It was the night of September 5th/6th 1964 when I boarded an Air France "special" flight to Perpignan by Caravelle "Lorraine". This was a Fourways Travel charter flight leaving the Queen's building at around 2am. I was 20 years of age and on my honeymoon. The flying time was 1 hour 40 minutes.
The return 2 weeks later left Perpignan for Heathrow at around 5am. I remember hearing loud bangs from the engines when the Air-Links Argonaut charter to Manston failed to start and became the subject of a "regret to advise an indefinite delay" announcement. I felt very superior strolling out to board my jet { wow a jet -- just imagine that }.
Dawn had recently broken when we began the approach to runway 28 left at Heathrow. During the flight the Air France Captain had clearly decided to "play with" we British passengers as he had had made several annoucements consisting solely of the words " Dumpy, dumpy, doo " { in an Eccles type voice for those of you who remember The Goons }. Then about 30 seconds before the touch down he called out " Oh No " and gave a jolly laugh ! All we passengers seemed to enjoy the joke and no one screamed or shouted ! I can't imagine such antics would be allowed today --- even when it is a matter of a French crew transporting solely British passengers ! 45 years later the memories are still vivid !
Last edited by Euravia First; 6th Oct 2009 at 20:21.
Reason: correction