Argonautical, I guess the reasons why Ethiopian bought 720s were that 707s wouldn't have got out of Addis and allegedly the Boeing "baksheesh" budget was bigger than BAC's. However I think we all agree that BOAC's lack of backing for the VC-10 was what stopped it's commercial success. Ironically it was probably the connection with BOAC that led to East African buying it. I can still remember the sound of them taking off around 2300 on a still African night and I lived about 10 miles away!