Does Rainboe ever sleep? Thanks for correcting my lack of brain/hand co-ordination.
Heathrow Director, When I looked in Google for photos, your excellent link didn't show up, neither did my link to the accident report. Much depends on what you type in as a query, but there are many questions asked on these Forums which can be easily answered faster than typing a post - and can lead to fascinating further information.
The pages you linked to contradict some of what I posted, so I've done some further digging.
With regard to the ownership of the aircraft, it would seem there are a number of contradictions in various media and production lists. The initial deal, in November 1961 was a lease with the aircraft painted in Caledonian colours, SABENA to provide crew training and mixed crewing as required, all maintenance and the lease to be paid for on a usage basis.
In December 1961 the aircraft was in Brussels for work and technically became OO-SFD again, presumably as the lease ended with the adoption of a different arrangement for lease/purchase on a time period rather than usage basis, with SABENA responsible for training and maintenance and Caledonian for operation and crewing. A 1964 DC6/7/7C production list shows the aircraft as purchased in February 1962 and this has been repeated elsewhere but is likely dubious..
Cyril Lord was a UK textile entrepreneur who went spectacularly bankrupt in the late 1960s having become a household name with his cut price carpets.
He chartered Caledonian DC7Cs to fly his workers to and from South Africa where he had set up factories, stripping his Lancashire based operation of both machines and staff. On 23 June 1964, one of these flights set a record when it flew Manchester - Leopoldville non stop (4,100 miles) the longest distance achieved from the then 7,500 ft Manchester runway.
The Lord flights went from both Manchester and Gatwick - but only started in 1963 - and I had confused the accident flight with one of the Gatwick return flights.
In fact CA154 was operated for the Overseas Visitors' Club - a travel organisation which provided the fledgeling airline with much of its business, chartering flights to Southern Africa from both Gatwick and Luxembourg.
The accident left Caledonian aircraftless and its main investor sold out. By April 1962 a new investor, board and aircraft (again from SABENA) were in place.
Over the next 4 years Caledonian leased a number of DC7Cs and 2 DC6s from SABENA but didn't purchase them. It did however purchase the ex BOAC DC7C G-AOIE. It lost one more DC7C, without fatalities at Istanbul in 1964:
ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-7C G-ASID Istanbul