Just back from trip - so, again appologies for slow response -
I've had a quick trawl through a couple of sources, but still not sure when the Air Links Hermes finally made it to the boneyard. It's noticeable when attempting to track the progress of these 1950/1960's operators, that the same names, planes, and connections pop up repeatedly. G-ALDA, the Hermes mentioned was one of five that Air Safaris took over from Falcon Airways around 1960 - thence to Air Links. Air Safaris, African Safaris, and African Air Safaris although seperate enterprises, still have links that can be followed through from 1950 to 2005. Alan Stocks's name is linked to IAS, who supplied the management service for African Safaris, and still, to the best of my knowledge runs African International Air Cargo ( still DC8's? ) Crawley.
[email protected] The closest I can get to the Hermes questions, is probably through an aquaintance who latterly aquired the three 049 Constellations from Marian Kozubski's Falcon Airways in 1961, but I don't think he would have taken much notice of the Hermes. Maybe I'll ask. I remember the famous picture of the Hermes ( I think ) that slithered and blocked the railway line at Southend. I'm not sure who's. When Caledonian took over BUA in 1969, we were told that the BUA Safety Officer, Capt. Evans
( Evans the Accident ) was on board that one, although I never heard it confirmed. There's a picture on Airliners.net of the Hermes Cabin Crew training fuselage outside the office at Gatwick. We remember seeing certain personel tottering down the steps after the practise Champagne serving exercises.
I'd like to hear about events concerning the iconic Marian Kozubski, if anyone cruising these pages has knowledge. A man who seemed to feature in many anecdotes, if somewhat chased by the authorities. I met him only once. Unfortunately, since he had just climbed out of a trashed taxi, he wasn't in a talkative mood.