When Gulf Aviation, later Gulf Air got its first BAC 1-11, it was decided to organise a spectacular introduction to the region's great and good; ruling families, senior merchants, Expat managers, oil company execs, you know the score..
The plan was to visit most of the Gulf States in a circular trip in the morning, and then another round trip, in reverse order, in the afternoon.
A full load of guests would embark in each place and disembark at the next, where a superb lunch would be served to them.
And then, replete and full of goodwill for Gulf Aviation, they would be taken back to where they started on the afternoon round trip.
It all went beautifully in the morning, and about 500 guests settled down to enjoy the magnificent spread. Alan Bodger was with the Bahraini party, including all Directors, anxiously watching the expense build up.
And then the BAC 1-11 did what all BAC 1-11s did when you least wanted it to happen, and broke down in Bahrain after completing the morning operation. There was only the one.
The recovery operation, using F27s, did little to restore Gulf Aviation's prestige, not great in the first place. I always felt that the day contributed to the later creation of Emirates.