to fly though, responsive and stable and by then their peculiar vices had been discovered due to past accidents, such as avoiding tailplane icing which could produce a fatal dive at the ground.
Possibly the conditions in Oz were not good for the old girl, I never flew her in very hot weather and our sectors generally were between 1 to 3 hours but for a 21 year old it was gripping stuff and a great learning platform. I finished with her four years later in 1970 and have never flown an airliner with a prop since, progressing to the 1-11 – but that’s another story!
Caveat. This is written with the rose tinted spectacles of 40 years ago!