Course 31 students
Much of the following is guesswork, so if you know better don't hesitate to challenge or expand it by post or PM...
Safien Desa and Grenville Ess were sponsored by MSA (Malaysia-Singapore Airlines), which had just been formed from Singapore-based Malayan Airways and Borneo Airways. In 1972, MSA split into what are now Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines. Desa and Ess continued their long careers in Malaysia and Singapore respectively.
M.C. Cheong and O.S. Tan are likely also to have been MSA-sponsored, as is S. Verghese. However, any firm information would be appreciated!
The remaining students were all BUA-sponsored, destined (as was normal at that time) to be detached to associate companies operating propellor-driven types. Except for about three Viscounts, BUA mainline was an all-jet fleet of VC10s and BAC 1-11s based at Gatwick, and - unlike BEA and BOAC - operated with only one, full-time co-pilot in each cockpit. (It was not until the late 1970s that BUA's successor-airline, BCAL, was prepared to place cadets straight out of flying school on to the right-hand seat of a One-Eleven; there being no smaller aircraft available.)
Cordery, Hoyle, Nicholson, and Tyler went to BUAF at Lydd, Southend or Southampton; initially on Bristol 170s. Birkbeck and Preston went to British United (Manx) Airways at Blackpool on Dakotas or Dart Heralds. Flack, Davis and Chatfield went to BUA (CI) Ltd at Jersey on Dart Heralds. Mark Carpenter went to Morton Air Services at Gatwick on Herons and (later) Dakotas - the first cadet to go there.
Detached co-pilots expected to spend about three years cutting their teeth operating multi-sector days on the above types. All being well, that would be followed by a transfer to mainline for a One-Eleven course. By the end of 1971, however, the seniority list for BUA's successor airline, BCAL, shows only Cordery, Hoyle, Birkbeck and Carpenter. Nicholson and Preston seem to have left voluntarily and gone to BOAC and Cathay Pacific respectively. Flack, Davis and Chatfield had been made redundant when BUA(CI) at Jersey was closed down by the Bristow purge **, despite only being there on detachment. Nigel soon began a new career at Cathay Pacific. Ted flew in Africa for a while, and then landed a job with BOAC.
** 1968/9 was a tumultuous time for the financially-ailing BUA Group. The owners had appointed Alan Bristow as group MD, tasked with steering it to profitability. He decided to de-unionise the companies, starting with the flight crews. (F/Es and BUA's specialist Navs were not in BALPA.) Crews in all the companies were invited to sign personal contracts, or be made redundant. The strikes that followed were well-supported; most of all in Jersey, where it was also particularly acrimonious. Bristow also closed BU(Manx) and Morton's, pilots being offered personal contracts with the replacement airline: BUIA. Although no two cases were identical, much of the dispersal of BUA ex-cadets to other airlines between 1968 and 1970 can be attributed wholly or partly to these events.
Last edited by Chris Scott; 5th Jan 2019 at 16:47.
Reason: Nick Davis's Jersey posting added