BOAC to the Caribbean

[pax britanica]

Mrs PB was watching an Agatha Christie's Miss Marple episode on SkY today set in Barbados in the 60s. My earlierst flights were UK to Barbados and it made me recall a wide variation of a/c types and routes over just a few years
Via JFK 747 /VC10
Via BDA 707-300
Direct 707-300
Direct SV10

It also set me wondering how BOAC flew to the eastern caribbean before this time in the early 70s because I don' think the RR engined 707s or Comets could make it non stop.

Anyone know how they would have got there in the 60s?

I also went to Bermuda many times and IIRC there was a BOAC shuttle from JFK to Bermuda as well

PB

[arem]

I started with BOAC in 1967 and at that time the carib ie BGI POS was served over Bermuda with the 707-436's -lots of nav time LHR-BDA and vv for those of us doing our Flt Nav licence

BDA was also served over JFK as was MBJ/KIN and NAS - the MBJ/KIN was under an Air Jamaica Flight number

At some stage the VC-10 served BGI etc over JFK and later the 707-336C/B did the non-stop ANU/BGI and onwards to CCS/BOG.CLX although these latter stations were served over JFK/KIN for some time with 707-400's.

BOAC were very fond of rotating aircraft types on these routes every couple of years

[gruntie]

In Dr No (1958) James Bond travelled to Jamaica on a Comet. As Ian Fleming resided in Jamaica, presumably it was, maybe, based on fact. But was the Comet around at the time?

[treadigraph]

I take it that it's a Comet in the book Gruntie? In the film it's a Pan Am 707, but I suspect that may have been product placement by Cubbie Broccolli! Mmmmm, Ursula Andress...

[Warmtoast]

In Dr No (1958) James Bond travelled to Jamaica on a Comet.

As this 1957 BOAC ad shows services to Bermuda were flown by Stratocruisers.

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/BOACBermuda1957.jpg

Given 007's fondness for bedding females at the slightest opportunity. An overnight flight to to Bermuda in a bed-equipped Stratocruiser woud have probably qualified him to be a founder member of the mile-high club!

[411A]

Ahhh, Stratocruisers, quite an aeroplane.
I flew 'em for awhile...one of the few aeroplanes (other than the DC-7) that would sometimes run out of oil before the fuel was gone.
FD built for comfort, though.
And, fast...300 knots TAS was possible, although usually flown slower for fuel economy.

[WHBM]

I have no record of the Comet 4s (introduced late 1958) serving any North Atlantic route other than the pioneering days to New York with a fuel stop. They were Africa/Asia medium-haul aircraft for routes with lots of stops.

Routing in the 1960s to Barbados etc was through either Bermuda or New York. This latter was used a lot. The VC10/707 split to the Caribbean varied over time but it was common to use the 707 through Bermuda and the VC10 through New York.

Before the 707 came along it was indeed the Stratocruiser. The routing to the Eastern Caribbean in 1956 was London-Gander-Montreal-Bermuda-Barbados-Port of Spain, likewise on from Bermuda to Jamaica. Some flights skipped Montreal, which does indeed seem an awful long way round.

[captain.speaking]

Don'y forget the Britannia - services in Summer 1959 from LHR to BGI/POS
were Britannia 300 via BDA [ LHR/BDA scheduled 12.15 block time ] twice weekly, and the KIN/MBJ route was via JFK and BDA or NAS three times per week.

[Jhieminga]

I have no record of the Comet 4s (introduced late 1958) serving any North Atlantic route other than the pioneering days to New York with a fuel stop. They were Africa/Asia medium-haul aircraft for routes with lots of stops.
According to Charles Woodley's 'BOAC, an illustrated history' (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0752431617/ref=ase_alittlevc10de-21/) the Comet 4 was used on routes to South America from 1960 on. Also in that year the Comet route to New York was extended to Nassau and Montego Bay. This was short lived as later that year Britannias took over that route.

[Hussar 54]

Would I be right in thinking that in the 60's BOAC ( or was it BOAC - CUNARD ? ) used to operate a MAN > JFK service which continued on down into Sth America ( Guyana, perhaps ? )

And slightly off topic, but certainly remember that at the same time, there used to be a SABENA service which stopped in MAN on its westbound to JFK, but I can't remember if it stopped at MAN eastbound....Any ideas why the MAN stopover ? Wouldn't have thought it was for refuelling, so did they have Fifth Freedom rights on that particular service even though BOAC were flying the route ?

[WHBM]

There were a number of European operators who stopped off in the UK in the early jet days of the 1960s. We recently had a discussion here about the SAS daily DC8 service from Prestwick to New York, coming through from Copenhagen. There were others as well.

These rights stemmed from the prop aircraft days, when rights had been negotiated to pick up passengers at the transatantic refuelling stops. Carriers carried on into the jet era as they hoped to pick up extra revenue. BOAC were the same, stopping at Frankfurt, Zurich, etc on the way to Asia. With time it became unprofitable to do so and they faded away.

Yes for part of the 1960s the BOAC transatlantic services were branded as BOAC-Cunard. Cunard (Queen Mary/Elizabeth ships) had got into an arrangement with British Eagle in the early 1960s and bought some 707s for transatlantic/Caribbean routes, things got mired in licence difficulties with the USA, BOAC saw their chance and offered a better deal to Cunard who went for it. If I were British Eagle I would say I was shafted. The main benefit to BOAC was it rid them of a potential significant competitor.

I did once hear that a number of the more senior stewards on BOAC had transferred from Cunard as the shipping sde ran down, there being some staffing arrangement.

[renfrew]

Yes,there were some really weird routings.
For example in 1971, BA537 Manchester/Prestwick/New York/Antigua/Barbados/Trinidad/Georgetown.
I don't think there would have been much demand for Prestwick/Georgetown!

[The SSK]

Schedules would change from one season to the next, but a recurring pattern was that one of the daily LHR–JFK services (the 505) would continue down to Jamaica (MBJ/KIN) via Bahamas (FPO/NAS) while the 537 MAN/PIK/JFK would continue on to the E. Caribbean (Barbados, Trinidad), some continuing to Lima. They would connect in JFK for passengers to transfer one to the other..There would also be a frequent ANU/BGI/POS service via Bermuda, continuing to either Georgetown or Bogota/Caracas. Plus other bits and pieces to/through BDA/Bahamas/Jamaica and on to Mexico.

There was also a Bermuda-Miami shuttle connecting with the London flights, since at that time LON-MIA was not in the UK-US bilateral.

And a very exotic Qantas flight (QF581) on a Saturday which went London – Bermuda – Nassau – Mexico City – Acapulco – Papeete – Nandi – Sydney. I used to check it in occasionally, and passengers (often on emigrant tickets) would ask what the routing was, you would see their eyes getting wider with every stop.

[DCDriver]

BOAC-Cunard 707-436 at BGI in Feb 1965
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d197/dcdriver/BGI04.jpg

and a 707-465 in March 1967
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d197/dcdriver/BGI02.jpg

[pax britanica]

Thanks to all for the interesting recollections in reponse to my question.

I imagine then that reliable non stop LHR-BGI only came with the 707 -336 all the others stopping in Bermuda . I know the SV10 could do LHR-BGI because I flew back on one but often not with a full load as I got bumped off one. I had wondered in the Britannia which had quite long range was able to make it but seemingly not.

I didnt know there was a BDA- MIA shuttle, there was definatelya bda-jfk shuttle but BDA -MIA was never a popular route as unlike the Caribbean islands Bermudas natural links were to NYC and Boston

Anyway, very kind of people to share some thoughts and for the nice 707pics. Thats how an airport should look isnt it , one plane and you walk through a mini avenue of Oleanders in bloom to get to it.

PB

[WHBM]

Was the Bermuda-Miami sector not always routed through Nassau/Freeport ? And didn't the flight number change at the Bahamas stop ?

Here's the complete BOAC timetable for 1962 :

http://timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/ba62/

and here's the Caribbean services page directly :

http://timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/ba62/ba62-11.jpg

[ZFT]

WHBM,


If I were British Eagle I would say I was shafted. The main benefit to BOAC was it rid them of a potential significant competitor.




Oh we were shafted - well and truly.

(An ex British Eagle) ZFT

[The SSK]

Was the Bermuda-Miami sector not always routed through Nassau/Freeport ? And didn't the flight number change at the Bahamas stop ?

Yes, you're right. Was working from part 2 of a Summer 69 ABC - all the routing details are in the other part. Four weekly BA674 MIA-NAS or MIA-FPO, connecting with the BA672 to LHR via BDA.

I worked during the 1970s in the planning office for Western Routes (US & Canada). There was also an Eastern Routes and a Southern Routes (Latin America plus Africa). The Eastern and Western guys saw a lot of each other but the Southern Routes people were seldom to be seen, they worked night and day dreaming up new complications to their schedules, particularly the Caribbean ones.

[WHBM]

ZFT :

Thanks for the interesting confirmation; my only knowledge on this is as a business analysis guy (day job) and airline history buff (evenings/weekends) looking at it 45 years after the event.

Harold Bamberg was probably equally as good at shafting others for his own benefit as well, which would be how Eagle was built up. It's dog eat dog out there.

[ZFT]

It's only 40 years since the demise!! November 1968.

Harold Bamberg may well of had his faults but British Eagle was a very, very interesting and pleasant environment to work in.

I don't know anyone who looks back with anything other than fond memories.

The demise was a direct result of the Labour government cancelling the Bermuda license days before the annual loan to get us through the quite winter season.

Unfortunately, it worked.

[WHBM]

I don't know anyone who looks back with anything other than fond memories.
Oh, I do

About 3 weeks before the shutdown, autumn 1968, as a teenager, I flew with Eagle from Liverpool to London on One-Eleven G-ATPI. Alas I left my hat (like John Lennon used to have, latest fashion, apparently extremely expensive - well, for the time) in the seatback pocket. My mother hopped up and down about the loss no end, I was actually in correspondence with whatever passed for a lost property office at Eagle when they went under. It took about a year until its loss was "mentioned" for the last time.

ZFT, you don't happen to know where my hat is, do you ? :)

[b377]

As a very young boy ( hence my hazy recollection) I flew with my parents to London in above years. I was fortunate to get from this thread a 1962 time table (thanks!) which listed the very Britannia flight we took from Bogota to London and back in our June to Sept 1961 holiday. Great! (age 7+)

However the 1958 & 1964 flights are not so clear. The outbound flight in March 1958 was rather convoluted ( for varoius good reasons) via NY having flown from Barranquilla, Colombia on Avianca to Montego Bay then connecting there on to NY, on what I presume was by Pan Am, then by BOAC Stratocruiser to London. The return was more direct to Montego Bay from London ( with a refuelling stop at Bermuda I pressume) again to connect with the Avianca Super Constellation service to Barranquilla. ( age 4+ )

The July 1964 trip started in Barranquilla, via Pan Am DC-6B to Kingston where we took a BOAC B-707 flight to London via Montego Bay. However the 1962 time table does not show a more direct 707 route from Kingston to London, all shown are via NY, so I pressume the '64 routes had changed by then to exclude the NY stop on some shedules. I'm quite sure that Bermuda was not a stop in that flight but went straight from Montego Bay to London for a quite early AM arrival.

btw, the return trip was by ship at my mothers request (!) from Southampton to Cartagena (via Spain and Canarys)

If any one can help me with the detail of the 1958 and 1964 time tables I would be grately appreciative.

many thanks to all.

[Cornerstone958]

As a young lad I flew to the Caribbean accompanied by Mother & Brother by BOAC Connie from Heathrow staging through the Azores Bermuda to Jamaca in 1953 returning by BOAC Stratocruser from Jamaca staging through Bermuda Newfoundland to Heathrow in 1956. Happy Days!:)

[b377]

" As this 1957 BOAC ad shows services to Bermuda were flown by Stratocruisers."

Bermuda was a mandatory refueling stop for Strats and Britannias for all BOAC services to Caribbean not via JFK.( later, jets were OK without the stop)

Bogota, BOG was later (from late 60s) served by VC10s and 707s but all flights refueled in Caracas before the, presumably, nonstop oceanic crossing to back to LDN. Much later (70s thru Mid 80s) BCal served that same route with DC-10-30, with same stop at Caracas although the DC10 could do trip non-stop perfectly well. One reason is that BOG ibeing near 10,000 feet alt takeoff weight (max fuel with max payload) was a problem, so refueling at carcas at sea level was the solution.

In mid 80s BA re-acquired that exact route but with 747s (due to BCal take over by BA ?) until its very last flight to BOG in Feb 2005. A big shame as it was a very convenient service to BOG from UK. I never found out the real reason why BA stopped serving BOG after so many years.

Any offers?

Ofcourse 747s do the direct BOG-LDN easily, as can the 777, 767, and Air Bus 340, 330.

[Speedbird48]

My first trip with BOAC after joining them, from East African, was a 707-436, LHR, JFK,(overnight), Freeport,Montego Bay, Kingston. We missed Kingston as we had overheated brakes in Mo' Bay and stayed the night there, before going to Kingston the next morning.

That was the only time I ever went to Freeport until after I retired.

There were many combinations of the flights to the islands as they changed every April and October, with the summer and winter timetables, as did the types of aircraft.

Speedbird 48

[Speedbird48]

Sorry Guys'

I forgot to post the year??

Summer, June onwards 1971.

Speedbird 48.

[Tim Zukas]

"The outbound flight in March 1958 was rather convoluted ( for varoius good reasons) via NY having flown from Barranquilla, Colombia on Avianca to Montego Bay then connecting there on to NY, on what I presume was by Pan Am, then by BOAC Stratocruiser to London."

The 2/58 OAG shows Avianca leaving Barranquilla 1230 XWe, Kingston arr 1430 lv 1445, MBJ arr 1515. No BOAC to IDL until the following day; I'll check on PA.

(Turns out PA didn't fly Jamaica to NY; probably your only choices were Avianca or a BOAC DC-7C or a "BOAC" Viscount.)

"The July 1964 trip started in Barranquilla, via Pan Am DC-6B to Kingston where we took a BOAC B-707 flight to London via Montego Bay."

6/64 OAG shows PA 458 DC-7C Friday only lv Barranquilla 1130 arr KIN 1325-- no other PA flights on that route. Only one weekly BOAC (operated by BOAC-Cunard) doesn't go to NY, and conveniently for you that flight leaves KIN at 1400 Fr.

MBJ arr 1430 lv 1500
NAS arr 1620 lv 1705
BDA arr 2005 lv 2050
LHR arr 0820

[b377]

Great info many thanks indeed.

Regarding our 1958 trip:

Looking at my mother's passport, we left B/quilla on Avianca flight 670 on 25 March 1958. I presume arrival in Jamaica ( BWI) was in Montego Bay as that was the Avianca route which continued to NY.

Why we did not continue with flight had to do with my sister and I being ill ( throat infections) and grounded in Jamaica until 27/3/58 whence we continued to NY probably because of no BOAC flights available on that date.

I recall getting a lot of Pan Am presents on that flight to NY ( sheriff star badge, etc) so I presume it was Pan Am but I take your point that Pan Am did not serve M/Bay. We arrived North Terminal, Heathrow on 29/3/58 after one night stop in NY. i.e. flew by BOAC Statocruiser on 28/3/58. My take is that arriving at North terminal implies it was a BOAC flight from NY?

Our return trip in 1958, my mother's passpot shows an 'embarked' stamp dated 24 May 1958 London airport flying by BOAC to Jamaica, and arrived Ba/quilla Avianca flight 671 on 25 May 1958 from M/Bay I presume.


Your info re 1964 707 flight makes sense although I do not remember the interim stops perhaps I was asleep - I've always thought it was a direct flight to Ldn.

many thanks

[Tim Zukas]

You could have left MBJ on Pan Am, but they would have taken you to Miami and you would have changed airlines there to continue to NY.

The only direct MBJ-IDL flights on Thursday 27 March 1958 (according to the 2/58 OAG) were the Avianca L1049 that left at 1600 and arrived IDL at 2135, and the it-says-BOAC Viscount that left at 1345, stopped NAS 1535 to 1605, and arrived IDL 2020. The B377 to LHR left IDL at 1700 daily.

[b377]

Very interesting indeed.

Regarding the flight from MBJ to NY (which I had always thought was by Pan Am) I was wondering if (given the fact that Pan Am partly owned Avianca in those days and many Avianca planes were ex Pan Am inventory), they operated complementary services and probably covered each other so perhaps our flight to NY was in a Pan Am cover flight? This is rather far fetched though.

OTOH if we did travel to NY by Avianca L1049 then the provenence of all the Pan Am goodies are a mistery. Our flight to London from NY was by BOAC B377 as far as I know, but I do not rule out the possibility that we flew on a Pan Am Stratocruiser instead. I wish I had more clues.

One way or another our Stratocuiser flights were at the end of an Era as I have read that BOAC had phased them all out by 1959.

[kala87]

A fascinating thread. Rather off-thread but here goes:

WHBM: Any chance of posting a BOAC summer 1958 timetable as you did for the Oct. 1962 timetable? We lived in Sudan in 1958-61 and a good night out in those days was to have dinner on the roof terrace at Khartoum airport. I recall BOAC Britannias and Comet 4's, SAA DC7B's, Alitalia and KLM DC6B's, Air Liban and Ethiopian DC6B's, plus many others. I recall the first BOAC Comet 4 arriving on the inaugural London-Jo'burg run, some time in 1959 I think. The clientele in the roof top restaurant stood up and clapped as it landed. KRT was quite an interesting airport in those days as virtually every Europe-East and South Africa flight seemed to stop there.

We flew from KRT to Cairo via with refuelling stop at Port Sudan on a Sudan Airways DC3 on one occasion, and yours truly (aged 9) was invited to sit in the right hand seat and make a few gentle turns! My first flying lesson! No-one I told thought much of it at the time.

We also flew KRT-Wadi Halfa-Benghazi-Rome-Gatwick in a Transair Viscount 800 in May 1959. The tarmac was melting at Benghazi, with the result that the pax trod sticky tarmac all over the new carpet, much to the disgust of the hostie. Gatwick was very new, and I believe we were one of the first aircraft to use the new terminal. While refuelling at Rome, the inaugural commercial Caravelle flight passed through, Air France, routing Paris-Rome-Athens-Istanbul.

Maybe I should start a Khartoum 1950's thread with this posting?

[Hussar 54]

And another little bit off from the orginal thread....

I remember one time I was in JNB in the 70's ( or might have been the 60's or even the 80's - too many miles on the clock ) and I saw a VC10 operating from JNB to TYO or might have been HKG....

Was this a scheduled service ?

If so, what about Traffic Rights ? And Crew Deployment ? And where was the refuelling stop ?

[Flightwatch]

I used to operate various parts of this flight in the late 80s on a 741. At the time is was the longest air route in the world routing LHR-ANC-TYO-HKG-CMB-SEZ (or was it MRU?)-JNB and v.v. As there were other services to all the various stops the crews did only part of the trip. I remember doing the NRT-HKG bit and HKG-CMB and vv. I also remember operating CMB-SEZ?-JNB and then returning via NBO to LHR. By the time I did it there were only 2 services a week and it stopped soon afterwards.

There were full traffic rights on all sectors (except, I guess, for the tech stop in ANC).

[renfrew]

These services operated for quite a while,something like 1975-84,with a mixture of VC10/707/747.I doubt if many in this country knew they existed.

In 1983 it was a 747 JNB/SEZ/CMB/HKG/OSA/NRT/ANC/LHR.
I flew on the HKG/LHR portion that year and remember a very long flight.We sat in ANC for 3 hours as a favourable wind would have put us in LHR in the middle of the night.

[pax britanica]

Back in the 707 VC10 days I belie this was quite a complex exercise to get the plane and crews in the right place at the right time. I believe but am not certain that on the VC 10 it was a LHR-HKG aircraft that went on from HK to Japan and then flew back down the rout e described to Jo Burg and back to HK where it was inserted back into the LHR -HK schedule. As someone mentioned I think it only operated two days per week and the crews slipped in Sez on the southern leg and then operated a SEZ-JNG and return had another layover and then returned to HK. HK-Japan was another there and back shuttle.
I am reasonable sure about this as I was lucky enough to meet up with a BOAC Steward who was part of a crew I met up with n the mid east a couple of years earlier and helped them survive a dreary layover in Qatar though use of my car and access to alcohol. I found myself promptly moved up front on the HK London section and had a very nice trip for the period that crew was on board. During that period he told me he had been n the run down to Joburg and had enjoyed several nice days in the Seychelles Of course in those days there would have been a couple or more stops between LHR and HK.
I also had a friend who was 707 pilot who told me it was a popular trip being quite a long one with nice layovers in interesting laces and a break from some f the more routine trips he did across the Atlantic
Not 100% sure of the facts but I think I am partly right and it was a truly unusual if not unique and wonderfully romantic sounding air link. Over time I managed to get to all the places it called at except Colombo but never used the actual route itself.
PB

[Saltykettle]

BOAC was operating the service from Heathrow to the West Indies via Bermuda from 1963 at least, as I flew to and fro in their "Rolls-Royce" 707s as a schoolboy.They were in fact the 707-436, a R-R version of one of the other Series that Boeing built. Bermuda was the compulsory re-fuelling stop, and from that hub they served Kingston, Montego Bay, Mexico City, Port of Spain, Antigua, and no doubt others. We usually left London at 1615 local, arriving at TXKF in the early evening. From my point of view, departures from Bermuda for London were at 23.59, so how they got to say, Kingston and back in time I'm not too sure! From about 1964 the VC-10 and Super VC-10s appeared on the route as well.

[Bergerie1]

Reading the last 2 posts by Pax Britanica and Saltykettle made me get my old log books out. I was lucky enough to fly VC10s from 1964 to '78 and many people have asked me which were my favourite routes. Two come to mind, the Caribbean ones via New York and Nassau or via Bermuda and on to Montego Bay, Kingston and Lima, or Port of Spain, or Mexico City.

But perhaps my favourite of all was the triangular Indian Ocean route. The crew itinerary varied but typically went something like this:- London - the Gulf (Bahrain, Dhahran, Abu Dhabi or Dubai) - Colombo - Hong Kong - Colombo - Seychelles - Jo'burg - Blantyre - Dar es Salaam - Khartoum - London. Or the other way round flying down through Africa via Addis Ababa to Jo'burg and then across to the Seychelles - Colombo - Hong Kong and back to London via India and the Middle East.

This trip took about 10 days and covered a marvellous variety of aeronautical interest - high altitude airfields, the monsoon in India, flying through and parallel to the ITCZ, the narrow runway at Blantyre, African ATC!! and of course Hong Kong itself. And if done in winter often some snowy or icy weather at London. Altogether a delightful mixture of cultural and flying enjoyment - and we had time off to do things unlike today's rat race.

[BOAC]

How did you all know? Yes, I was there a couple of weeks ago.:)

[Brit312]

My memory of BOAC to the Caribbean was there was no definate route,or at least they kept changing, except that to Barbados, so I looked up my log book and here goes

28/06/69-- New York--Mo Bay-- Kingston --Lima
Off Chocks to On chocks 10hrs and 02 minutes and 3 sectors

06/09/69--- LHR --Antigua return Antigua -- Bermuda-- London

14/08/70---LHR--Barbados [crew slip] --Bardados-- Caracus-- Bogota

27/04/74---LHR-- Bermuda [crew slip]--Bermuda--Kingston-- Panama.

All the above operated by Super VC-10

In those days New York was a big hub for BOAC with flights to the Caribbean -The west coast and Pacific- and Bermuda

[WHBM]

In those days New York was a big hub for BOAC with flights to the Caribbean -The west coast and Pacific- and Bermuda
It was indeed - part of the reason why BA built their own terminal there. A Trivial Pursuit type question is what were the first two BA 747 routes when they came in during 1971. No 1 was Heathrow to New York, which is fairly obvious, No 2, started just days later was New York to Bermuda.

[pax britanica]

Yes BOAC Caribbean trips were very very varied -as reflected by the wonderful old style timetable which listed every possible stopping point and only put times in on the days planes stopped making it quite complicated.
My very first trip (sub load) was LHR-JFK-ANU-BAR , we couldn’t get on the direct Super VC10 to BAR due headwinds limiting load. So it was JFK in late November and change to a Standard VC10 for the trip south .Cannot remembers a BDA stop but there might have been.
A year later we made the outbound direct I think on a 707 300 but returning it was back on the VC10 via ANU to JFK and a 747 home. Seemed a wonderful variety of ways to get there. A little later I did BDA direct from LHR and then via JFK and remembered for many years BOAC operated a shuttle 747 down from Kennedy to Kindley Field presumably as an add on from a LHR-JFK trip. Crew scheduling must have been a nightmare.

Going back to the Indian Ocean the previous poster who actually flew rather than flew on these routes mentions the great variations on those trips and I clearly remember a trip which I think many aspects of just could not happen today. I had to do a business trip to Seychelles and Mauritius-well yes someone had to.
VC10 from London via Cyprus –Khartoum (39c at 0500 Landing ) –Addis Ababa 90 mins south and 10c at 0730 and on to Seychelles. A few days there and turn up to go to Mauritius-board a slightly delayed 747 (iIIRC two BOAC flights a week one VC10 one 747) . Three hours later still on the ground flight is cancelled due to engine problems requiring engine . This was Monday noon and we finally depart Thursday at 2 pm. 2 weeks in Mauritius and a Kenya airways 707 to Nairobi for a couple of days and then another BA747 which is delayed about ten hours but resulted in a fascinating daytime Nairobi London flight with fabulous views . So something likes 3 and half days of delays . 3 intermediate stops two in rather odd places and 4 aircraft types as one standard and one super VC10. Flying was more civilised then for sure but the wheels really could come off badly if you ended up with a problem in these once or twice a week places. Sorry about a bit of thread drift but something of a common theme of BOAC/BA Long haul in the 70s
PB

[WHBM]

Three hours later still on the ground flight is cancelled due to engine problems requiring engine ...... another BA747 which is delayed about ten hours ..... Long haul in the 70s
PB
Ah, the joys of the early JT9Ds. They even needed to have a standby aircraft at JFK for the inaugural, first ever 747 flight, by Pan Am - and it had to be used !