Bournemouth Aviation Museum
Discussion
On the way back from my 1st ever flying lesson at Bournemouth, saw the cockpit of a Vulcan poking up above a hedge, made a u-turn and went back to find a really decent little museum.
Turns out my Grandfather (pictured) has flown 7 of the types on display there, and may have flown the actual Viscount they have a cockpit of. It was on the BEA fleet when he was flying for them, he's just off home now to check his logbooks. Not bad for somewhere I'd never even heard about before!
http://www.aviation-museum.co.uk/
I'm just off myself to leave them a glowing review on TripAdvisor.
Turns out my Grandfather (pictured) has flown 7 of the types on display there, and may have flown the actual Viscount they have a cockpit of. It was on the BEA fleet when he was flying for them, he's just off home now to check his logbooks. Not bad for somewhere I'd never even heard about before!
http://www.aviation-museum.co.uk/
I'm just off myself to leave them a glowing review on TripAdvisor.
Just had confirmation from my Grandfather that he did indeed fly the Viscount they have the cockpit of there, many times.
When he flew it, it was attached to the rest of the plane, and was painted in BEA colours. Crazy that he has sat in that exact seat (pictured) over 40 years ago. Amazing!
When he flew it, it was attached to the rest of the plane, and was painted in BEA colours. Crazy that he has sat in that exact seat (pictured) over 40 years ago. Amazing!
Eric Mc said:
Which Viscount is it?
I don't have the photo of the tail number on me at the mo, will look it up when I get home. Here is what my Grandad said about it:"I first flew this aircraft on 25th April 1969 with Tony Shortell, but only flew it a further 8 times during my 3 and a bit years on the Viscount, the last time being 2nd August 1971 with Jimmy Budd - I went to his funeral recently."
HereBeMonsters said:
Just had confirmation from my Grandfather that he did indeed fly the Viscount they have the cockpit of there, many times.
When he flew it, it was attached to the rest of the plane, and was painted in BEA colours. Crazy that he has sat in that exact seat (pictured) over 40 years ago. Amazing!
That is incredible. When he flew it, it was attached to the rest of the plane, and was painted in BEA colours. Crazy that he has sat in that exact seat (pictured) over 40 years ago. Amazing!
Eric Mc said:
Which Viscount is it?
c/n 263 V806, G-AOYN originally, finished as G-OPAS with British World. I remember it in its Parcelforce colours, which it wears now.The team that runs the museum are a hardy bunch, there are various stories about how & why they were forced off the old site, which was a real shame. The "new" Alice-in-Wonderland site is worth a visit, there are some exhibits the kids can crawl over, when we were last here the boys spent ages in the Canberra nose, & I had a go in the Hunter. The Lightning cockpit often gets taken to the airshow in the summer, as well.
I remember G-AOYN from my plane spotting days in the 1970s.
By the early 1970s, mainline BEA had relinquished their Viscount fleet and the aircraft had been handed down to either -
BEA Channel Islands
BEA Scottish
Cambrian Airways
Northeast Airways
When British Airways was formed in 1974, all these nationalised regional airlines were brought into the fold of the new BA and the Viscounts still in service in 1974 were painted in the new BA livery. BA finally ceased flying Viscounts in 1980 at which point many ended up with airlines like British Air Ferries or operating as freighters for Parcel Force.
By the early 1970s, mainline BEA had relinquished their Viscount fleet and the aircraft had been handed down to either -
BEA Channel Islands
BEA Scottish
Cambrian Airways
Northeast Airways
When British Airways was formed in 1974, all these nationalised regional airlines were brought into the fold of the new BA and the Viscounts still in service in 1974 were painted in the new BA livery. BA finally ceased flying Viscounts in 1980 at which point many ended up with airlines like British Air Ferries or operating as freighters for Parcel Force.
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