Vickers Viking

This morning we had a family meet-up at Blackbushe Airport.  There is an excellent cafe there where we had morning coffee - or, for those who hadn't been staying in a hotel, a breakfast.

Before leaving, I had a wander around the site, and found a cabin belonging to the Blackbushe Heritage Trust.  In a hangar behind the cabin, surrounded by scaffolding, was the fuselage of a Vickers Viking aircraft.  The first Viking flew in June 1945.  It had room for 20 to 21 passengers and had a cruising speed of 211mph.

This particular example first flew in July 1946 for BOAC (BEA division), according to the information displayed at the site. It flew for a number of airlines until its last flight in February 1968. In 1999 she was restored as a children's birthday party venue for McDonalds near Vienna.

Now she has been transferred to Blackbushe where she is being refurbished and preserved as a non-flying exhibition piece.  There are several years' of work ahead achieve this.  The interior shown here is completely stripped. The wings and engine housing are sitting alongside the fuselage in the hangar.  It will keep the enthusiastic restorers very busy.