Ahh, Vickers!
My first ever airline flight was in a Vickers Vibrator from Gatwick to Gibraltar with BEA. Mid-week Tourist night flight being the cheapest option; we were going to Gib. as it was inside the Sterling area and got round some stupid government currency restriction....
Delayed at Gatwick due to an air conditioning snag. BEA said we could have a ham or a cheese sandwich, plus coffee or a coke. But not a ham sandwich and a coke unless we paid the extra (about 10d).....
My mother opened one of her duty-free cigarette packs during the wait - and some Himmler-clone from The Revenue pounced and demanded that duty was paid on the opened packet and that the 200 carton should be sealed. About half a crown, I think....
Finally out to the aeroplane, to find no seat allocation - so it took a bit of negotiation for parents to sit with their children. We set off to Gib at a sedate pace; of course a flight deck visit was allowed and I stayed there until top of drop for Gib.
Overnight in Gib, then the ferry to La Linea and a bus to Malaga through quaint little villages such as Marbella, Fuengirola and Torremolinos. Then another bus to the villa we'd booked for our holiday at Almunecar.
Trip back was more fun; my mother had firmly decided that she wasn't going on any more Spanish buses, so the 4 of us went all the way to La Linea in a Seat 600 my father had gone to collect from Granada.
Gib to Gatwick was another late night flight after the trip across the bay from La Linea where we'd dropped the Seiscientos. Of course the inbound passengers knew full well that no seats were pre-allocated, so there was a mad dash across the tarmac to grab the best seats.... We arrived at Gatwick at some early hour in rain and turbulence - then a long drive home to Somerset in the family Zephyr 6 (looong before the days of the M3, of course...and most of the A303 was single carriageway!).
In those days you almost needed a holiday to recover from the holiday. But the Vanguard was immaculate in its BEA markings and the crew were very friendly and welcoming.
Sadly flight deck visits are things of the past too....
Last edited by BEagle; 27th Sep 2016 at 14:45.