BOAC menu 1960's

[Tercarley]

Looking through my desk just come across this BOAC 1st class menu:-

Sydney Darwin -4hrs 25 mins
Darwin Singapore - 4hrs 15 mins
Singapore Rangoon - 2hrs 40 min
Rangoon- Delhi- Beirut - 9hrs 45min
Beirut Rome - 3hrs 25mins
Rome - 2hrs 15mins

of course the cocktails are there, Champage, Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Vodka Martini- sweet or dry, and all the other drinks that used to line drinks cabinets in those days of course.

Each sector had wines from the country in question, and of course English or American cigarettes (shock horror)

Suffice it to say that the menus included every type of food according to the sector, Sydney Rock Oysters, Iranian Caviar and the menus were 6 courses long. As I remember it , meat was carved by Chief Steward - oh sorry it wasnt Flight Attendant in those days!!!

We used to eat these menus and there was no problems about the cabin crew feeding the Nigels on the flight deck!!!! or anywhere else come to that.

[dada]

chiken or beef

[Jhieminga]

Have a read through this for someone else's thoughts on those menus: Peril lurking in 1st class (http://www.vc10.net/Memories/Peril1stclass.html)
There is a menu from 1973 here which I think is from economy, but compared to today's 'standards' I would know what to choose.... :
Testing and early days (http://www.vc10.net/Memories/testing_earlydays.html#Seychelles)

[Postfade]

1960's -BOAC in the Far East: The fleet changed pretty fast in those days, moving on from the Britannia's and then the Comets:

http://www.davidtaylorsound.co.uk/share/Aircraft%20pics/Comet%204-G-APDI-BOAC%20at%20night-S034A.jpg

G-APDI on a night turnaround at Paya Lebar, Singapore in 1962. Japan Air Lines CV-880M in the background.

So by 1963 QANTAS, Pan Am and Air-India were joined by BOAC flying 707's through Singapore.

http://www.davidtaylorsound.co.uk/share/Aircraft%20pics/BOAC%20B707%20G-ARWE%20parks-PL-S253A.jpg

G-ARWE arrives at Paya Lebar.

Great times.

DT

[one11]

Was it really like that ? Two BOAC publicity postcards from the 1960s of First Class Dining. Top VC-10, bottom 707



http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu98/viscount700/boacfood.jpg

[forget]

Was it really like that?

I have no idea. I could never see through the curtain.

[one11]

Was it really like that?

Having now read the link in Post # 3 it seems it was

[Tercarley]

Yes it was and I think that the second photo - the 707 - if it is a photo - was a stewardess called Nancy Graham. Not that I was on the 707, but the VC10 girls I dont recognise!

[Peter Fanelli]

We used to eat these menus and there was no problems about the cabin crew feeding the Nigels on the flight deck!!!!


Why? Was the food really that bad?

[Tercarley]

I think the food for the crew was something like pie and mash!!!!! Crew meals werent brilliant.

[Boxkite Montgolfier]

You never looked malnourished Terry!

[arem]

Pie & Mash - what were you on , it was always First Class food in my BOAC days!!

[Tercarley]

Arem

Thats why I said in my previous post that we always ate 1st class food if you look back in the posts!!!! I actually said that the crew meals were pie and mash didnt say we actually ate them! Not on my sectors anyway.

Who is that Montgolfiere in France? No, I was never malnourished at home or away!

Anyway to turn to another subject - there is a new book coming out soon called "Glamour in the Skies" published by Marston booksellers or History Press - price £20.00. Its all about the old days in the airlines when STEWARDESSES were lovely girls.

[Capot]

Lots of airlines did fabulous 1st Class service in the 60s/70s.

But only BOAC did Tea at the appropriate time, with cream and jam.

Didn't they? Memory fades.

My first ID90 trip on BOAC was in 1969, a night flight to Nairobi, upgraded to 1st. I was woken by the Steward, hand on my shoulder, whispering "Are you one of us?".

Being very naive, I said "Yes."

I had to do lots of long haul trips in the next few years, all ID100 on duty, 1st class, on BOAC/BA to the Far East, Africa and USA. All totally fabulous. I can confirm that it really was like the pictures above.

Drift alert....
I overheard a fairly elderly, waspish GF Steward talking to someone in a Sharjah bar.."Yes, well, I did the Silver Service for BOAC across the Atlantic for years, but they made me redundant. So I asked Gulf for a job and they snapped me up. On my induction course, this little chit of a girl, no experience, no class, kept on saying things that were wrong, so I had to put her right, every time. And now I'm No 2 on a F*****g Fokker, which is a real waste of my talent."

[Fokkerwokker]

And now I'm No 2 on a F*****g Fokker, which is a real waste of my talent."

Suspect I know who that might have been! :}

[Tercarley]

Yes, and the scones were always hot!!!!!

Were you invited to the cabin crew gathering after telling him that you "were one of us". ???????

[Boxkite Montgolfier]

Anybody remember luvable F/E 'Whispering Jones" The man who could start an engine on an adjacent stand by clearing his throat?

One story I always recall was when Ted was asked to look after the steak and kidney Crew Meals whilst the 'A' Bird and Chief were busy with the First Class. Naturally he cooked the tray to perfection and then proceeded with it to the F/E seat and wolfed the lot! A complete tray of crew meals maybe 10 in all and then asked for the cheese board!

That was the day when no First Class meals were available so rumbling stomachs all round. Dear Ted was a man of gargantuan appetites, loved by all. Happy Daze!

[arem]

<Thats why I said in my previous post that we always ate 1st class food if you look back in the posts!!!! I actually said that the crew meals were pie and mash didnt say we actually ate them! Not on my sectors anyway. >


Don't even remember them being on board - the only specific crew meal I can remember was that thing called a night meal - and that I can only recall was a steak

[Tercarley]

I remeber being on a trip with him in BA which transited Rome and we were having trouble with the ground re-fuelling being done quickly and efficiently.

Whispering Ted said to me "Captain Ive got an Italian wife so I speak the lingo - I'll speak to them and get it done faster". With that he went to the door of the a/craft and shouted at them "multi f'"*ing gasolino pronto" . It gone done pretty quickly, but not quite the Italian I had been expecting!!!!

He retired I think to Australia.

[The SSK]

Anybody remember the 'Elizabethan' menus that BA briefly tried in the 1970s, as an option in F/C? Supposedly authentic 16th century recipies - venison in Malmsey with cinnamon and raisins and stuff like that.

I used to quite like them but I never met anyone else that did.

[Tercarley]

arem

You obviously pulled the crust off your steak and kidney pie before you ate it.