Originally Posted by
Sotonsean
I believe that it was 1970.
In the spring of 1970, Caledonian Airways won a renewable, one year contract from Qantas to carry migrants from Europe to Australia. The initial contract was worth £4.3 million. It was a sub-charter providing for the carriage of up to 40,000 passengers on approximately 220 flights.
The flights went to several Australian destinations such as Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. All went via Singapore and a Middle Eastern fuel stop. In the case of the Caledonian Airways Boeing 707 being the first ever commercial airliner to fly non-stop flight from London Gatwick to Singapore. This is indeed the case but I'm sure it only ever occurred if the conditions allowed it and I'm not sure how many occasions it actually happened.
Originally Posted by
Mickj3
I seem to remember that it was a BCal 707 that was the first comercial airliner to fly non-stop from UK to Singapore. It would be in 1967 or 1970/1
The record flight took place on 11th/12th April 1971 as it was my father (Les Bruce) who captained the plane. (I've just been researching documents for his eulogy and this forum came up in the search for record flights between London & Singapore) 13hrs 16mins 46secs was the official time on the Diplome de Record.