Vickers Vanguard Vickers Type 951

The Type 951 was the version with which British European Airways (BEA) launched the Vanguard programme, conceived to succeed the Viscount on its European routes. According to German Wikipedia, in July 1956 BEA placed an order for twenty aircraft of the V.951 type, and six months later Trans-Canada Air Lines ordered 23 of a different version, the V.952, with more powerful engines and a higher take-off weight. Spanish Wikipedia describes the twenty planned 951s as carrying three flight crew, two cabin attendants and 126 passengers.

The Type 951 was never built in the numbers planned. As the Weybridge production line was coming online, BEA realised that, with generally short routes, it could fit a denser economy cabin without losing performance. On 23 July 1957 Vickers announced the Type 953, with the strengthened airframe of the Canadian version but the same engines as the 951, and the airline converted its order to six Type 951s and fourteen Type 953s. German Wikipedia places that decision in the summer of 1958. Both sources agree on the outcome: of twenty 951s ordered, only six were delivered, and the remaining fourteen came out as 953s.

The prototype, Type 950 G-AOYW, flew on 20 January 1959. On 22 April of the same year it was followed by G-APEA (construction number 704), the first 951 for BEA, which flew from Weybridge. It was also the aircraft BEA intended to name "Vanguard": the airline planned to give its aircraft the names of famous Royal Navy warships, but by the time deliveries began it had adopted its "red square" livery, which ended the naming, and no Vanguard ever actually carried a name.

Engine testing with the fourth production aircraft, G-APED, revealed serious compressor defects in the Tyne, which delayed the certificate of airworthiness until December 1960. According to the English Wikipedia article on the Tyne, the 951 used the RTy.1 version of that turboprop, with a take-off rating of 4,500 bhp (3,400 kW).

BEA flew its first Vanguard schedule on 17 December 1960, from Heathrow to Paris. According to German Wikipedia, regular scheduled service with the V.951 began on 1 March 1961, and the V.953s joined them in May that year. G-APEA was delivered to BEA on 27 March 1961. With its full fleet of six 951s and fourteen 953s delivered by 30 March 1962, the Vanguard took over many of BEA's busier European and UK trunk routes. The 951s had 127 seats in a mixed-class cabin; the variants list in English Wikipedia splits them into 18 first and 109 economy, while its operational history section gives 18 first-class seats at the rear and 108 tourist. That layout was later changed to 139 all-tourist seats.

Two fatal BEA Vanguard accidents involved aircraft of this version. On the night of 26 to 27 October 1965, G-APEE, built in 1959, was flying from Edinburgh to Heathrow in fog, with visibility below 50 metres. After two missed approaches and a hold, the crew tried again to land on runway 28R, decided to go around once more, and the aircraft struck the runway at about 01:23 and caught fire. All 36 on board died, 6 crew and 30 passengers. The investigation attributed the crash to pilot error, with low visibility, incorrect information given to the captain, fatigue, lack of experience of landing in fog and a wrong flap selection among the factors.

On 2 October 1971, G-APEC (serial number 706, built in 1959 and delivered to BEA in 1961) was operating Flight 706 from Heathrow to Salzburg. At 19,000 feet (5,791 m) over Belgium the rear pressure bulkhead failed; the pressure blew off the tailplanes and the aircraft dived out of control near Aarsele. All 55 passengers and 8 crew were killed. The British investigation found corrosion in the lower part of the bulkhead, which the radiographic technique used by BEA had not allowed to be detected in time; repeated pressurisation cycles made the crack grow until it failed. It was later revealed that eight Vanguards in the fleet had the same crack, and a new corrosion-detection technique and better access to those areas were introduced.

According to the sources, the nine Merchantman freighter conversions were made from Type 953 aircraft; none mentions a converted 951. The first 951, G-APEA, was scrapped at Heathrow on 30 May 1973. The sources consulted do not give the final fate of G-APEB, G-APED or G-APEF.