Flying aboard classic British / French Jetliners - 1985 & 1987


Hi A-netters. I'm pleased to present another series of short trip reports, this time of my experiences flying on a few classic jetliners in 1985 and 1987.

As a 20-year old USAF Airman I arrived in England for my second duty station in January 1985. Living near the British Rail "East Coast Mainline" enabled fairly easy trips to Heathrow and Gatwick via public transport. What started out as a two-year tour became a three-year tour and I was very pleased to stay in England for all of 1987.

As covered in an earlier trip report, my first day trip after arriving England was the British Midland Viscount roundtrip between Heathrow and Teeside. I documented that trip as part of my recently-uploaded Viscount report at https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1366631

The second trip I made was an overnight roundtrip to Manchester so I could fly aboard British Airways Tridents. The Trident 3 was the only version remaining in service at that time and I relished in the thought of getting to fly in them. I made arrangements to stay with the family of a fella I'd been trading airliner slides with the past couple of years.

I made my way to Heathrow by my normal routing of bus, train, tube from Alconbury to Huntingdon to Kings Cross to Heathrow. The trip took about three hours as I recall depending on timings. I always enjoyed my trips on English public transportation...I still have fond memories 30 years on.

The weather that weekend was dreadful and there were flight delays as it turned out.

Trip #1: British Airways Tridents -- 9/10 February 1985



Ticket stock:


Boarding pass for Manchester:


Super Shuttle flight schedule


Super Shuttle flight schedule


9 February 1985
British Airways #4442
London Heathrow (LHR) - Manchester (MAN)
Trident 3B G-AWZG
Dep: 4:36pm Runway 10R
Arr: 5:05pm Runway 06
Flight time: 29 minutes
Distance: 151 miles
Seat: 3F
Cost: 23.00 Pounds Sterling

Heathrow-Manchester great-circle route:

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

Sister Trident 3 G-AWZV being de-iced at LHR:


I love boarding via airstairs!!


G-AWZG at LHR:


G-AWZG at LHR:


G-AWZG at LHR:


My log notes show we boarded at 1pm and finally departed at 4:36pm. The delay was due to the snow and a lonq queue for de-icing. Really ate into my time at Manchester but at least we all got there safely.

G-AWZG at Manchester after arrival:


G-AWZG at Manchester after arrival:


G-AWZG at Manchester after deplaning:


While in Manchester I had a very nice time meeting Don and his family. I was treated to my first ever English Trifle dessert...it was simply heavenly.

Come Sunday morning, Don took me by the Leeds/Bradford airport where we did a little spotting. There we saw a British Midland Viscount, an Air UK Herald and two F-27s, a Metropolitan SD3-30 and a Spanish Cessna Citation registered EC-DOH. Prior to dropping me off for the flight back to LHR, Don took me around Manchester airport but with the soggy February weather I only made a few photos.

Boarding pass for LHR:


10 February 1985
British Airways #4513
Manchester (MAN) - London Heathrow (LHR)
Trident 3B G-AWZP
Dep: Runway 06
Arr: Runway 10L
Flight time: 48 minutes
Distance: 151 miles
Seat: 25F
Cost: 23 Pounds Sterling

G-AWZP flight deck:


G-AWZP flight deck:


G-AWZP after arriving LHR:



It was sad seeing the Trident 3s being broken up at the British Airways engineering base. Many enthusiasts including myself were elated when a couple of British Airways Tridents were painted up in the Landor scheme. These aircraft never carried any passengers in this scheme but they sure looked nice in person.

G-AWZO and sisters at BA Engineering awaiting the cutters torch:


G-AWZI at BA Engineering awaiting the cutters torch:


G-AWZL and sisters at BA Engineering during scrapping:


G-AVFG at BA Engineering in Landor colors:


Trident tails at BA Engineering:





Trip #2: British Airways Concorde -- 24 February 1985





My dormitory room was right next door to the American Express Travel Agency and I made friends with the ladies in there soon after my arrival. Once aware of my enthusiasm for airlines they informed me of an upcoming Concorde Fan Club flight in late February...and I couldn't sign up fast enough. For 300 Pound Sterling it was a supersonic bargin. When I told my American co-workers about this trip and the price they thought I was crazy. "Don't you know an entire family can spend a week in the Mediterranean for that price?" Didn't matter to me much...I was finally going to fly on Concorde! The Dollar-Pound exchange rate was $1.13 so it wasn't terribly expensive I might add.









Unlike two weeks prior for the Trident flights, the weather for Concorde was splendid.

24 February 1985
British Airways #9080C
London Heathrow (LHR) - London Heathrow (LHR)
Concorde 102 G-BOAE
Dep: 1420hrs Runway 28L
Arr: 1533hrs Runway 28L
Flight time: 73 minutes
Distance: Unknown
Seat: 15A
Cost: 300 Pounds Sterling

Possible flight path of the trip:


As was becoming the norm for me, I caught the bus from Alconbury to the Huntingdon British Rail station for my train ride down to London Kings Cross. From Kings Cross it was a trip on the London Underground out to Heathrow. At Heathrow, I made my way to Terminal 1, which I had been in two weeks earlier during a round-trip to Manchester on British Airways Tridents.

I don't remember much about the atmosphere in the boarding area prior to the flight. G-BOAE was parked near the gate and at boarding time we used air stairs versus a jet way. Thankfully the weather was quite nice for a February and I was able to take some open-air photos of Concorde as we boarded. I was even allowed out of the boarding queue so I could get a photo of G-BOAE from the opposite side, which was the sun-lit side. Unfortunately, the catering truck was in place and blocked some of the aircraft.









I was probably as excited as I'd ever been as I settled into my assigned window seat. It was supposed to be a full flight - there were 99 other passengers on board with me. Apparently members of the Royal Air Force "Red Arrows" aerobatic team were onboard as well as a lady celebrating her 100th birthday. I was barely 20 years old and probably among the youngest of the passengers.

The flight originated from Runway 28L (since designated 27L) for the westbound departure. When the afterburners lit there was a definite sensation of an extra "kick" as the takeoff progressed. Once airborne I could finally say to myself "I'm flying on Concorde!"

Despite having a window seat there was not much to photograph outside the plane. The windows on Concorde are quite small compared to contemporary sub-sonic airliners. I snapped a few photos of the cabin area from my seat and since I had a clear view of the "Mach Meter" on the cabin bulkhead, I decided I'd keep track of our speed progress. My notes start at Mach .60 at 3:43 into the flight. We hit Mach 1 at 19:20 elapsed time shortly after passing through 28,000 feet. Mach 2 came at 27:05 elapsed time at 50,000 feet. We eventually reached 56,500 feet and a ground speed of 1,365 miles per hour. Pretty damn cool.











Inflight notes of Mach / Time / Altitude:



We were served a light snack as well as some champagne. The caviar with the snack was the first time I'd ever eaten caviar and it was ok. We were also offered a visit to the flight deck. Who can resist a visit to a flight deck while inflight? Not me! Of course, the visor was up and the view was limited, but the view is unique to Concorde so I didn't complain one bit.





Back in the cabin I sweet-talked a stewardess into letting me take the china place setting with me. In the photo below you can see what souvenirs I managed to bring home from the flight. The 1/200 scale "Wooster" snap-together Concorde display model was a nice little touch and I'd have been happy with just that. As I write this in 2017 I'm not sure how much of the china I still have but I have all the ticket jacket stuff, the model, and the certificate.




In 2013 I did a photo search on A.net and found two photos of G-BOAE taken at LHR on 24 Feb 1985...photos of the plane I was on! I contacted the photographer Ian Kirby and he kindly responded with some additional photos he'd taken that day. His father was onboard celebrating his 60th birthday and Ian even sent me some photos his father made during the trip.



Photos below courtesy Ian Kirby

Pushback:



View from Queens Building:

G-BOAE in the takeoff queue:



G-BOAE rolling for takeoff:



A little "Red Arrows" smoke:


G-BOAE on final approach



Main wheels down:


View from the Queen's Building after the flight:




Trip #3: Altair Airways Caravelle 10B -- 30 March 1985

Caravelle flyer:


PHOTO:


PHOTO:


30 March 1985
Altair #002
Luton (LTN) - Luton (LTN)
Caravelle 10B I-GISI (former Finnair OH-LSF)
Dep: Unknown; Runway 26
Arr: Unknown; unknown runway
Flight time: 73 minutes...same as Concorde
Distance: Unknown
Seat: 16F
Cost: 37.50 Pounds Sterling

Airports we flew between:

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.


Another opportunity I learned about was an enthusiasts flight aboard a Caravelle from Luton Airport. I signed up for it straight away and got a seat on it. I was able to convince a coworker with a car to drive me to and from Luton Airport on flight day so that took care of the ground transportation.

English weather being what it is, flight day was a bit overcast. OK...it sucked. But that didn't really dampen the spirits of the folks assembled at Luton Airport for this unique opportunity. True, there were plenty of Caravelles still in service around Europe in 1985 but to have the opportunity to fly a special charter was most welcome.

We were herded into a bus and taken out near the runway so we could photograph the arrival of I-GISI. At the time there was also an "abandoned" Boeing 720 on the airfield and we got the opportunity to view her up close and personal while waiting for I-GISI.

Boeing 720-025 MSN 18157 formerly Conair OY-DSK. Delivered to Eastern as N8703E.






Altair Caravelle I-GISI on final for Luton:


Altair Caravelle I-GISI arriving Luton:


In due course we were ready to board our beautiful Caravelle for an hour flight around the English countryside.










Departing runway 26 and we fly over the Vauxhall plant:






Reasonably nice above the clouds:


During our flight we were informed we were going to do a bump-and-go at Exeter Airport, so that was an unexpected treat.

Touch-n-go at Exeter:


Arriving back at Luton:


Parting shot of I-GISI following my flight at Luton:



Trip #4: British Caledonian Airways BAC 1-11 501EX -- 17 April 1985

Jersey - London Gatwick great-circle route:

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

I've already covered the Jersey trip on the Viscount page...but I will re-hash the return to Gatwick on the BAC 1-11 here.

17 April 1985
British Caledonian Airways #022
Jersey (JER) - London Gatwick (LGW)
BAC 1-11 501EX G-AWYU
Dep: 1745hrs Runway 09
Arr: 1823hrs Runway 26
Flight time: 38 minutes
Distance: 161 miles
Seat: 1B
Cost: 49 Pounds Sterling

G-AWYU arriving Jersey prior to my flight:


British Caledonian BAC 1-11 G-AWYU:


British Caledonian BAC 1-11 G-AWYU Isle of Colonsay:


British Caledonian BAC 1-11 interior at Gatwick:


British Caledonian BAC 1-11 flight deck at Gatwick:


British Caledonian BAC 1-11 G-AWYU at Gatwick after arrival:



Trip #5: Royal Air Force VC-10C Mk. 1 -- Jan/Feb 1987



One of my most anticipated trips during my time in England was the rare opportunity to fly Trans-Atlantic aboard Royal Air Force VC-10s assigned to RAF Brize Norton. American
forces personnel were allowed to sign up for space-available travel on the RAF. I was unaware of this until one of my co-workers mentioned it and I definitely wanted to give it a go. The application process was fairly straight forward but you weren't notified until two or three days out if you had a seat or not. In some ways this was/is probably better than the USAF system for "Space-A" which I've never used. I can't explain the differences since I don't know them...doesn't make much sense, I know. Anyway, given the rarity of the VC-10 in 1985 I had to go for it.

Brize Norton - Gander - Dulles great-circle route:

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

21 January 1987
Royal Air Force "Ascot" #9270
VC-10C Mk. 1 XV107
RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) - Gander, Newfoundland (YQX)
Dep: 0544hrs GMT Runway 26
Arr: 1119hrs GMT Runway 31
Flight time: 5hrs 35min
Distance: 1998 miles
Seat: 12F
Cost: 23.00 Pounds Sterling

Boarding pass for the trip to the USA:


Receipt for travel. 23 Pounds to cross the Atlantic on a VC-10!:


Baggage tag for this sector:


RAF fare schedule:


Moe and another USAF Airman onboard XV107


RAF Flight Lieutenant Steve Scott-Skinner with my copy of Martin Headley's monograph:


RAF Flight Lieutenant Steve Scott-Skinner at the controls:


Flight deck photo:


XV107 crew autographs:


RAF roundel on starboard wing:


Starboard Conways:


Port engines and wing looking south:


Gander, Newfoundland:


Nordair L-188 C-FNAY:


Deplaning from XV107:


Heading into the terminal for a break:


On the ramp at Gander, Newfoundland


21 January 1987
Royal Air Force "Ascot" #9270
VC-10C Mk. 1 XV107
Gander, Newfoundland (YQX) - Washington Dulles (IAD)
Dep: 1251hrs GMT Runway 22 (since changed to 21)
Arr: 1626hrs GMT Runway 01R
Flight time: 3hrs 35min
Distance: 1152 miles
Seat: 12F


We were somewhat delayed departing Gander due to a maintenance issue. I can't recall exactly what it was but they sorted it out within an hour or so and we were on our way. A few hours later we were descending for Washington Dulles. Little did I know a severe winter storm was brewing for the New England area. I'm not sure if I stuck to the Presidential Airways itinerary as ticketed and I think their staff was reasonably accomodating for itinerary changes. In the end, my first Presidential Airways flight turned out to be a flight to Boston. I was intending to fly to Montreal as I recall (probably from Dulles) but Boston became my destination. As luck would have it, the snowstorm hit Boston pretty hard and flights were being cancelled.

Since my eventual destination was Denver and I'd already purchased a ticket on TWA I was hoping to get home on that. Wouldn't you know it...after we boarded and sat for a while the flight was cancelled. Being a young fella with limited resources I certainly didn't entertain the idea of getting a hotel room. I ended up sleeping with my luggage in an airport chapel and I wasn't the only one in there either.

The day dawned clear but very cold and I was able to reboard the same L-1011 for a flight to St. Louis, eventually connecting to a 727-200 to Denver. I arrived DEN very tired and quite late that evening.

Below are some photos taken at some of the airports I visited during the next couple of weeks I was on holiday and travelling around the states:

I eventually flew in this TWA L-1011 N31029 (the next day) once the storm stopped:


Dawn on January 23...there's hope for a good day!


Air Midwest at St. Louis while enroute to Denver:


Dual scheme Garuda/Continental DC-10-30 at SFO:


Canadian Pacific at Vancouver, BC:


Additional airline routes flown during this holiday:


A couple of days before my scheduled departure from the USA back to England I was notified of my positive space aboard the RAF flight from Dulles to Brize Norton. I made my way back to the east coast by way of flying TWA from Denver to St. Louis then Detroit. The STL-DTW leg was made on an Ozark Air Lines DC-9-30 operating with a TWA flight number. This is because the TW / OZ merger had been made but happily I got to finally ride in an Ozark plane. From DTW to IAD I took further advantage of the 10-coupon book I'd purchased on Presidential Airways back in the U.K. I didn't get to use all the coupons due to the storm early in the trip but I did use seven of them I believe.

My Presidential Airways flight coupons:




I got to use a few more of the Presidential coupons by doing some flying between IAD, ATL and MIA just to fly the routes. I recall on the MIA-IAD segment there was quite a group of noisy school children waiting in the boarding area and I took advantage of an on-the-spot First Class upgrade for $20. I honestly don't recall what Presidential's F product was but to escape the relative noise in the Y cabin it was $20 well spent. Additionally I believe it was my first ever ride in F class...Concorde being R class.

Flight day arrived and after playing around the eastern seaboard for a couple days I was ready to head back to work at Alconbury. My flight was operating on time and this time we'd enjoy a nonstop overnight Atlantic crossing in the VC-10C Mk. 1 XV105.

13 February 1987 (Friday the 13th!)
Royal Air Force "Ascot" #9201
VC-10C Mk. 1 XV105
Washington Dulles (IAD) - RAF Brize Norton (BZZ)
Dep: 1910hrs EST Runway 01L
Arr: 0640hrs GMT Runway 08
Flight time: 6hrs 30min
Distance: 3150 miles
Seat: 10F
Cost: $33.58

At Dulles I was unable to get any photos of XV105 prior to boarding. It was an evening departure for an overnight crossing.

Dulles - RAF Brize Norton great-circle route:

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

Boarding pass for the trip to England:


Receipt for travel. $33.58 to cross the Atlantic on a VC-10!:


Baggage tag for this sector:


Flight crew autographs from XV105:


Upon arrival at Brize Norton I was able to secure a ride home with an Englishman who was driving past RAF Alconbury. It was very nice not to have to rely on public transportation for the final leg(s) of this extremely buzy past three weeks. I wasn't able to take any photos upon arrival at Brize Norton but I did manage a photo of XV105 at McChord AFB during my travels this trip:

Royal Air Force VC-10C Mk. 1 XV105 at McChord AFB, Washington, USA a couple weeks before I flew on it IAD-BZZ.


Below are some photos of VC-10 hulks at RAF Brize Norton on July 12, 1985. I'm not sure if these hulks were present in 1987 when I flew in/out of BZZ. I include them
only as historical reference.

G-ARVJ ex-Gulf Air


Unidentified hulks


G-ASGD


I hope you've enjoyed reading these trip reports and checking out some photos from a few decades ago.

Moe

Man, how airline service has changed over the years. I was amazed seeing a ticket that was handwritten and the quality of service you got for such a short flight. It seemed passenger comfort and care was bigger and more important than it is today.

Many thanks for these aeromoe, really appreciate the time and effort you've made to putting up these classic trip reports!

Many thanks for the memories, aeromo! Much appreciated.

I vividly recall the Super Shuttle services and can attest to the fact that there would be a back up flight if the scheduled one was full. I once flew GLA-LHR on a Trident 1 which carried just 4 passengers. Two were RAF guys in uniform who were invited to go to the flight deck and stayed there for the remainder of the flight. That left a lady and me in an otherwise deserted cabin!

the Caravelle and VC10 are amongst 2 aircraft I wish I had been able to fly on. Something that won't happen now. Still, I have managed to rack up quite a few types that are also, now, not possible to fly on. Here in SA the SAA Museum Society still run sightseeing flights on DC4's, DC3's and up until a while ago JU52's. With the winter weather here at the moment perfect for flying, I really should bag a DC4 flight while I still can.

ANother vote of thnks for these fantastic memories!

Thanks for the nice comments.

Moe

Beautiful report! Caravelle, VC10, Concorde - totally jealous! I would loved to have flown on all three and never did. I really love how you have cabin shots, I love those the most as they are so rare. Thanks for taking the time to do this!

Thanks ClassicLover. Thankfully I managed to get one some great planes. At the same time I totally missed some. I was so relatively close to the Mercure for these years and never made the time...and I went to the 85 Paris Air Show! Missed out on all the Soviet classics. No Handley-Page Herald while in England. No Dash-7....and I lived under the flight path for the very first ones to enter service: Rocky Mountain Airways! No Twin Otter. No Shorts Brothers. The list goes on! But I am very glad for what I WAS able to do!! Cheers! Moe

For all of us who grew up with the British classics, this report brings back many cherished memories. Thank you for taking the time to sharing these flights with us. Amazing how much commercial aviation has changed in 30 years. Loved the paper receipt from your Altair Caravelle flight, Another era, indeed!!

WoW!!

I've read many a trip-report here, but this was by far the most interesting (and not putting the others down a bit...)!
Thanks a million for sharing!

-mika

Thanks folks....I relived a lot of memories creating these.

Moe

Great times, worked at LHR 70' 80's comes flooding back.
The picture of the Concorde cockpit, is the captain is wearing a jumper and gloves????
And the Trident cockpit, is that a paper scrolling map display?

Really nice to see this report.

wow - great TR - so impressed with all the photos from the pre-digital every-frame-counts age!

many memories of flying BA's Tridents on the shuttle to Belfast (with the odd TriStar during Easter rush) and countless BAC1-11 flights from my home airport of BHX, where my pa was a training capt for BA and where (IIRC) some of BCal's 1-11s ended up at least for a period of time...

very jealous of the VC-10 and Caravelle flights - thanks for posting!

Amazing trip report!

Thanks folks. Readytotaxi: yes, Concorde captain wearing a jumper (sweater in the US) and gloves....and that does look like a paper moving map but I can't confirm it. Maybe someone on here with knowledge of the Trident flight deck can weigh in.

Wrt the two VC-10 flights - do you remember if the aircraft had rear-facing seats?
(PS And did anybody spot the ex-PanAm L1011-500 awaiting RAF conversion... also now long gone too...)

This has got to be the mother of all trip reports! The only thing missing was a transatlantic flight on board the Hindenburg!

Also, as usually, it's quite interesting to read about people's experiences in a time before being born myself.

Thanks folks. Yes, the VC-10s seats were rear-facing...thought I mentioned it in the report but I guess I forgot! Moe

Sooper report! Tres Bien!

The shuttle service was quite extensive! Nice to see how it was before BA turned into LA (London Airways).

The BA tridents had the 'moving map' between the pilot and copilot instrumentation. I don't believe the export tridents had these fitted

Thank you so much for posting this - absolutely fascinating. Thank you for your care and attention to detail - I think we all really appreciate your writing and photographs, and for posting these trip reports. Really excellent stuff.

What an awesome Trip Report! Thank you for sharing!

Wow. Just wow. I love that you put this all together to share with us. I had barely taken my first flight in 1985, but I have a mental impression of what aviation was like, so this is fascinating for me.

Thanks again!

-IR

Moe - I've been looking at A.net since the late 1990s and have never made an account or posted on the forums in that almost twenty years. I only did so today to say thanks for all of the effort that I'm sure went into this fantastic write up. Probably the best trip report I've ever read on here.

This is about the best time travel trip report I have ever seen. Hand written tickets thats like the stone age now. Great work.

This is about the best time travel trip report I have ever seen. Hand written tickets thats like the stone age now. Great work.

Brilliant report! It's pity Concords don't operate any more. I'm very curious - what does it feel like flying 56,500ft altitude? Is the view different than flying normal commercial planes now? What a memory!

Thanks folks for the nice replies. SeanJFKLGA: I'm glad I inspired you to post a comment! There are some great trip reports on this forum by a lot of folks...thanks for taking the time to read mine and comment. Moe

hirofumi: Since the Concorde trip was more than 32 years ago I don't have a lot of recollections about flying at 56,500 feet. I wish I'd taken a few more photos through the windows but there wasn't much to see...I'm sure the view was different being at that altitude but I honestly do not remember.

Super report with great photos to match! Love these historical reports that are showing up more on here.

Great luck to have another a.net photographer at LHR in 1985 to get photos of your flight!

Does anyone have more history about the VC-10 flights between BZZ and IAD? I believe it was a semi-regular service but other than that know nothing about it.

Also didn't know that BA had Landor livery Tridents...they can't have lasted too long!

This trip report will make history on airliners.net

Excellent!! I was born in October 1985 and I flew in 1996 for the first time so I didn't see any of those airplane flying.

What amazing experiences you've had! Thank you for taking the time to put these trip reports on here.

Thanks folks for the nice comments.

The Landor livery Tridents were only ground airframes...they did not fly in BA service in those colors. I don't recall exactly when they were painted but most likely after the Trident 3 finally left BA service in 1985. I remember my excitement seeing the first one painted and then later during my three years (all of 85-87) the second one emerged from the paint shop.

As far as the RAF VC-10 services...semi-regular (if that's the right phrase) troop movement flights between the UK, USA and Central/South America/South Atlantic. Not sure why the one was at McChord AFB, WA during that trip of mine...I coincidentally saw and photographed it and it ended up flying on it a week or so later. Being a yank, I have no idea of the routings or timings. I just know they were available for us to apply for at that ridiculously low fare. I'm grateful to the RAF for allowing us to indulge in those flights. And the funny thing is I've never once tried to "Space-A" on a US military flight...I'd rather have the relative peace of mind knowing I have a confirmed flight.

Oh wow! what a great report. You were way ahead of your time when you envisioned this TR 30 years ago. loved every damn pixel of it.

aeromoe wrote:

Thanks folks for the nice comments.

The Landor livery Tridents were only ground airframes...they did not fly in BA service in those colors. I don't recall exactly when they were painted but most likely after the Trident 3 finally left BA service in 1985. I remember my excitement seeing the first one painted and then later during my three years (all of 85-87) the second one emerged from the paint shop.

As far as the RAF VC-10 services...semi-regular (if that's the right phrase) troop movement flights between the UK, USA and Central/South America/South Atlantic. Not sure why the one was at McChord AFB, WA during that trip of mine...I coincidentally saw and photographed it and it ended up flying on it a week or so later. Being a yank, I have no idea of the routings or timings. I just know they were available for us to apply for at that ridiculously low fare. I'm grateful to the RAF for allowing us to indulge in those flights. And the funny thing is I've never once tried to "Space-A" on a US military flight...I'd rather have the relative peace of mind knowing I have a confirmed flight.

Thanks for the info!

If only everything else was up to this standard on this website.
Back office included.

I rarely adorn this part of the forum these days it is not what it once was. I have to say this is the best report we have seen here in a long time. Super historical archives that you have. I really enjoyed it. Those were the days. I flew Concorde around the same time and have that same flight certificate which is wonderful to have.

Thanks for putting this together it was pure Gold.


Regards

OA260

Thanks folks for the nice feedback. Glad you have enjoyed reading the reports!!

Moe

I flew on all these planes except the Concorde which is my biggest regret. A friend took the Concorde to Lapland on a charter flight and loved it.The Comet 4 was another jet aircraft BEA operated. My first jet was an Alitalia Caravelle. Beautiful planes.

Absolutely brilliant read this and great pictures too ! Totally of my era too, I guess we are around the same age more or less aeromoe ? Yes the BA Tridents had a moving paper map, quite ingenious for it's time. I saw one again recently on a visit to the G-ARPO preservation project (see my video attached). And as for that Landor painted Trident, G-AVFG, well there was also Trident 3 G-AWZK painted in Landor and as mentioned, neither flew but were used as ground based cabin crew and tug trainers before G-AWZK was taken on by the Trident preservation Society, stored at LHR in final BEA livery before ultimately being moved to Manchester's aviation park, where she resides today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaimWXQztEs

OMG.... This is the Mother of all trip reports!!! Wow.... Thank you SO MUCH! This brought back so many wonderful and distant memories of a sweet world that is no longer here....

Thanks! I loved reading this TR and seeing your photos.

This trip report has so much in it; nostalgia, different aircraft types, a customer service that has long disappeared, freedoms, handwritten tickets and shared first-hand memories. You even have aircraft post-retirement break-ups in there too! Not something you see in among regular trip reports!

I love the Super Shuttle passenger expectation list!

Concorde, what can I say.. you are one of the lucky people who got to ride on this beautiful machine.

Thanks again, I'll visit this TR again in the future for another dream away.

Cheers.

Hi Moe, I truly enjoyed your marvellous trip report, and indeed I share your enthusiasm and great memories of a great way of flying (I do belong to the generation who traveled on hand-written air tickets, and enjoyed the Trident, the Caravelle, the Concorde, the TriStar).
Those were the days when airport security was not an issue and you could be greeted by friends and family right at the arrival gate.
Thank you thank you very much for sharing this with all of us a.netters.
It's been a fantastic time travel bringing back memories of a way of flying long gone today.
All the best.

Thanks folks for the nice comments...glad you have enjoyed the read.

Best trip I've read for a while. Flew 1-11, Trident, Concorde never got on a Caravelle (well apart from in the hold on a Handling strike in LGW) and dreamed for a VC10
Thanks for posting Andy

Guess I can do a trip report about my flight to Seattle 3 years ago...though I barely took photos but...30 years not too long for a report, neither are 3 years lol...loved the report..and BTW when BA started flights to PHX I asked if I could get a model and received one of the Wooster concordes too!!

Thank you for posting the wonderful photos and reports of your travels in the 1980s.

gte439u wrote:

Thank you for posting the wonderful photos and reports of your travels in the 1980s.

Glad you enjoyed the report!

Moe