BOAC B707 ops in the 1960s

[ExSp33db1rd]

I can confirm the answers given by Hobo and Airclues.

I joined BOAC in 1958 as a pilot, but was required to train for the Flight Navigator Licence, this started with 9 months classroom work to gain the Flt. Nav. exams, then flying training took place on the Boeing 377 "Stratocruiser" on West African Routes, and then I moved to the Britannia 312 flight, where I eventually gained my Flt. Nav. Licence tho' some went to the Brit. 102 and the Comet which were operating at the same time. Although initially rostered for the Brit. 312 East African routes, I eventually "graduated" to the Atlantic, flying to the USA and Canada, and the Caribbean.

In 1961 I was posted to the 707 fleet, to become P.3 /Nav. BALPA had negotiated an agreement that there should be 3 pilots on every flight deck, and BOAC decided to amalgamate the new Second Officer/P3 position with that of the Navigator, and being unwilling to re-train the older 'straight' navs. as pilots, my group were told that our move to co-pilot would be delayed, and eventually combined into navigation duties as well.

On joining the 707 fleet I was initially sent to Honolulu for 3 months ( times were hard ! ) to be navigator on the San Francisco/Honolulu/Tokyo v.v. sectors, and on return to UK was then sent for co-pilot training, after which I operated every flight as either the P.3./Nav. or the co-pilot (P.2) We normally decided between ourselves who would navigate "out" and who "home", and I almost never flew a trip solely as either one or the other after that.

During my time on the 707 I was appointed a Navigation Instructor and as well as introducing new young pilots to the Dark Art of navigation, in this role I was often rostered as one of the 2 navigators carried on the Polar Route to Anchorage, the Nav. Instr. being solely occupied in making frequent course checks with the sextant to assess the drift error and precession of the aircraft compasses before they were switched out of North seeking mode into Gyro Heading mode for the transit of the Polar Regions. It was during this time that I became proficient at Grid Navigation across the Pole.

I finally made my last flight as a Navigator in 1974, and was then promoted to 707 Captain, and shortly afterwards 747 Captain - where I had to forget all my Astro formula and start to learn about INS !!.

My recollection is that the last of the old "straight" navigators flew about 1962/3 tho' some of them were retained in the Nav. Office as check Navigators for our annual theory re-examination.

Although a fix by Loran, or ADF or Consol was required every 20 minutes, if navigating solely by Astro, as occasionally happened, then the requirement was extended to 30 minutes.

I'm sure the track separation was 60 nm. i.e. one degree of Latitude, but I have a recollection that was between aircraft of opposite direction, so that aircraft flying in the same direction would be 120 nm apart, but I could be wrong on that - it is some 45 years since I last had to do it !

It was a requirement to cross the ADIZ - Air Defence Identification Zone - around the USA within 10 nm either side of track, i.e. a 20 nm "window" at a specified point know as a "fish point" i.e. all the positions, which would now be known as "waypoints" were named after fish, and the one we used most when approaching New York was "Tuna".

The Weather Ships were of limited use for navigation, tho' we did use their NDB for bearings sometimes, and they were also occasionally able to give us a position from their radar, we mostly spoke to them to pass position reports, them having reasonable VHF reception as opposed to the more usual HF Comms. that we had to use.

The Captains rarely used the HF, leaving that unenviable task to the co-pilot, but one once offered to help his co-pilot by passing the 40 West position to Ocean Station Charlie, as that nearby ship was called. Unfortunately that particular gentleman had a bad speech impediment, and he stammered his message embarrassingly slowly .... Ocean Sttayshunn Cchchcharlie, this is is Speespeespeedbird 509 etc. and ended with Chchchcharlie diddid you cccopy?

A languid American voice came straight back with ....... jeez, did we copy, we’ve carved it into the f***ing deck !!

Sometimes the Weather Ships would ask to talk to the stewardesses, and I know that at least once they held a "Beauty Contest" amongst all the airline girls that passed by and spoke to them, and those girls willing to pass out their "Vital Statistics" were put into a draw, and the winner was given a trip to Boston, where the US Coastguard Base for weather ships was, and a few days sightseeing ( amongst other pleasures I guess ! )

A "bonus" of being made to navigate, was that BOAC contracted to keep ones' CPL valid, and as we weren't flying the "big" aeroplanes as co-pilots, they positioned a fleet of Chipmunk aircraft at Croydon, and we were allowed to turn up to fly up to 6 hours every 6 months at BOAC expense, so I have a passing interest in the Croydon Airport thread, as well.

I never wanted to be a Navigator, I was a Pilot for Crissakes, but now I'm glad I did and I occasionally wish I had a sextant to play with from time to time, it took a long time to become proficient, and I guess I could soon pick it up again, but it was very much a "hands on" art, and it is a shame that I no longer need it. Also, as a 20 something young man, there was a certain pleasure to be enjoyed in knowing that for a few hours over the Atlantic, you were the ony b*gger who ever really knew where we all were ! That sometimes needed a few fingers to be crossed tho', day trips to Bermuda when the Loran was down, and the only positive was an occasional single Sun line concentrated the mind a little - and the Brit. was occasionally below cloud - and I seriously considered Chichesters "find the Island" theory sometimes ! Happy Days.

Hope this helps, maybe I should write my own book !