RTB CFS Little Rissington..

[Chris558]

Didn't realise it was a stop gap...to the Viscount I presume. My Dad remembered seeing BEA Vikings coming into Northolt before Heathrow was ready. (He lived in Hillingdon.) Tricycle set-ups were sometimes viewed with suspicion in the UK at that time aswell (although not with DH - Dove being the first UK civvie type to have it)

Perhaps the bomb aimers pannier of the Varsity was a bit of a turn off for the Airlines. (I'm sure it would've been used for baggage.)

[Garry Russell]

One of the reasons some operator wanted the Herald to have a tail wheel was the fear of nose wheel collapse on grass.

In reality though a lot of it was the natural tendency to stick with what your used to without any real grounds for concern

In the case of the civil varsity, the Ambassador was out and the Viscount was flying and other promising new more modern designs were being touted so little, if any interest was shown. in the VC3

[Tomliner]

Chris558 wrote

Had the Viking had a nose wheel, I'm sure it would have sold much better.

Wouldn't it have looked a bit silly with both nose and tail wheel? EricT

[DaveB]

No sillier than an Ambassador

ATB

DaveB

[Garry Russell]

Chris558 wrote

Had the Viking had a nose wheel, I'm sure it would have sold much better.

Wouldn't it have looked a bit silly with both nose and tail wheel? EricT

The Viscount prototypes had a small tail wheel as well

Maybe they were worried the pilot would forget

Some of the old fashion biplane contraptions also had skids each end...that would be because they wer so ugly the pilot would forget which end was which