About 1953 as a boy I flew from Singapore to London in a BOAC Argonaut, on 3 occasions we turned back with an engine feathered - once out of Singapore and twice out of Karachi.We also had a departure delayed as the cowlings fell off an engine when the aircraft was ferrying from Kallang airport to Changi military airport - the runway at Kallang was too short for a high weight takeoff.When we finally got out of Singapore the journey took a week!I believe there were 3 engine changes.I think this was about par for the course as nobody seemed to think this flight was unusual in any way.