Catching up with this thread after a month ...
Georgeablelovehowindia
PAXboy: Yes, your sister almost certainly flew on a Caravelle.
Rome Ciampino on your VC10 ... probably not, unless perhaps Fiumicino was out in fog. FCO opened in 1960 (or 1961) when Britannia 102s were still the mainstay on the African routes.
Ah, thanks for that, it would have been FCO then, as it was rainy but not foggy. We were there around 20:00 I think but do not have the timetable. It was mid-winter so dark until African sunrise.
jeppsbore
As an aside / thread hijack, didn't the powers that be decide that once the M25 was finished there would be no need for a helicopter link between Heathrow and Gatwick? yeah Right
I heard that the folks running the service forgot to renew the license application in time and then got stuffed by the folks who lived on the ground and were early forerunners of Hacan. But I also heard that the revised plan of refitting the GatLink machines with various electronics to allow them to fly higher was considered too costly. My guess is that anyone wanting to set up such a service today, would find the Hacan lobby insurmountable, leave alone the cost of it. My uncle and aunt lived in Surrey under the GatLink path and each time it went over they grumbled and I looked up thinking, "Wow - I wish I was on board" but I could not say that!
aviate1138 Your stories of being on the jump seat of Concorde will not be tolerated
and you should now make a public apology.
This has been a great thread and wonderful to read. All the talk of Viscounts ... I cannot claim the early flights but maybe one of the last? When my mother went to live in the IOM in 1981, the BA service was VIS until 1988 when the 146 was introduced. I don't reacll my last VIS but found myself by chance to be on the very first commercial 146 rotation on the route and champagne all round.
[Thread drift] My first VIS was Air Rhodesia in October 1970 from SAY (Salisbury as was) to VFA (Victoria Falls as is) for a sightseeing day trip, complete with wing downs over the falls - first one side then t'other so all could have a good view. Then landing and a ground trip to the lip of the falls, lunch at the Vic Falls Hotel, then a short trip on the Zambezi above the falls and back to SAY - what a fabulous day that was for a 14 year old!
But at LHR, I must have had about ten round trips to IOM on the Viscount before they went out of service. As I recall, that route was the last one operated in the UK by the type? The short runway at Ronaldsway was what kept them in service and the 146 was the best replacement, with it's descendant RJs still operating daily into IOM but from 'another place'.