That doesn't quite ring true.
Try This ! Sorry about the Mash !
Kwame Nkrumah. Kwame Nkrumah PC (21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957
I can't even remember where my car keys are today, never mind who did what in changing African geo-politcal affairs after I left school, all long gone history now. Jomo wotisname - Kenyatta ? was involved with Kenya of course, and Joshua ? Nkomo with Zambia ! I self-corrected at 03.00 this morning !
Makes no difference to the reason that Stratocruisers started flying to West Africa as well as across the Atlantic, BOAC services variously stopped at Rome, Barcelona, Tripoli, to Kano, Lagos and Accra. It was Nkrumah that demanded that the Strat. replaced whatever had traditionally served West Africa up until then - Argonauts ( DC-4 ? ) - just before my time ( 1958) so don't remember too clearly now. . Argonauts, Connies, Yorks and the like had, or were just, being withdrawn in favour of DC-7C's, Britannias, Comets, and shortly afterwards the Comet IV, Boeing 707 and V.C.10 on BOAC routes.
I recall that during the ground school course we were taught about aircraft magnetism,and the effect it had on compass systems, by imagining a cargo load of soft iron rods had been loaded longitudinally and laterally across the aircraft. On my first airborne trip under training as a navigator on a Strat. my instructor suggested that as we weren't actually doing much navigation across Europe, the pilots following established airways with their NDB equipment, that I practice using the sextant by working out a few Compass checks using Astro Sun shots. The first result was rubbish, and I re-calculated everything and did it again,with a similar useless result. By this time my Instructor was beginning to wonder what he had been given to try to teach, and with the demanding Sahara Desert crossing to Kano coming up he brushed me aside to "Shown Me How To Do It" . His work produced the same rubbish. By now the pilots were commenting that their attempts to follow the published magnetic tracks were not doing very well, but nevertheless they managed to reach Tripoli without too much drama, tho' the skipper was not feeling too happy about the coming night sector across the Sahara in view of the varying compass readings and apparent incompetence of his navigators.
On the refuelling stop at Tripoli the navigator examined the aircraft holds, and came back and said "You're not going to believe this, but the holds are full of soft iron concrete reinforcing rods !! The Captain demanded that they be offloaded, to the objection of the Station Manager who said that they were required for a building project in Lagos, how was he supposed to get them there ? Don't care, said the Captain, put them on a camel if you like but they ain't coming on my aircraft. After that my Astro navigation improved, tho' I didn't have time for a meal as well for the whole of the seven hour sector !
I know that you're going to ask why the iron rods hadn't been questioned when the load sheet had been signed on departure ? I can't answer that.
In answer to an early query, initially, tho' "engaged" and paid, as a pilot, I was used as a "straight" navigator with no aircraft type rating and required to maintain my CPL renewal by flying Chipmunks owned by The Airways Aero Ass'n. a flying training outfit maintained by BOAC and BEA ( ?) based at Croydon, but having flown 5 trips on the Strat. I was then moved to the Brit. 312 to complete my training, and having gained the Flt.Nav. Licence I then continued flying as Nav. only on the East African routes, Kenya, Uganda etc. and it was only after a year of that was I "allowed" to be sent back to the training unit to be indoctrinated into navigating the dangerous Atlantic route, for which I eventually earned an Atlantic Ops. Cert as a Brit 312, navigator. Big Deal !
3 years after first joining, and having spent all that time only navigating in one form or another, I was moved to the Boeing 707, initially as S/O Nav / P.3, i.e. I completed the necessary handling of the 707 to be awarded a CAA type rating, but BOAC only issued me with a restricted Ops. Cert. which meant that I could fulfil the P.3. position, e.g. Jump Seat monitoring etc. but not fly as co-pilot,even tho' from a CAA perspective I was "legal" to do that with my CPL. but after a 3 month posting to Honolulu in this position, followed by more handling training, I was given a full Ops. Cert as a co-pilot on the 707, promoted to F/O, and after that flew every trip as either the Nav. or the co-pilot, the decision as to which was usually by mutual agreement between myself and the other equally dual qualified F/O and the Captain. During this time I became a Navigator instructor, and in contrast to my first seven hour crossing of the Sahara with no time for a meal, on occasions when I might be navigating without a student, I might navigate from New York to London and fulfil the requirement to log an Astro fix every 30 minutes, eat dinner and finish a paperback that I might have bought leaving JFK. at the same time. It's only hands on experience, and although I couldn't do it now I'd love to be given the chance ! A local student pilot recently asked "What was a sextant " as he tore his eyes away from his Smartphone for a few seconds. One could weep.
I gained a Command on the Boeing 707 16 years after joining, a 747 Command 2 years later, and for personal reasons accepted Severance at age 48, some 7 years before the then compulsory retirement age of 55,and finished my professional career at age 60 as a 747 pilot instructor with SIA. I have just decided to hand in my NZ Microlight Instructors rating, tho' I still fly the beasts. ( not really microlights, LSA's in USA speak )
Would I do it all again ? In a heartbeat, probably start a bit sooner, and have a better Seniority position !
I think you should - a lot of my recent book acquisitions have been military or civil air crew memories and I've yet to be disappointed!
Not sure, many have and still are, and I think it is a limited audience ?