British European Airways Vickers Viscount 802 (1:200)

The world's first turbo-prop airliner was the British made Vickers Viscount. The first flight took place in 1948 with a more powerful engined Type 700 taking flight on August 3 1950. A stretched variant named Type 800 was 3 feet 10 inches longer with even more power and a new fuel system and flew on July 27 1956. It could carry 71 passengers so it soon was operating with about 70 airlines and 9 militarys around the world. Production ended in 1964 with 445 aircraft of all types produced.

BEA (British European Airways) was founded in 1946 and based in London England. Their call-sign was 'Beeline'. The Company went about acquiring the aircraft fleets and routes of most private UK airlines. BEA became the major provider of scheduled service within the UK and Europe. The mass package-holiday became popular in the late 1950's and BEA took advantage by creating BEA Airtours in 1970. In 1974 BEA merged with BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) and the two became known as British Airways with their major hub being London Heathrow airport.

Specifications for the Vickers Viscount Type 800

Fuselage stretched 1.2 m longer than the Type 700
Number built ' 67

Crew ' (2) pilots + cabin crew
Passenger capacity - 75

Performance
Engines - (4) Rolls-Royce Dart RDa.7/1 Mk 525 turboprop (Type 800)
Maximum speed - 352 mph (566 km/h) (Type 800)
Cruise speed - 325 mph (523 km/h) (Type 800)
Ceiling - 25,000 ft (7,620 m) (Type 800)
Normal range - 1,500 nm (2,412 km) (Type 800)
Maximum range - 1,735 nm (2,790 km) (Type 800)

Dimensions
Length - 85 ft. 8 in. (26.11 m) (Type 800)
Wing Span - 93 ft. 8 in. (28.56 m) (Type 800)
Height - 26 ft. 8 in. (8.15 m) (Type 800)

Weights
Empty - 41,479 lbs. (18,815 kg) (Type 800)
Maximum take-off - 72,281 lbs. (32,786 kg) (Type 800)