CAFÉ CONTINENTAL
At first sight this card is one of the increasingly popular airliner interior cards. A look at the back and a closer look at the image shows that this is one the small but well postcarded set of airliner-restaurants. This one called AvioResto was in the Dutch town of Soesterberg, which had been a centre of Dutch aviation since the 1920s and is the site of the Dutch Air Force museum. The restaurant consisted of no less than 3 retired Vickers Vikings, two from Autair (G-AGRW G-AHPB) and one from Channel Airways G-AGRU. The three are shown here
and G-AGRU from a 3 view below.
The 'Avio Resto' restaurant remained in existence until late 1979 or early 1980. After its owner died the restaurant was closed and the aircraft sold to the Cosford Aerospace Museum. Not all three aircraft actually ended up in Cosford. To pay for shipping G-AGRU to the museum the two other Vikings were sold to a German museum. G-AHPB was painted in LTU colours with the registration D-BABY and ended up in the Technorama Museum at Winterthur, Switzerland, after being displayed at Dusseldorf Airport for a few years. It was scrapped in Switzerland. The second Viking that went to Germany eventually ended up next to a McDonalds restaurant in Schwechat, Austria, and can still be seen there, painted in Austrian Airlines colours. It was first displayed on top of the terminal building, but was finally brought down and restored by an Austria Airlines crew. After restoration and display at Cosford G-AGRU is now at Brooklands. For more see http://www.vc10.net/History/vikings_of_soesterberg.html
By comparison the next card IS an airliner interior, again a Viking but this time of Continental Air Services.
As it happens this operator also had a strong Dutch connection. It had both British and Dutch directors and the fleet was part based at Rotterdam. The fleet peaked at 6 Vikings - a DC-3 and 2 DC-4s were also used but only the last year of operations before closure in 1960 , triggered by the impounding of a Viking at Southend by BKS for non payment of debts for maintenance. The card is in the style of the Dutch collector card publishers of the time and one other, a ground view of Viking G-AIKN with the same Go Continental slogan is also known., plus a "pasted" air view of Viking G-AHPE.
