When I was training at Oxford in 1965 we had the Ambassador simulator there to practice on. It had a computer room the size of the Albert Hall and of course was completely static. Rumour had it that it was the nose of one of the prototypes but I have not been able to find any confirmation of this on the internet. Does anyone know the answer and what happened to it – was it scrapped or is it still in some dusty corner somewhere?
I subsequently joined BKS where several course members were posted to the “Lizzie” fleet in Newcastle and London – I went to the 748 in LBA. Having made my first flight ever in the Lizzie as a schoolboy LHR-JER in 1958 I positioned around the network quite a bit in it for the next 2 years until they were withdrawn from pax service, I was always impressed with the antics of the F/O who had to leap out of his seat after engine start to pull a large switch on the rear cockpit bulkhead to inflate the door seals to allow pressurization after the aircraft was airborne, presumably in BEA service the R/O did the job?
One of the most comfortable aircraft I have ever traveled in from a passenger point of view.