I chanced upon this forum today after being given the link to the missing Malaysian 777 thread.
So it was serendipity that I then spotted this thread.
I think it was about 1998 that, as a freelance consultant to BAWC, I was asked to relocate the Atlas/BAWC 747 freighter operations from LGW to STN to free up slots for additional PAX operations into South America.
I seem to recall that there were one or two other aircraft operating out of Africa as well - Lion based in Belgium? - who also got moved to STN.
Whilst negotiating the move with Atlas I recall sitting next to an Atlas director one lunchtime and telling him I had just read about this extraordinary invention the British Navy would be using to power a new aircraft carrier to higher speeds.
It comprised two huge jet engines which, when an aircraft came in to land, would be redirected from propelling the carrier to blast an opposing force of air at the incoming jet to stall it onto the deck thus doing away with the need for the arresting wire.
Pretty cool, eh?
I still laugh at myself now when he explained that he, too, had seen the same article in The Daily Telegraph but had noted the date - April 1.
It was only later that I was told that this guy had once commanded the USS Nimitz - yup . . . only the world's largest aircraft carrier!
Boy, did I feel a dork!!
Anyway, back to BAWC. I thoroughly enjoyed that project [and working with Cargo as I did several projects for them] so I'm disappointed to read what's happened.