Best of British
The aircraft was a major memory of my younger days - will any aircraft ever have such great big windows again? - I doubt it. My Mum returned from Paris on one in the first year of it's service 1953, - and I wish I had a pound for every flight I took on them in the 60s 70s and 80s. BA retired them from their regional fleets in 1985, but I recall two more return trips on this wonderful a/c at later dates.
In the late 80s and early 90s I worked (for my sins) in what is known as 'Corporate Hostility', sorry, correction, 'Hospitality'! and in the course of one of my trips in 1987 I took a group from Gibraltar, where we were staying, on a day trip to Tangier so that they could experience the shortest intercontinental flight twice in the one day. On our return I requested, and was granted, the cockpit jump seat, as any landing into Gib's short runway with the wet stuff at each end is always interesting.
My last-ever Viscount trip was another Corporate Away-Day to Le Touquet from Birmingham in 1990. On our return leg I was seated in the row where you could see all four props (noisy but nice if you're a fan). On leaving the a/c I put my head in the cockpit and told them that in the descent the no. 2 prop hub had iced up - and my last memory of this wonderful a/c as I walked away to the terminal was of the skipper peering out of the open cockpit window at the F/O now down on the ramp with his hand on no. 2 spinner to check if it was heating up!
Great airplane - Great Memories of the dear departed days when airline flying was a pleasure, unlike the post 9-11, crass, "security" dominated, "race to the bottom" missmanaged mass-misery experience de nos jours.
'Night all.