Wonderful Bristol Centaurus engines. In my time at Autair Ops in the period we were operating Ambassadors up until 1969 I cannot remember an engine failure or an unscheduled engine change. This was due in part to the quality and skill of Autair's engineers. Their Ambassadors never carried a uniformed flight engineer but frequently a Flying Spanner would accompany the aeroplane, I can recall Pete Hart, Jock Lauder and Stuart Clegg among others performing this duty. I think somewhere else I've bored the socks off folk recalling a particularly fun School Educational Flight I went along on - providing the commentary while David Hampson flew the Ambassador low over the newly opened Severn Bridge which was the subject of the day. Oh gosh and then there was another jolly with two Ambassadors on a Chemical Works outing to Le Touquet - where we bought food in the market, hired a car and took the Girls and the Flying Spanner off for a picnic to a beach in the middle of nowhere where Nightingales sang and rusty signs warning of mines were a reminder of recent history. Later that afternoon returning in haste to the airfield and while overtaking at speed an old lorry carrying hard-core, a large piece detached itself from the aforesaid and penetrated the windscreen in a dramatic manner. I punched a hole through what was left of the windscreen, thanking my lucky stars that the Car Hire Manager had insisted on my taking out insurance. Nevertheless he was none too happy when we returned his automobile muttering " That the bloody British had murdered France's only Virgin." In retrospect that was one of the best days of my life along with wedding my late wife.
Last edited by OUAQUKGF Ops; 24th Jun 2023 at 08:16.