Relocation of ancient Viking was no ‘plane’ sailing
It wasn’t all plain sailing, but Matthew Harvey was over the moon to have finally “put the lady on the ground”.
The Northmead resident was the project leader who coordinated the relocation of a Vickers Viking VC.1 from O R Tambo International Airport to the The South African Airways Museum Society at Rand Airport, in Germiston, on January 22.
The aircraft has a rich history.
It made its maiden flight on August 30, 1946, and was used in the Berlin Airlift in 1948.
In 1954, it was sold to Trek Airways and flew hundreds of people on flights between South Africa and Europe.
The aircraft featured in the movie Kimberley Jim and later served with Protea Airways.
Its last flight was from Rand Airport to the then Baragwanath airfield, in December 1962.
In January the following year, it was mounted to the roof of Vic de Villiers’ service station, in the South of Johannesburg, only to be removed in 1987 and replaced with a SA Air Force Shackleton.
Harvey, who is a member of The South African Airways Museum Society, said he asked the museum three years ago what would become of the Viking, which was moved to O R Tambo International Airport.
“The next thing I knew I was the project leader on this,” said Harvey.
He said he received assistance from Pretoria Boys’ High School learners to disassemble the plane.
But that was not the end of Harvey’s three-year plan to move the Viking.
Harvey said the plane’s fuselage is 9.1 metres wide, but that the gate they needed to haul it out of was only eight metres wide.
The solution was to hoist the plane over a wall so that it could start its journey to Rand Airport.
The two-hour, five minute trip ended on Sunday morning.
“When they were positioning the plane, a guy said to me – we were just a couple of metres off the ground – ‘Matt, is this where you want the aeroplane?’ I replied ‘please, put the lady on the ground, I want to start breathing.’”
Harvey said he is looking for volunteers to help him assemble the plane.
For more information, contact him on 083 289 9944.
For more information on this aircraft and the museum, visit www.saamuseum.co.za
Also read:
WATCH: Videos and pictures of move of historical Viking to SAA Museum
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