Flying the Pacific with BCPA

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

Crossing the Pacific Ocean in style from Auckland (or Sydney) to San Francisco and Vancouver with British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines between 1949 and 1954 in their Douglas DC-6 sleeper transport airliners was definitely a considerably more classy way to travel than today's cattle class....

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/19490221_WA-19414-F_zpsle4r9usx.jpg~original (http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22905854)

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/19500718_WA-25335-G_zpsrpjnqikq.jpg~original (http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22460385)

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/19500301_WA-24065-F_zpsyt5xhiky.jpg~original (http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22728423)

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/19490614_WA-20533-F_zpsrztqopvw.jpg~original (http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22815763)

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/19490614_WA-20535-F_zpswjzt6qsp.jpg~original (http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22830765)

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/19490614_WA-20536-F_zpsgxecgdoz.jpg~original (http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23106086)

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/19490321_WA-19662-F_zps9lrt0hvw.jpg~original (http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23075318)

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/19490321_WA-19661-F_zps5qevjkjx.jpg~original (http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22918209)

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/19490321_WA-19660-F_zps0trbag76.jpg~original (http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22766198)

(click on each photograph in turn to view the source at the National Library of NZ website)

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/NZ%20Historic%20Aviation/BCPA_29hours.jpg

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/NZ%20Historic%20Aviation/BCPA_sleeper.jpg

[oftenflylo]

Love the mapping radar, years before Wx radar.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/BCPA-dc6-brochure-01s_zps3voiphoj.jpg~original (http://www.qam.com.au/aircraft/dc-6/BCPA-dc6-brochure-01.jpg)

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/BCPA/BCPA-dc6-brochure-02s_zps0w3dkft2.jpg~original (http://www.qam.com.au/aircraft/dc-6/BCPA-dc6-brochure-02.jpg)

(click on each image of the BCPA DC-6 brochure to download the full-sized version)

[Wander00]

Hey, those were the days. And I am on Ryanair tomorrow!

[megan]

A very short lived airline. Began operations September 1946 with the DC-4, which were replaced with four DC-6 in February 1949, and had the Comet 2 on order. On 29 October 1953 DC-6 VH-BPE crashed during an instrument approach into San Fransisco with the loss of all eleven passengers and eight crew. The airline flew its final trip 11 May 1954, with all staff then integrated into QANTAS.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/NZ%20Historic%20Aviation/BCPA_CocktailsWithLunch3frac12MilesUp_zpsbpd3hpc9.jpg~origin al

[Fris B. Fairing]

There is a lot of information on BCPA on the Queensland Air Museum website (http://www.qldairmuseum.au/qam-content/aircraft/dc-6/VH-BPG.htm)

Some of it appears above without attribution.

[megan]

Some of it appears above without attributionIf referring to my post, the info came courtesy of Mac Job and his "Air Disaster".

[Fris B. Fairing]

megan

No. Referring to the colour DC-6 brochure which comes from the Peter Wordsworth Collection via QAM.

Rgds

[irishair2001]

:ok::ok: Absolutely Fantastic, I always love to read about BCPA,Propliner magazine had a feature on them about 20 years ago and i still love to read it,definitely a classic.

:D:D:D:D:D

[evansb]

http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b477/gumpjr_bucket/BCPA%20SKED%20RATES.jpg

[A30yoyo]

Is it my imagination or has the BCPA DC-6 got more 'sleeperette' windows than other airlines sleeper DC-6s (American/SAS.....)?

[DaveReidUK]

I suspect that earlier, shorter sleeper DC-6s were operated in a single-class, all sleeper configuration, like the BCPA examples. There is a photo on the Wikipedia DC-6 page of a SAS aircraft with the same window layout, and that's also an early, short-fuselage DC-6.

American, Pan Am, etc operated mostly the longer DC-6B and I'm guessing that they would have been in a two-class configuration with sleeperette seats only at the front of the cabin, hence fewer upper windows.

[A30yoyo]

It seems that the BCPA sleeper DC-6s had the standard upper window fit common to SAS and American Airlines.
I don't think I've ever seen a DC-6B photo with any sleeper windows... Pan Am only had DC-6As and DC-6Bs AFAIK....

[DaveReidUK]

I don't think I've ever seen a DC-6B photo with any sleeper windows...You may be right.

Pan Am's DC-6Bs had two upper windows on the starboard size, spaced at roughly double the regular window pitch, and two closer together on the port side, but that may not have had anything to do with sleeping accommodation.

http://www.60sairlineantiques.net/postcards/PA%20DC-6-F.jpg

http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac3/Airline/Pan%20American%20Douglad%20DC-6B.jpg

But if not, does anyone know what they were for?

[rog747]

this is a rather delicious archive feature :ok:

[DaveReidUK]

Double-page Douglas ad for the DC-6 in Life magazine, April 1947, mentioning the sleeper seats and upper-berth windows:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fUgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA93#v=twopage

[evansb]

On some DC-6Bs, the overhead windows (sky lights) were located in the galley.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

The DC-6 was offered as either a day-plane, or a sleeper transport, or a combination with sleeping berths in the rear cabin. Some operators designated the rear cabin as first class and only had sleeping berths in there. If you look at historic photographs of DC-6 airliners, you can see that some of them only had the small upper-berth windows above the rear cabin windows.
The DC-6B had the same options, but I have only ever seen photos of DC-6Bs with the small upper-berth windows above the rear cabin windows.




The book “Douglas DC-6 and DC-7” by Harry Gann (Airliner Tech Series, Volume 4) has a lot of photographs showing the various combinations of windows, including a photo of a Pan American Grace Douglas DC-7B with upper-berth windows above the rear cabin main windows.

[Fris B. Fairing]

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/750x561/el_wnh_09_4f10c23a450abaf59fe156e2e87b35eab6d47d58.jpg


The interior structure surrounding one of the blanked-off bunk windows in the former VH-BPG.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

That would have been Tasman Empire Airways Ltd (TEAL, now Air New Zealand) who blanked off those upper-berth windows.

[lawrence hole]

This is a postcard I picked up in Fiji whilst on my way from Christmas Island, Pacific to Australia in 1958 flying on leave from the atom tests there in a Hastings aircraft to visit my relatives. http://i914.photobucket.com/albums/ac345/aerofoil/TEAL-DC6-Nandi_zpsnlypzurt.jpg (http://s914.photobucket.com/user/aerofoil/media/TEAL-DC6-Nandi_zpsnlypzurt.jpg.html)

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/NZ%20Historic%20Aviation/BCPA_TransPacificAirRoute_zpsjnblum9f.jpg~original

http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo227/Kiwithrottlejockey/NZ%20Historic%20Aviation/DouglasCommercial_zpsma1ciwcc.jpg~original

[NZ Flyers]

The late mother of an old friend in Sydney is one of the air hostesses in these photos. She is the one in the galley in the first cabin photo and the one with her back to the camera leaning over the passenger in the second cabin photo.
She was in the first intake taken on by the airline and was later transferred onto the TEAL flying boats. She passed away in 2010 in Auckland.
Her daughter was delighted to see the photos, thanks for posting them.

[rog747]

sadly one of the a/c crashed at SFO inbound from HNL its last leg

report
BCPA Flight 304 accident investigation report - Wikisource, the free online library (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/BCPA_Flight_304_accident_investigation_report)

photos and articles on the crash
BCPA Flight 304 (http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/BCPA_Flt_304.htm)

http://flightoftheresolution.org/index.html

a famous pianist was amongst the pax killed william kapell.
After the crash, BCPA ran into financial difficulties and was liquidated in May of 1954. BCPA's remaining three DC-6 aircrafts were sold to TEAL (now Air New Zealand) and its trans-Pacific route was taken over by Qantas.
(called the southern cross route)

Today, the crash site is part of the "El Corte de Madera Creek Open Space Preserve", which now includes the "Resolution Trail", named for the plane. Debris from the plane can still be seen beside this trail.

some more archive material of the airline and a push to save BRITISH COMMONWEALTH PACIFIC AIRLINES
DOUGLAS DC-6 VH-BPG named Adventure by the Q.A.M
C/N 43127
QUEENSLAND AIR MUSEUM - DOUGLAS DC-6 VH-BPG (http://www.qam.com.au/qam-content/aircraft/dc-6/default.htm)

[rog747]

a super thread!

[Asturias56]

No-one seems to mention the ticket prices...................

[rog747]

No-one seems to mention the ticket prices...................

To fly back then was the domain of Hollywood stars and Directors, Diplomats, and the very rich.

Liner voyage sea travel was the 'norm' for most folk, who usually had to book far ahead to secure a passage and get berths on their trip out, or to go back home...
There were many shipping lines plying from Australia and New Zealand via the South Sea Islands, across the Pacific to the USA; and onward via Panama and the Tropics to 'Blighty'.

[CV880]

When TEAL replaced the DC6’s with Lockheed L188C Electra’s the DC6’s were transferred to the RNZAF. In the early 1960’s the RNZAF disposed of 2 however I got to work on the R2800’s in the TEAL engine shop and eventually the remaining aircraft itself as TEAL/Air NZ did all the maintenance checks for the RNZAF. I spent several hours in the F/O’s seat with the clipboard writing down the run-up engineer’s numbers as he called them out. Much more fun than jet aircraft. When the RNZAF finally disposed of it, I finally got to start up the engines several times while it was being prepared for delivery. Good fun, all clean starts, no backfires! A couple of years later when working in Asia I saw a vaguely familiar old DC6 in Royal Air Lao colours outside our hangar one night shift (I think I recognized the dents in the engine cowls etc). On closer inspection all the emergency equipment, engine fire bottles etc. still had the old Air New Zealand tags installed. I don’t recall ever seeing it again.

[CV880]

Another point I just noticed, in the photo's in post #1 the props are different to what was fitted when I worked on the last DC6. In my time it had Hamilton Standard paddle bladed props fitted with no spinners. Was there a prop change at some time or did BCPA have different props in their fleet?
After remembering there were photo's of the BCPA fleet in aussieairliners.org I checked and found that all 4 DC6's originally had round tipped props with a slender pointed dome/spinner but later pictures show all aircraft with paddle bladed Ham Std props without a spinner. Must have been a fleet changeover.

[Asturias56]

Haven't found any prices for Trans Pacific but London- Oz was pretty eye watering

Qantas first flew the Kangaroo Route on 1 December 1947. A Lockheed Constellation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Constellation) carried 29 passengers and 11 crew from Sydney to London with stops in Darwin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parap_Airfield), Singapore, Calcutta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netaji_Subhash_Chandra_Bose_International_Airport), Karachi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinnah_International_Airport), Cairo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almaza_Air_Base), and Tripoli (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripoli_International_Airport) (passengers stayed overnight in Singapore and Cairo). A return fare was £585 (equivalent to $40,100 in 2018), equivalent to 130 weeks average pay.

also this
https://stock.periscopefilm.com/51144-1948-transpacific-flight-from-sydney-australia-to-vancouver-canada/

[WHBM]

The airline flew its final trip 11 May 1954, with all staff then integrated into QANTAS.
Maybe the Australian staff did (as did the initial DC-4s in the late 1940s when replaced by the DC-6s), but the complete DC-6 fleet and likely the Kiwi crews went over to TEAL in New Zealand as their first land aircraft, replacing their Short Solent flying boats on the Australia run and the route to Fiji, where they connected with Qantas Constellations now running on to the USA. When later supplanted by Lockheed Electras they were moved on en-bloc again to the RNZAF, the last ran in 1968 after some 20 years in the region. BCPA was owned by Australia, New Zealand and the UK, I believe directly by their governments rather than their relevant airlines.

A couple of years later when working in Asia I saw a vaguely familiar old DC6 in Royal Air Lao colours outside our hangar one night shift (I think I recognized the dents in the engine cowls etc). On closer inspection all the emergency equipment, engine fire bottles etc. still had the old Air New Zealand tags installed. I don’t recall ever seeing it again.
Sold there by an Australian dealer, it was in Laos from 1968-71, then went to a minor Indonesian operator, who lost it within months when it ran out of fuel and attempted a forced landing.

[dduxbury310]

The earlier propellers mentioned above by CV880 (26th Feb 2023, post 31) were Curtiss Electrics (with reversing props), but these must have been replaced by the Ham Standard Hydromatics (also with reversing props) whilst serving with BCPA.in early 1950s. The early DC-6s usually (often?) had twin ADF's (for Automatic Direction Finders so far as I know) which were housed in a distinctive long bulge on lower forward fuselage, port side, as well shown on the very first photograph on this thread.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

It seems that the BCPA sleeper DC-6s had the standard upper window fit common to SAS and American Airlines.
I don't think I've ever seen a DC-6B photo with any sleeper windows... Pan Am only had DC-6As and DC-6Bs AFAIK....

The DC-6B was available with the same sleeper-transport configurations as the DC-6, but I've only ever seen DC-6B with sleeper transport sections at the rear of the cabin, presumably in 1st class.

If you look at photographs of TAI's DC-6B airliners, you can see two of the small windows for upper berths on each side of the fuselage at the rear of the cabin.

And looking at the October 1, 1957 TAI timetable, on the page showing services all the way to Auckland, NZ, it shows 1st class berths and tourist class (click on the link to view that page).

ti57-3.jpg (1608×1229) (timetableimages.com) (https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/ti57/ti57-3.jpg)

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x667/dc_6b_f_bhee_tai_orly_31_05_57_e221e63aa6fdcc93122d8956164ee 9e5038c0bf5.jpg