Vikings to West Africa

[Passinja]

West African flights

In the early to mid fifties as another child of what was then the British Empire, the highlight of the year was the annual flight, as an unaccompanied minor, from London Blackbush/Northalt to Bathurst on the Hunting Clan/Airwork Viking via Biarritz, Lisbon, Tangier, Agidir, Villa Ciceneros and Dakar. There was an overnight in Tangier at the Hotel Miramar which I remember was just across the road from the beach. I was really well looked after by the aircrew and fondly remember as a twelve year old, being taken around the Kasbah in Tangier by a very attractive Rhodesian hostie I also remember that BOAC used to run holiday Argonaut “specials” to Nigeria and Kenya to transport the summer holiday kids to their parents. Another way of getting to West Africa and Bathurst In particular was to take the the first leg of the South American trip flown in those days by KLM, PANAM or BOAC from London to Dakar ( which was the final refueling stop before the South Atlantic hop). From Dakar we would catch the WAAC Bristol Wayfarer shuttle which did the Bathurst, Freetown and Lagos run. The memorable part of that flight was that the aircraft was so noisy that the crew issued cotton wool to the passengers to stuff in our ears!