Your first ever flight
Discussion
eccles said:
Like many others my first flight was in a Chipmunk. Our nearest AEF was at Filton with it's huge runway. It seemed like half the flight was spent getting over the airfield boundary!.
It certainly created an impression, I can still vividly remember looking 'up' through the canopy at the Severn bridge as we did aeros over it on a glorious sunny day.
Anything you'd like to do today? Throw it about please sir :-) It certainly created an impression, I can still vividly remember looking 'up' through the canopy at the Severn bridge as we did aeros over it on a glorious sunny day.
Regarding internal flights in Germany in the late 1960s, it almost definitely would have been a BEA Super 1-11 (Series 500). BEA operated a fleet of BAC 1-11s which were based in West Germany. Due to restrictions placed on the post war version of Lufthansa, the German airline was not allowed fly into Berlin. As a result the US (in the guise of Pan Am), Britain (in the form of BEA) and France (in the form of Air France) operated internal German flights and had small fleets based in Germany to operate these flights.
The BEA 1-11s were painted in a toned down version of the BEA logo of the day, minus the Union Flag on the tail. Later, this restriction was dispensed with and the 1-11s were given the full livery.
BEA never operated Boeing 737s. By the time 737s began to be operated by the national carrier, BEA had been absorbed into British Airways.
The BEA 1-11s were painted in a toned down version of the BEA logo of the day, minus the Union Flag on the tail. Later, this restriction was dispensed with and the 1-11s were given the full livery.
BEA never operated Boeing 737s. By the time 737s began to be operated by the national carrier, BEA had been absorbed into British Airways.
Mave said:
eccles said:
Like many others my first flight was in a Chipmunk. Our nearest AEF was at Filton with it's huge runway. It seemed like half the flight was spent getting over the airfield boundary!.
It certainly created an impression, I can still vividly remember looking 'up' through the canopy at the Severn bridge as we did aeros over it on a glorious sunny day.
Anything you'd like to do today? Throw it about please sir :-) It certainly created an impression, I can still vividly remember looking 'up' through the canopy at the Severn bridge as we did aeros over it on a glorious sunny day.
We had a local gliding school at Swansea airport (Sedburgs and T.21's), but they always seemed a disappointment. Winch launch up to 800ft, let go, one circuit of the airfield and back down again. There were only two highlights I can remember, one, a cable break at totally the wrong moment as the nose pointed at the sky followed by a very heavy landing, the other being a flight that lasted a whole 20 minutes, much to the envy of everyone else!
1967 Prestwick to Toronto in a Bristol Brittania. I was 11 at the time and got a visit to the cockpit where the Captain allowed me to dial in a course correction on the Autopilot. He said to turn the knob right but he meant left so we had a nice wing salute over the Atlantic. I doubt anyone noticed though but it was a fun experience for an 11 year old. Went to Expo 67 in Montreal too on that holiday.
A yellow and black Vickers Viscount when I was about 8 or so and that will be 49 years ago 
I know I flew from the north to the south if the UK as a special treat from my parents coming back from staying at a friends house.
I remember the take off, flight and landing but nothing else relating to that trip
Age........it’s slightly more than a number, it makes you forget things
I know I flew from the north to the south if the UK as a special treat from my parents coming back from staying at a friends house.
I remember the take off, flight and landing but nothing else relating to that trip
Age........it’s slightly more than a number, it makes you forget things
I loved watching Northeast Viscounts whine in and out of Dublin in the early 1970s. Northeast was based in Newcastle and was partially state owned as part of British Air Services (they carried small British Air Services titles on the nose).
Cambrian Airways (based in Cardiff) was also part of British Air Services and carried a very similar colour scheme - although chiefly in orange/red rather than yellow.
Both airlines disappeared when they were merged into the new British Airways in 1974.
I was a bit disappointed that the current BA didn't repaint a couple of their current Airbuses in a retro Cambrian or Northeast scheme for their "centennial" celebrations in 2019. They decided to only recognise their BOAC and BEA ancestry - which was a shame.
Cambrian Airways (based in Cardiff) was also part of British Air Services and carried a very similar colour scheme - although chiefly in orange/red rather than yellow.
Both airlines disappeared when they were merged into the new British Airways in 1974.
I was a bit disappointed that the current BA didn't repaint a couple of their current Airbuses in a retro Cambrian or Northeast scheme for their "centennial" celebrations in 2019. They decided to only recognise their BOAC and BEA ancestry - which was a shame.
Britten Norman Islander. Out of Chobham and back to Chobham, geography field trip from school somewhere around 1974.
Plane flown by a Mr Cadbury, arranged by my brilliant Geog teacher who was a rear gunner in a Lancaster during the war, so no doubt some favours in play to get a bunch of oiks from a secondary modern up in a plane.
Plane flown by a Mr Cadbury, arranged by my brilliant Geog teacher who was a rear gunner in a Lancaster during the war, so no doubt some favours in play to get a bunch of oiks from a secondary modern up in a plane.
SeeFive said:
Britten Norman Islander. Out of Chobham and back to Chobham, geography field trip from school somewhere around 1974.
Plane flown by a Mr Cadbury, arranged by my brilliant Geog teacher who was a rear gunner in a Lancaster during the war, so no doubt some favours in play to get a bunch of oiks from a secondary modern up in a plane.
Do you mean Fairoaks?Plane flown by a Mr Cadbury, arranged by my brilliant Geog teacher who was a rear gunner in a Lancaster during the war, so no doubt some favours in play to get a bunch of oiks from a secondary modern up in a plane.
SeeFive said:
Britten Norman Islander. Out of Chobham and back to Chobham, geography field trip from school somewhere around 1974.
Plane flown by a Mr Cadbury, arranged by my brilliant Geog teacher who was a rear gunner in a Lancaster during the war, so no doubt some favours in play to get a bunch of oiks from a secondary modern up in a plane.
Wasn't Peter Cadbury by any chance? Well known character at Fairoaks, owned several aircraft including an Islander at one point. His father had shot down a couple of Zeppelins in WW1 before running the family chocolate firm. Peter was in that grey area between 'real character, takes no nonsense from anybody' and 'high functioning lunatic'.Plane flown by a Mr Cadbury, arranged by my brilliant Geog teacher who was a rear gunner in a Lancaster during the war, so no doubt some favours in play to get a bunch of oiks from a secondary modern up in a plane.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/151599...
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