When I were a mere lad, the Boy's Book of BOAC or whatever it was called was a tremendous insight into the world of the DC-7C, Britannia, Comet 4C and Rolls 707 - with whispers of the new kid in town coming soon, the VC10.
BOAC was the only real airline as far as the general public were concerned and it had tremendous national prestige on the world stage as did its European sibling, BEA. Comet 4B, Trident, Vanguard - all British, of course!
That wan Captains were Kings, as an old 'Baron' told me a few years ago. He left the RAF and started on DC-7Fs, before finishing as a Concorde captain.
He told me how the airline had begun to crumble when 'biscuit salesmen' and 'trick cyclists' (managers and psychobabble recruiters) began to have more say than pilots and crews. How the royal blue and gold of speedbird was turned into cheap 'British' logos and corporate grey suited mediocrity - not just in the flesh, but also in spirit.
How can the former pinnacle of British civil aviation have slithered down to its current state? Well, not under BALPA, that's for sure....
These useless managers need to stand aside and let someone repair the core values before it's too late. Put the 'British' back into ba and stop fart-arsing about with glossy, corporate business weasel-speak and trumped up excuses for systemic incompetence at Waterworld!
A ba recruiter (one of those ridiculous people who lurk at Cranebank) once asked "Which is more important - operations or management". The answer was supposed to be 'management' - but the (well briefed) chap who was asked said "Well, if management is crap, you might go bust. If operations are crap, you will probably kill people. Any airline whose managers don't accept that is an airline I don't want to fly with or for. So, goodbye!"