Flight Time To Sydney
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Flight Time To Sydney
Having recently travelled LHR~SIN~SYD in just under 20 flying hours, I wondered what was the timescale of commercial flights?
How many days did it take? I know that the Empire service was day time flying only. Flying Boats? I guess the post war heavy propliners were next, then the Comet and VC10 - how many stops for them?
Many thanks.
How many days did it take? I know that the Empire service was day time flying only. Flying Boats? I guess the post war heavy propliners were next, then the Comet and VC10 - how many stops for them?
Many thanks.
BOAC introduced the Britannia to the LON - SYD route in 1957.
Flight time Eastbound 39H Total elapsed time 46H
Flight time Westbound 43H Total elapsed time 50H
More Info here
Flight time Eastbound 39H Total elapsed time 46H
Flight time Westbound 43H Total elapsed time 50H
More Info here
The articles above that one are interesting too.
One lists the westbound routing: Sydney-Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore-Calcutta-Karachi-Istanbul-Zurich-London (phew!).
And another suggests that, had the Orion-engined Britannia gone ahead, it would have been able to fly London-Sydney with only two stops. Not bad going when even 60 years later you still can't do it non-stop.
One lists the westbound routing: Sydney-Darwin-Jakarta-Singapore-Calcutta-Karachi-Istanbul-Zurich-London (phew!).
And another suggests that, had the Orion-engined Britannia gone ahead, it would have been able to fly London-Sydney with only two stops. Not bad going when even 60 years later you still can't do it non-stop.
For cabin crew in the 1970's the favourite route was through the West.
LHR-JFK-LAX-HNL-NAN-MEL-SYD the return would be either back the same way or SIN-CMB- BAH -FCO-LHR there were some variations on this. 21 days for rostered trip but often longer if technical delays. Aircraft type VC10.
LHR-JFK-LAX-HNL-NAN-MEL-SYD the return would be either back the same way or SIN-CMB- BAH -FCO-LHR there were some variations on this. 21 days for rostered trip but often longer if technical delays. Aircraft type VC10.
Last edited by vctenderness; 27th Mar 2016 at 16:15.
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in 1968 when British Eagle were using their Britannia for the immigration charters to Australia,the flying time was about 36 hours with a total journey time of about 40 hours
The routing was London-Kuwait-Ceylon-Singapore- Darwin- Sydney.
With the VC-10 in the early 1970s it was much more popular to go via the Pacific route
which took about 30 hours flying with a total journey time of about 35 hours. The routing was London-New York-Los Angeles-Honolulu- Fiji- Sydney
The routing was London-Kuwait-Ceylon-Singapore- Darwin- Sydney.
With the VC-10 in the early 1970s it was much more popular to go via the Pacific route
which took about 30 hours flying with a total journey time of about 35 hours. The routing was London-New York-Los Angeles-Honolulu- Fiji- Sydney
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1961 a Vulcan from 617 Sqdn captained by Sqn. Ldr Beavis.
Scampton - Sydney none-stop. 20 hours 3 minutes.
214 Sqdn placed Valian BK1's in Cyprus, Karachi and Singapore to refuel the Vulcan.
As for a more exact date, I'd have to look up my old passports.
I was with the Karachi detachment.
Scampton - Sydney none-stop. 20 hours 3 minutes.
214 Sqdn placed Valian BK1's in Cyprus, Karachi and Singapore to refuel the Vulcan.
As for a more exact date, I'd have to look up my old passports.
I was with the Karachi detachment.
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And I bet they didn't carry much in the way of relief flight deck crew, either. Twenty hours in those seats, sustained only by cardboard meals and with three refuelling brackets to meet? In those early days, a feat to compare with the later Black Buck raids I would have thought.
And with the world watching and waiting for you to make a mess of it.
Respect.
And with the world watching and waiting for you to make a mess of it.
Respect.
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Don't forget to add the fact that up until the early 60s a lot of the calling points were in countries that were, or had been until recently, pink on the map. With most of the travelling public still going by sea, such flights were the regular service from London to Oz and all points in between.
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There were 4 re-fuelling's not 3.
Overhead Cyprus, overhead Karachi, then north of Singapore and a top up south of Singapore.
Technically, they did carry a passenger, the crew chief!
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RAF VC10, UK-Singapore, 1969:
Brize, Akrotiri, Bombay, Gan, Tengah - maybe 30-odd hours (does anyone know better?).
A trip made all the more disorientating (for a 6 year old) because all the seats faced rearwards for safety!
Dean
Brize, Akrotiri, Bombay, Gan, Tengah - maybe 30-odd hours (does anyone know better?).
A trip made all the more disorientating (for a 6 year old) because all the seats faced rearwards for safety!
Dean
London to Sydney by BOAC Boeing 707, except I did it in VC10s!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUm9aG-xiBk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUm9aG-xiBk
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Apart from the lack of range, the reason for multi stop services to Australia is that there was insufficient UK-Australia traffic to fill the aircraft. BOAC had fifth freedom rights at almost all of the intermediate points and point to point traffic was important.
Apart from the lack of range, the reason for multi stop services to Australia is that there was insufficient UK-Australia traffic to fill the aircraft
I know that the Empire service was day time flying only.
Here's some old timetables :
1939 Imperial Airways
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttima...s/iaw39u-2.jpg
1947 BOAC. A tremendously fast, and long-legged, service for its time, by converted Lancaster bomber, only 4 stops to Sydney in 3.5 days.
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttima...47/ba47-05.jpg
1958 BOAC Bristol Britannia and Qantas Lockheed Constellation. Both operators could now take you either way. More stops though than in 1947
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttima...58/ba58-02.jpg
1971, last year of VC10 and 707 monopoly before the widebodies.
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttima...71/ba71-36.jpg
Paxing All Over The World
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Thread drift. (but it's my thread!
)
Thanks WHBM. I remember my great aunt telling of how wonderfully fast the new Imperial Flying Boat service was (drawing on a brain that was 12 years old when she told me:
Only took about four days (I think). I sit to be corrected.
)Thanks WHBM. I remember my great aunt telling of how wonderfully fast the new Imperial Flying Boat service was (drawing on a brain that was 12 years old when she told me:
- Taxi to London Waterloo
- Boat train to Southampton
- Lighter to the Flying Boat
- Paris (not sure which span of water)
- Northern Italian Lakes (I think)
- The Nile
- Lake Victoria
- The Vaal River
- Cape Town / Table Bay
- Taxied to a jetty.
- Her driver would meet her(!)
Only took about four days (I think). I sit to be corrected.
Not anywhere near Paris suitable for an Empire boat. Usually flew direct from Southampton to Marignane near Marseille. Landing site in Italy was Lake Bracciano outside Rome.
Last edited by Groundloop; 30th Mar 2016 at 11:10.
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Didn't the Italians, under Mussolini, build a lake next to Milan Linate Airport, specifically for flying boats?
One of the side effects was the morning mist, that obscures visibility over the tarmac runway at Linate.
One of the side effects was the morning mist, that obscures visibility over the tarmac runway at Linate.