Northeast Airlines Vickers 798 Viscount   N6592C             (c/n  234)

                                          

                                             Realizing that, in order to stay abreast of the competition they did, indeed, need turbo-prop equipment,
                                             Northeast ordered the less expensive Viscount after cancelling the Britannias.  The first was delivered in
                                             the summer of 1958.  Surprisingly, when delivered, the aircraft were painted with minuscule registration
                                             numbers painted on the middle cheat line on the rudder.   By that time the FAA had begun to insist on
                                             numbers that could be easily read at fifty paces.   Even on the original print this machine can barely be
                                             discernible as N6592C.    NEA's Viscounts were originally intended for Capital but that airline could
                                             not afford to take up its option at that time.   When introduced on the Boston-New York run, the quiet
                                             running, vibration free Viscounts were a big hit.   Northeast's market share went from 10% to 35%.
                                             This was not to last, however, since it was the introduction by Eastern of its Shuttle service that spelled
                                             trouble for Northeast.   Faced with serious cash flow problems and a consequent inability to service the
                                             debt, the airline arranged, in 1963, to return its Viscounts to Vickers.   Unfortunately N6592C wasn't
                                             one of them since it had collided with a National DC-6 on its landing roll at Logan Airport on 15 Nov
                                             1961.  Fortunately there were no fatalities but N6592C was a write off.   Failure of tower personnel in
                                             giving the NAL DC-6 permission to take off as the NEA Viscount was landing was cited as the cause
                                             of the accident.