Originally Posted by
Jonnie Chan
Hi Bisonrav,
I am pleased to say we are not all dead yet! Praise the Lord. I joined BEA Airtours on Comet IVBs as an FO in April 70 and was flying on the line by 23 June 1970. Base training at Prestwick involved right hand seat and panel operation. I was ex Vanguards. BEA Airtours operated a three pilot crew with the two copilots changing seats sector by sector. A lot of fun to be had operating a pukka engineer's panel which was to serve us in good stead for the B707 later. Checking my logbook, I see my first flight was to Split (Yugoslavia, then) as P3 U/T. P3 training and consolidation lasted until 23 July when I then did RHS clearance before joining the regular operation. I was just 23! I had joined BEA from Hamble in Dec 1967. I too have a copy of the jigsaw! BEA, later British Airtours lasted until March 31st 1988 before becoming the new Caledonian Airways. I enjoyed every minute of it and flew B707s and L1011s as a copilot before my command on B737s and then back to L1011s as Captain, subsequently as Training Captin before Airtours demise. Happy days.
Lovely to hear all of this fascinating background. Of course my next question is what you were doing on and around the 10th May and 24th May 1971; not so much because you might have been on my flight to Corfu from Gatwick and return, but because identifying aircraft that were somewhere else is useful as part of the process of elimination! And of course should you be in touch with ex colleagues or know families, I'd love to know and perhaps pass the queries on. Do contact me by direct message if you like, I can pass on email and phone contacts. And the list of aircraft is mouth-watering to my older self. There was so much more variety back then, and I well remember looking down at all the types from the Gatwick and later Ringway, and being deafened by the noise. Comets in particular were LOUD.
I have returned to Corfu a few times recently. Much has changed, it's much less of an occasion to fly, you can breathe in the cabin, and hardly anyone notices the Alps any more. Children don't get the in-flight flight deck tour of course either. But much of it is still recognizable in terms of basic process, and in particular the northbound approach over the water remains spectacular. The old terminal is still there - we didn't use it again despite holidaying there from 1972 to 1975 - and rather sad and decrepit, I remember it as a bustling place, smelling of foreign tobacco, very small.