c/n 705 V.951
G-APEB during flight testing at Wisley Summer 1959
Photo source : Peter Upton Collection
Appeared at the Farnborough Airshow, Hampshire, England September 1959.
G-APEB at the Farnborough Air Show September 1959 Photo source : Peter Berry
G-APEB during flight testing at Wisley Summer 1959
Photo source : Peter Upton Collection
G-APEB Vickers Aviation Photo source : Richard Stanton Collection
Delivered to British European Airways Corporation 17 March 1961 named “Bellerophon”
Revised fin logo
G-APEB BEA Red Square livery Photo source : Peter Upton Collection
Wthdrawn from use after expiry of Certificate of Airworthiness 31 March 1973.
Registration G-APEB cancelled as Withdrawn From Use 4 June 1973, and broken up 6 June 1973 at Heathrow Airport..
TT. 23.853 hrs.
Registration G-
to c/n 704 c/n 705 to c/n 706
Ferried Heathrow Airport - Teversham Airport, Cambridge for modifications by Marshall’s of Cambridge 15 November 1961.
Returned to Heathrow Airport 26 January 1962
First flew from Brooklands to Wisley Airfield, Surrey, England 23 July 1959.
and was the first Vanguard to appear in the new BEA colour scheme - red wings,
and grey, black and white fuselage.
By this time the first three Vanguards had made 165 flights totalling 286 hrs 35 mins flying time.
and was the first Vanguard to appear in the new BEA colour scheme -
By this time the first three Vanguards had made 165 flights totalling 286 hrs 35 mins flying time.
Ordered by British European Airways Corporation 20 July 1956 as a Type V.951
Registered to British European Airways Corporation 9 October 1957 as G-APEB
( Certificate of Registration R.6128 / 1 )
Registered to British European Airways Corporation 9 October 1957 as G-
News Announcement 25/59 20 October 1959
Public Relations Department
Vickers-Armstrongs ( Aircraft ) Ltd
Public Relations Department
Vickers-
VANGUARD’S AFRICAN TOUR
The second BEA Vanguard, G-APEB, left Wisley yesterday for Africa, where it will carry out performance trials under conditions of high temperatures and high altitude at Khartoum and Johannesburg. These trials are expected to last until December. During the tour calls will also be made at Rome, Cairo, Entebbe, Nairobi, Salisbury, Beirut and Vienna.
The tropical trials pilots were E. B. Trubshaw ( captain ), Capt. R. Rymer ( co-pilot ) and Capt. M. Mitchell ( BEA ), accompanied by W. R. Peasley ( navigator ) and J. R. Leach ( tour manager ) and numerous test personnel.
News Announcement 29/59 14 December 1959 Public Relations Department Vickers-Armstrongs ( Aircraft ) Ltd
VANGUARD RETURNS FROM AFRICA
Vanguard G-APEB returned to Wisley on Monday, 14 December, flying from Beirut via Nice and London Gatwick.
Tropical trials were successfully completed in eight weeks and altogether over 100 hours were flown. The Vanguard returned one week ahead of schedule despite a delay at Johannesburg caused by burst tyres.
A Johannesburg newspaper described its arrival as follows:-
“The Vickers Vanguard swooped down low over Jan Smuts Airport yesterday - dead on its 12.21 estimated time of arrival - from Salisbury. One more circuit and the giant machine landed like thistledown on a lake, braking with a surge of its turbo-driven propellers. Only when it taxied on the hard-standing, however, did its enormous size become apparent. It is veritably a king-size Viscount, with the same lines. The Vanguard’s captain, E. B. Trubshaw, Deputy Chief Test Pilot for Vickers-Armstrongs, with co-pilot Captain “Dicky” Rymer, stepped down from the plane’s own collapsible ramp - looking as fresh as if they had just showered after squash at their club. They led a descending contingent of about 30 test personnel who accompanied the flight”.
Hybrid livery
Fuselage Red Squares removed but black cheat-line
retained. New BEA titles and Flying Jack fin.
Fuselage Red Squares removed but black cheat-
G-APEB BEA Red Square livery. This sequence of images were photographed by Stephen Aubury on a flight from Belfast, Ulster to London Heathrow Airport on 2 April 1970. On the left the Vanguard is climbing over the village of Ballyhornan with Gunn’s Island just off the coast, and in the lower right image, descending over London to Runway 28L at Heathrow. Chiswick Bridge over the River Thames is visible just above the engine with Kew Railway Bridge further up river.
