Confused
Back in the days...before the merger into British Airways there was BEA and BOAC-those were the days. In BEA most larger a/c were 3 crew. The Trident fleets, Vanguard, possibly another but not the Viscount nor 1-11. They required a 'panel operator' and this was one of the two Co-pilots, trained pretty much as a Flight Engineer. Usually this was leg and leg about. So...man in RHS=P2, man at panel=P3. Next leg they traded places.
BOAC always had a F/E. On 707's, VC10, the Classic 747 and Tristar (L1011). (Also Concorde). (Bye the bye BOAC had a Nav/P3 to play musical chairs with the man in the RHS. Most co-pilots were fully qualified with a Navigator's licence too-another story).
When BOAC/BEA became BA in '74 there was an anomaly where longhaul Tristar's crew complement would be BOAC driven with a F/E whilst those still operating under the BEA/shorthaul aegis would have a three pilot crew. Hence the possible confusion alluded to in the above post(s).
About this time the charter offshoot called British Airtours took on the older Rolls engined ex-BOAC 707-436 and then flew them with three pilots, one being the panel operator, rather than with the F/E that flew in the same seat when the a/c were in BOAC colours. BA Overseas Division, or Long Haul (depending whether there was an R in the month IIRC) continued to fly the PW707-336 worldwide with a dedicated F/E at the (known as) Flight Engineer's panel.
I believe US operators have usually/always gone down the 3 pilot/panel operator route whilst UK had an F/E. This (as someone else has mentioned) was at a time when all longhaul a/c had F/E's. The L1011 didn't sell as well as (say) DC10 as it simply didn't have the legs, until they made it into the -500 and tweaked all manner of other things. Nothing to do with 3 crew. (Probably other reasons too but hey - don't shoot the messenger here).
Phew...got all that. If you're doing multi-choice the answer is (b.
Last edited by Sygyzy; 30th Aug 2011 at 18:12.