AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 161 / 201

Plate 161 of 201 · Cold War · Turboprop airliner and freighter

Vickers Vanguard 953C Merchantman

Vanguard 953C Merchantman, painted as G-APEP ‘Superb’, a Vickers Vanguard (c/n 718) delivered to British European Airways in December 1961 as a Type 953 airliner, converted to a 953C Merchantman freighter in the early 1970s with a large forward cargo door, later flown by Air Bridge Carriers and Hunting Cargo Airlines, and flown into Brooklands on 17 October 1996, the last flight by any Vanguard: the four-turboprop airliner with its double-bubble fuselage, shown standing level on its tricycle gear with the propellers parked, in Hunting Cargo Airlines’ colours: a white upper fuselage over a light grey belly, a navy-black cheat line that wraps the nose and radome, a white line and a red band sweeping under the nose and up the rear fuselage to a red tail cone, a red fin above white and black bands, black ‘HUNTING Cargo Airlines’ titles with a Union flag, ‘SUPERB’ on the nose, ‘G-APEP’ at the rear and under the port wing, silver wings and nacelles, and pale blue-grey propellers with yellow tips, as it is displayed at Brooklands Museum (the cargo door is shown closed and the skinned-over cabin windows as outlines).

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as G-APEP ‘Superb’, a Vickers Vanguard (c/n 718) delivered to British European Airways in December 1961 as a Type 953 airliner, converted to a 953C Merchantman freighter in the early 1970s with a large forward cargo door, later flown by Air Bridge Carriers and Hunting Cargo Airlines, and flown into Brooklands on 17 October 1996, the last flight by any Vanguard: the four-turboprop airliner with its double-bubble fuselage, shown standing level on its tricycle gear with the propellers parked, in Hunting Cargo Airlines’ colours: a white upper fuselage over a light grey belly, a navy-black cheat line that wraps the nose and radome, a white line and a red band sweeping under the nose and up the rear fuselage to a red tail cone, a red fin above white and black bands, black ‘HUNTING Cargo Airlines’ titles with a Union flag, ‘SUPERB’ on the nose, ‘G-APEP’ at the rear and under the port wing, silver wings and nacelles, and pale blue-grey propellers with yellow tips, as it is displayed at Brooklands Museum (the cargo door is shown closed and the skinned-over cabin windows as outlines). Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (2.1 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Vanguard 953C Merchantman modelled here.

History

The Merchantman

The Vanguard was Vickers’ successor to the Viscount, the most successful British airliner of its day. British European Airways wanted a bigger, faster turboprop for its busiest European and domestic routes, and Vickers drew a low-winged airliner with four Rolls-Royce Tynes and a ‘double-bubble’ fuselage whose deep lower lobe gave a large hold beneath the cabin. The prototype, G-AOYW, first flew from Brooklands on 20 January 1959, with Jock Bryce and Brian Trubshaw at the controls.

The timing was against it. By the time the Vanguard entered service with BEA and Trans-Canada Air Lines in 1961, the jets had arrived and passengers wanted them. Only 44 were built at Weybridge: 20 for BEA, 23 for TCA and the prototype. The Vanguard was quick for a propeller airliner, cruising at more than 400 mph, and economical on short routes, but no further orders came, and it is remembered as the airliner that came a few years too late.

Its second career lasted far longer than its first. From 1969 BEA had nine Vanguards converted into Merchantman freighters, with the cabin windows skinned over, a strengthened floor and a large upward-opening cargo door on the forward port side. British Airways flew them on European freight routes until 1979, and Air Bridge Carriers, later Hunting Cargo Airlines, kept them hauling freight and mail from East Midlands until the mid-1990s, long after most of their jet contemporaries had gone.

This airframe

Merchantman G-APEP ‘Superb’

G-APEPThe airframe modelled

G-APEP (constructor’s number 718) was delivered to British European Airways as a Type 953 Vanguard in December 1961. It was converted to a Merchantman freighter in the early 1970s and named ‘Superb’, then sold to Air Bridge Carriers in 1979, flying freight from East Midlands Airport from 1981. Air Bridge became Hunting Cargo Airlines, and by 1995 G-APEP was the last airworthy Merchantman in the world. It was retired on 30 September 1996 and donated to Brooklands Museum by Hunting, landing at Brooklands on 17 October 1996. The model shows it in Hunting Cargo Airlines’ colours as displayed: a white upper fuselage over a light grey belly, a navy-black cheat line wrapping the nose and radome, a white line and a red band sweeping under the nose and up to a red tail cone, a red fin over white and black bands, black ‘HUNTING Cargo Airlines’ titles with a Union flag, ‘SUPERB’ on the nose, and silver wings and nacelles.

See it at Brooklands Museum

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Merchantman in 2 UK collections. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 201 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.