Death Cruiser Flight Crew
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Vaucluse, France.
Posts: 613
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
G-ALHK 'Atalanta'
Two people who post to this site have flown on that actual Argonaut, albeit on separate occasions: DUNS-SCOTUS and myself.
My flight on 'HK was on the 29th/30th June 1956, LHR (North Side) - Tripoli - Kano - Accra. The takeoff was indeed unlike those of today, with bags of noise from those four Merlins, a fairly sedate acceleration, and an almost imperceptible impression of becoming airborne. Yes, the houses were definitely getting smaller, and we were off on the seven hour sector to Tripoli!
The fact that a sister Argonaut - G-ALHE - had crashed on takeoff from Kano five days earlier, with loss of life, was kept from me, an eleven year old unaccompanied minor, flying out to my parents in Accra from boarding school. I could hear the sound of those Merlins, and feel the motion of the aircraft, for two or three days afterwards.
There was a plaque to commemorate Atalanta's historic part in bringing the new Queen home, and this is where DUNS' memory differs from mine. He recollects that it was in the main entrance area - which doubled as the galley - and mine is that it was mounted on the bulkhead in the semi-circular cocktail lounge at the rear of the aircraft.