Vickers Vanguard

The origins of the Vanguard can be traced back to speculative discussions between Vickers and the airline British European Airways (BEA) conducted as early as 1953, the same year in which the commercially successful Vickers Viscount airliner first entered revenue service.[1] Even at this early stage, the two firms had envisioned the introduction of a successor to the Viscount entering service around 1959. This envisioned successor airliner would possess economics 10 percent greater than those of the Viscount, while also being considerably faster throughout all operational stages.[1] Out of BEA's internal analysis of various options, which studied both turboprop and pure jet propulsion arrangements, it became clear that a larger aircraft that could accommodate bigger payloads was highly desirable.[1]

On 19 April 1953, BEA's chief executive, Peter Masefield, outlined the company's requirements in a letter to Vickers; these criteria included a cruise speed of 370 kt, a standard range of 1,000 miles (with 305 miles in reserve fuel), the ability to accommodate up to 100 passengers, and a explicit preference for a high-wing configuration.[1] Coincidentally, another airline, Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), also made contact with the manufacture with its own list of requirements, calling for a Viscount-like airliner capable of servicing its intercontinental routes while carrying up to 60 passengers. Recognising the potential to fulfil both airlines' requirements in a single airliner, Vickers' design team commenced work on producing such an aircraft.[1]

Vicker's initial proposal, known as the Type 870 or alternatively as the Viscount Major, was incapable of meeting BEA's criteria, and was quickly dismissed.[1] On 14 May 1951, Vickers met with Rolls-Royce representatives to discuss potential engines for their envisioned airliner; the meeting led to the decision to adopt the in-development Rolls-Royce Tyne powerplant for its revised proposal. While considerations towards adopting a turbojets engine were made, a study performed in November 1953 found that such an engine would produce inferior performance over shorter routes to a turboprop counterpart.[2] It was around this time that Vickers' design team also discarded notions of adopting a swept wing, largely due to its providing little benefit at the envisioned airliner's 400 mph cruise speed, as well as its inferior performance during the approach stage of flight.[3]

Despite BEA's initial preference for a high-mounted wing, the company opted for a low-mounted wing following the adoption of a double-bubble fuselage.[4] Such a fuselage had been necessitated by the large proportion of freight which BEA sought for the airliner to carry, which was deemed by Vickers to be impractical if carried at the same level as the passengers due to the excessive length that'd be required, but the carriage of such freight within a lengthy hold beneath the main cabin was a practical arrangement. Furthermore, TCA were pushing for a low-mounted wing, having observed such-equipped aircraft to be easier to refuel and service, as well as a statistically significant improvement in survival figures in the event of a water landing.[4]

By 13 April 1955, the range of design studies had been shortlisted down to five, these remaining concepts were jointly evaluated by BEA and Vickers.[5] Of these submissions, it was recognised that the combination of the low-mounted wing and the double-bubble fuselage represented the optimum configuration, having offered the best capacity and versatility amongst other attributes. This conceptual aircraft, referred to as the Type 870 Scheme 16a, could accommodate 88 passengers, a cruising speed of 420 mph at 25,000 ft, and payload of 20,000 lb.[5] While BEA were interested in relatively short, sub-1000 mile, routes, its fuel tanks were progressively expanded over several revisions to facilitate a range of 2,600 miles so that the airline would be usable by TCA as well.[5]

The Type 900 was a further revision of the design, featuring an expanded payload capacity of 21,000lb and carry up to 93 passengers.[5] Following some relatively minor revisions, which largely bolstered the gross weight upwards, that were made to better suit the design to the needs of global customers, the definitive Type 950 proposal emerged. On 20 July 1960, BEA placed an initial order for 20 Type 950s, the type becoming subsequently known as the Vanguard; the airline publicly announced the order and its intended plan for the new airliner to succeed the Viscount in its fleet.[6]

At the time, TCA was, while intensely interested in the airliner, not yet willing to commit itself, partially due to the basic model not entirely fulfilling their requirements, such as its capacity for air mail.[6] Vickers recognised that a high-density seating configuration, enabling up to 139 passengers to be carried, would likely be attractive to quite a few operators, and designed the Type 952 model for this market. Following a particularly vigorous evaluation, during early January 1957, TCA announced that it had placed an order for 20 Type 952s.[6] Via a follow-on order for three more aircraft, it would be the largest single dollar export deal in postwar Britain's history.[6]

The launch of the programme commenced immediately following BEA's initial order for the type.[6] Due to the substantial growth of the airliner during the concept phase, engine supplier Rolls-Royce set about scaling up the Tyne engine from its initial output of 2,750 hp to at least 4,000 hp. As the Vanguard's production line was coming online at Vicker's Weybridge facility, BEA recognised that, due to the typically short length of its routes, a higher density economy seating configuration could be adopted without impacting performance.[7] Accordingly, on 23 July 1957, Vickers announced a new model, the Type 953, which could handle payloads of up to 29,000 lb, which greatly improved the operating costs for BEA's preferred model; the airline quickly converted its order to six Type 951s and 14 Type 953s.[7]

On 20 January 1959, the first Type 950 prototype G-AOYW conducted its maiden flight.[8][9] The flight, a transfer to Wisley three miles away, had been planned for December but the engines were returned to Rolls-Royce for minor work. Proper flight testing was then carried out from Wisley.[10] While development proceeded relatively smoothly for the most part, the last weeks of trials with BEA in early 1960 uncovered some engine-related difficulties, necessitating a brief delay while the compressor rotor was reappraised.[11] With the issue resolved, the Vanguard entered revenue service with TCA on 1 February 1961, and with BEA one month later.[12]

However, by the Vanguard's entry to service, the attitudes of the travelling public had shifted in favour of pure jets.[13] Passengers typically preferred the additional speed, even at the disadvantage of greater operating costs and thus higher ticket prices, that came with jet-powered airliners. As such, the turboprop-powered Vanguard did not sell well, although those examples that were introduced typically performed well in numerous capacities, and often had lengthy service lives.[14]

British Airways Cargo

In 1966, Air Canada removed all the seats from one of its aircraft and refitted for pure cargo work, in which role it could carry 42,000 lb (19,050 kg) of freight. Known by the airline as the "Cargoliner," it was the only such conversion, but survived to be the last Canadian Vanguard to be retired in December 1972.[22]

BEA operated nine Vanguards modified to the V953C "Merchantman" all-cargo layout from 1969, with the first two conversions being designed and carried out by Aviation Traders Engineering Ltd (ATEL) at Southend Airport. BEA modified the remainder at Heathrow using kits from ATEL. A large forward cargo door measuring 139 by 80 inches (350 by 200 cm) was incorporated. The Merchantmen continued in service with BA until late 1979 when the remaining five were sold.[21]

Air Bridge Carriers purchased several of the Merchantmen and operated them until 1992, when it changed its name to Hunting Cargo Airlines. Hunting Cargo operated its last V953C flight on 30 September 1996 and donated the aircraft, registered G-APEP, to Brooklands Museum on 17 October 1996.[23]