Fri 3 May
We were called at 0545 and, after more prolonged immigration & customs formalities, we were airborne at 0800. Breakfast (cereals, omelettes and bacon, rolls and marmalade) had been brought from the hotel in thermos containers – just as well because the turbulence would have made cooking a real problem on this leg. Despite the weather we saw a bit of Corsica and Monte Cristo and landed on Lake Bracciano, about 20 miles from Rome. My mother remarked that the lake was “so pretty, with an old town on a hill behind the landing stage”. My memories are that we were closely escorted by a surly bunch of armed sentries and that the atmosphere was hostile. I believe we were the last BOAC flight through Rome before Italy declared war. The weather was the excuse, but I recall from crew gossip that it was the atmosphere at Rome that decided the captain to overfly Brindisi, our next scheduled stop, and press on to Corfu. Out of L. Bracciano we climbed to 15,000 ft to avoid the worst of the turbulence. Being unpressurised we were made to lie back in our fully-reclining seats and blankets were issued, the C Class heating being rudimentary. We descended to contact again over the Adriatic and I remember the spectacular approach through the straits to Corfu, with weather and high ground all around us. The turbulence was quite vicious and the sight and smell of vomit all round drove me to the promenade deck where I hung onto the rail like grim death until the steward sent me back to my seat with a flea in my ear. We only touched at Corfu for 20 mins and then battled on through the Ionian islands and up the Gulf of Corinth. By now some of the passengers were becoming quite exhausted with airsickness and I felt sorry for my sister, which probably did nothing to help her. The weather cleared for our landing at Piraeus and the captain did a wide circuit over the historic sites. It was a mystery to us how the Captain got ashore and to the hotel; he never shared the launch and bus with the passengers and crew members. Imperial Captains were God-like creatures and I presume he walked ashore. We stayed at the Hotel Grande Bretagne, of course, in Constitution Square – as much of a legend in those days.as Raffles and Shepherds. Mum says “we strolled out and saw the university. The garden squares were floodlit for a flower show and the shops were full of gorgeous flowers.”
Saturday 4 May
We were called at 0600 and taken sight-seeing to the Acropolis and the Temple of Minerva and Jupiter. I remember it was a glorious sunny Spring morning and when we took off at 0900 the air was smooth and vis unlimited. We touched down briefly at Mirabella Bay, Crete, but I do not remember being taken aboard the company yacht Imperia, which was anchored there to service the boats. My whingeing bore fruit, however, and I was invited to the “bridge”and shown the tits & clocks by the First Officer (the Captain was far too “Imperial” to bother with boys). I was told that passengers were NEVER allowed on the bridge in flight. The field of view from the pilots’ seats was fantastic. We landed in Alexandria Harbour at about 1500 (a hell of a days’ flying!) “amid the English and French fleets” (Mum) and had to stay at a rather squalid hotel because the Navy had taken over the Cecil. My mother had friends in town who picked us up and took us for a drive into the delta. According to Frater ‘s “Beyond the Blue Horizon”(written in the '80s with access to Imperial and BOAC archives) it was quite common for the passenger bus in the morning to have to make a round of the red light district to pick up male passengers who had never made it back to the Cecil. And in another book on the era it was mentioned that, approaching Alex, the steward would discreetly take bookings for one of the more notorious “night clubs”. The company’s clientèle was mainly senior officials, judges, generals, business men (box-wallahs!) and their Memsahibs – too blimpish, one might think, to sign up for that sort of live show. Evidently the camaraderie engendered by the journey relaxed their inhibitions and they were quite unembarassed by the “exhibeeeshes”. I was sheltered from any such rite of passage. My mother notes that a Turkish thrash kept us awake until we were called at 0500.