Vickers Viking: Rare 1940s aircraft arrives in UK for restoration

A post-war passenger plane - one of only six of its kind remaining in the world - has arrived in the UK where it will be restored and put on display.

The 1946 Vickers Viking was brought to Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire from Austria following a £30,000 fundraising campaign to buy and transport it.

Although the aircraft will not fly again, Blackbushe Heritage Trust hopes it will one day be able to taxi.

It plans to make the restored plane the centrepiece for a new heritage centre.

Mark Griffiths, a founding trustee, said: "If you'd have come down here in the 50s and 60s there would have probably been three or four Vikings on the ramp here, taking passengers all over western Europe.

"We want to tell the story of the operators and people who flew and worked on the aircraft."

The former British European Airways (BEA) airliner G-AGRW "Vagabond" received a traditional water salute as it was brought into the airfield on a series of low-loader trailers on Tuesday.

Charity trustees and volunteers travelled to Bad Vöslau Airfield, south of Vienna, last month to help dismantle the aircraft ready for transportation.

It had previously been leased by a McDonald's restaurant in Vienna where it was used for children's birthday parties, so volunteers also had to strip out air-conditioning units and restaurant fittings before it could be brought back to the UK.

Capt Mike Bennison, who flew the aircraft nearly 60 years ago, said: "I'm ecstatic. It's like people who fall in love with their car. I never thought I would see her again."

Built in Weybridge, Surrey, the Viking was based on the Wellington bomber and carried about 20 passengers.

Although it has been moved several times, G-AGRW has not flown since the late 1960s.

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