File:Handley Page Dart Herald 201 ‘G-APWJ’.jpg

English: c/n 158.

Built 1963. Owned by the Duxford Aviation Society as part of the British Airliner Collection. On display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford Airfield, Cambridgeshire, UK. 16th February 2019

The following history for ‘WJ’ is from the Duxford Aviation Society website:-

“Whiskey Juliet was built at the Handley Page factory at Radlett, Herts, the tenth Herald 201 off the production line. Its first flight took place on 29th May 1963. It had originally been ordered by Transair Ltd., but it was first registered to British United (Channel Island) Airways and was delivered to Jersey Airport on 13th June 1963. On 1st November 1968 it was re-registered to British United Airways, and on 20th July 1970 it was re-registered again, this time to British Island Airways, who operated it until January 1980, when it was re-registered to Air UK Ltd.,and based at Norwich. Throughout its entire career ‘WJ was used mainly on the short Blackpool, Isle of Man, and Channel Island routes and also routes to France, and during its 22 years In service it flew more than 33,000 hours in 44,000 flights and carried an estimated2 million passengers a total of more than 6 million miles. By 1985 ‘WJ was the only Herald being operated by Air UK, all of its others having been retired and replaced by Fokker F27 Friendships. ‘WJ’s final planned service was from Jersey to Southampton on 29th June 1985, but it was unexpectedly forced back into service when one of Air UK’s Friendships went unserviceable, and ‘WJ was flown to Leeds to operate a service to Belfast, which was the very last scheduled passenger flight by a Herald.

‘WJ was donated to the Duxford Aviation Society for preservation, and made its final flight from Norwich to Duxford on Sunday, 7th July 1985. It carried a full load of Air UK employees, and the flight took just 30 minutes.