Blind BEA Viscount Captain.
 

Working for BEA S.1-11 division in the late 60's early 70's I remember a Viscount
captain, who, after making his outside checks during the loading of the pax, would
re-enter the a/c by the rear door. He would then take out a collapsible white stick,
and walk through the cabin, knocking the stick on the seat legs, before entering
the cockpit. Can anyone put a name to his man ? I am sure the pax would not
forget the flight.

Lance Shippey.

I believe it was a Captain Thompson - he'd hang a sign on the cockpit door saying "Blind Flying Tonight". There were several stories about him I recall.

Was he the same person that would come out of the cockpit door with two lengths of string and give them to a passenger and ask him to hold on to them whilst he went to the toilet?

Could have been the chap who took a passenger's guide dog for a walk round the aeroplane before boarding and taking command. . .

One of the lecturers at the College of ATC in the '70s would tell us these tales although in this case it was a Dakota in the late '40s at Northolt; the name he mentioned I believe was a Captain Welford.

The legendary Doug Shoulder. They don't make them like him nowadays, either !

After breaking a femur and a small (!) operation to insert a pin, seven weeks later I went back to the North Sea flying 212s based on the Treasure Finder in the Brent Field. Fairly intensive flying, there was some concern with me wandering around the rig using a walking stick.

Easy solution, paint the stick white and wave it out of the window at the passengers when they weren't paying attention.

Can't answer the question posed in the opener but as a Trainee Crewing Assistant (wanabee pilot) with Caledonian in 1966, I was SLF in the back of the company DC7 outa Jordan, for fun on my days off. Anyway, inbound ops crew were deadheading back to Gatters. Outbound crew, we were told, had their uniforms stolen from the hotel during previous nightstop. They sat with pax, in civvies. Lots of trolling as they mumbled things like ;"Why are we waiting...Where the hell are the pilots...." etc, when Capt stood up, loudly exclaimed," Oh, had enough of this, You (points at Flt Eng) and You (points at SFO) come with me !". The three, all in civies, walked up to the FD, closed doors and soon after first of the big props started bursting into life. Magic.

On a UK domestic I was standing at the door with a blind passenger with his dog waiting for assistance to arrive the Captain was standing outside the FD door saying his goodbyes.

An enthusiastic American passenger stopped and said to the Captain “great landing did you do it?” As quick as a flash he pointed to the blind passenger and said “No he did”.

Even the dog was amused!

Was this the same captain who would sit with the passengers after loading, with a civvie overcoat on. He would start muttering about "yet another delay" and that, if they didn't get going soon, he would fly it himself. He said that he used to fly fighters in the war and was sure that he could handle a simple Viscount. "That's it," he said, " I,ve had enough I'm going to have a go." Thereupon, he gets up, marches into the cockpit, the engines started and it took off with the passengers wondering if their end had come.

I was told that this kind of thing was not unusual in the Highlands because the older wartime flightcrews up there knew that they were unlikely to be trained in jets and had nothing to lose.

...that’s the chap, we were told it was a Viking, there were a number of stories. I believe he retired in 1971 and was soon after tragically killed in a car accident.

FF

My uncle worked for BEA in the 60's and early 70's and as a teenager in the 70's I well remember him telling me the stories about this chap doing this.

The late, great Harry Mills, forced to retire at 55 from the job of Captain of a BA VC 10 went to Abu Dhabi to fly a BN2A Islander for Gulf Air. At that time (earlyish 1970s) Abu Dhabi has a nice new airport with a glass wall between the apron and the departure lounge. Harry, who had grown a long white beard, had the habit of emerging from the traffic office next to the departure lounge to tap his way slowly across the apron with a white stick over to the the Islander while his passengers watched in horror. We had the task of persuading them that they were quire safe, before they would agree to board, and it wasn't easy..

Viking
 

Story was a glasgow based skipper who wore a deer stalker on the viking.
String trick seen done. Participated in the hide in the underfloor E&E compartment on the Trident whilst the new girl searches the aircraft for the first officer who is needed urgently.
1978 skipper and I walked through Dubai airport dressed in thawb,keffikeh and abal all the way onto the flight deck of a super VC10...still have my gear which I wear occasionally. Thawb as a dressing gown in the summer Mediterranean morning and the keffikeh climbing irish hills in winter to fly.

String trick. Heard of this attributed to RAF Transport Command on Army charters. R/O, Nav. F/Eng. Co-Pilot would obviously leave the flight deck and start playing cards at the rear, Captain would then walk slowly backwards out of the cockpit keeping the string tight, and hand it to the first row aisle seat pax.and tell him to keep it tight as he joined the crew.

Co-pilot hiding in Lower 41, electronics bay. Stewardess called and -told to get him to hurry back after visiting the toilet and eventually returned to say that she couldn't find him. "Oh dear,"said Capt. we must have left him behind. After landing flt. crew asked ground crew to delay positioning the rear steps, co-pilot ran down the front steps, then up the rear steps and pounded on the door, when the stewardess opened it he feigned shortness of breath and said " Christ, you left me behind, I've had to run all the way" Stewardess fainted.

All I ever did was agree to let a curious stewardess look through the sextant, but not right now, come back in 10 minutes. Burned cork smeared around the rubber eyepiece and when she said she couldn't see anything, try the other eye, and press hard against the eyepiece. Sdss. then walked bacl through the cabin with two black eyes. Such fun.

One of the best stories in this vein was told by Reg Levy (Gaining An RAF Pilot's Brevet). Just after the war he was employed by what became Air India. He was flying DC3s with 2 pilots and an air hostess. On one trip. the hostess came into the cockpit to take away the empty coffee cups. One of the cups still had some coffee in it so she went to open one of the side vents to throw it out. The pilots shouted to stop because the other vent was already open and they explained that, if both vents were open at the same time, they would all be sucked out. On a subsequent trip with the same crew, the pilots opened both vents, turned on the AP and went to hide in the luggage compartment which was just behind the cockpit. When the hostess entered the cockpit to remove the empty coffee cups, she was met with and empty cockpit and both vents open. One can imagine her feelings.

Another of his tricks Doug told us about.
Doug was manning the runway caravan (RCV) at Northolt (which was civil for a short time while Heathrow was still being prepared).
Dakota (or maybe Viking) taxys out and stops to do power checks. Cockpit window opens and an arm comes out with the hand waving a familiar 'V' sign.
Doug sticks his hand out of the window and returns the gesture.
Voice on radio says 'Tower, your runway controller is making rude signs at my passengers'.

I flew from Glasgow to Sumburgh with one having previously flown with the captain in a Chipmunk at 6 AEF White Waltham a couple of years previously. It was a 'stopping' service calling at Inverness, Wick and Kirkwall and on the leg from Wick to Kirkwall we descended to about 500ft to get a good view of Scapa Flow and the sunken ships there with me standing on the flight deck (had to stand all the way from Inverness to Sumburgh as there was no jump seat fitted).
On another occasion, (maybe the same skipper?) I was training in Glasgow Tower when the Viscount inbound from Campbelltown/Macrihanish reported downwind; myself and my mentor searched the sky but couldn't see it - until it climbed to pass over the Erskine Bridge as it had been flying below the banks either side of the Clyde valley until that point .

Trooping charter, British Eagle DC6 to Bardufoss back in the 60s; shortly after take-off the captain gave the usual briefing and ended with an invitation to visit the flight deck if anyone felt like it. In those days this was probably their first flight for many of the Commandos on board.

Eventually one brave soul stood up and asked a steward if he could have a look. The steward went to ask, and came back to tell him just to go though the door. He did that. After a good 5 minutes he reappeared looking slightly anxious, came to the back of the cabin, leant down and said very quietly "Excuse me, Sirs, did you know that there are no pilots up there?".

We told him to go back there without telling a soul, and fly the aircraft until we could sort out what to do. He went back to the flight deck determined to do his best. He returned after a while to say that all was well, the crew were just having a laugh..

The entire flight deck crew had hidden in the crew bunk.

Love these replies. I remember at flight from BER/MAN via FMO.
on board a BA ATP. with German cabin crew, The British captain
hissed down his microphone during the stewardess showing how
to pull the toggle to inflate your lifejacket.
Also a German male flight attendant with Deutsche B.A. after
landing at TXL. announcing "Ladies and Gentlemen, When opening
the overhead bins, be careful that nothing falls out, and knocks you
senseless".

Lance Shippey

John Welford loved playing little games with ATC staff. I recall one day in July, 1970 when I was acting as Briefing Officer in Heathrow AIS (in the old Queen's Building).
Capt.Welford arrived to collect the daily Briefing Notes and realised that there was a new ATCA with me in AIS. He winked at me, and in his usual bellowing voice, asked for the latest Snow State for Malaga. I sent the new lad to find the SNOTAM file, which, of course was empty (temperature at Malaga was in the high 30's C.). New lad comes back to Welford and says "Sorry, the file is empty", whereby the dear Captain stormed off, muttering about the incompetence of the system and that he hoped he would not have to divert from Malaga due to the runway conditions.
It took a few minutes for the new lad to realise that he had been duped by one of Heathrow's "characters"...with a little help from me..!

Lance , had a very happy time flying for BA HD on ATPs , and yes were were young enough to blow up the lifejacket on the P/A , don't forget '' the whistle to attract attention '' . That worked well on P/A , and the Berlin or Highland 'gurls' were worth wolf whistling for / at ...... Plus , pax certainly paid attention to safety briefings .
Skipper on Tridents had a blind pax in cockpit to ''see'' the landing into Glasgow . the guide dog enjoyed it as well . I know , as I was flying the approach for the skippers landing ....

rgds condor

PS if BLIND PEW is reading , please can he empty his PM box to allow more in , Ta ...

The story I heard about Johnny 'Full Tanks' Welford (no idea where that nickname came from) was that there had been a management complaint that he was not doing enough in his in-flight PAs to entertain the pax. On his next flight he appeared from the flight deck into the cabin, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a guitar, and sang to the pax. I heard this at White Waltham; perhaps he had been a member there.

All the same stories I heard about Captain Thompson! :} I presume the version I read had the name changed to protect the guilty! The passenger entertainment story I heard was that he would strum a ukulele and sing "When I'm Cleaning Windows"...

I did a jumpseat ride to Madrid with Debonair on a 146, the Captain (unfortunately I can't remember his name, and is now no longer with us) was a bit of a character, especially with his PAs. On the outbound leg he was doing his pre departure PA when he announced that he had an ATCO (me) up the front and if we got a slot delay he would give me a slap round the head. On the way back he announced over the PA that it was the seniour Cabin Crews last flight, as she was leaving because she was pregnant (she wasn't!) and would everybody wish her well in finding the father! This was soon followed by her storming into the flight deck to announce her displeasure!

Being miserable by nature, I tend to find all these stories and "characters" rather tedious, but...
...now you're talking! :D

2 s

Harry Mills - a blast from the past - one of the true gentlemen in BOAC - one of my favourite Captains on the VC10. He flew the VC10 (reluctantly) in Gulf Air when they bought five from BOAC but missed the Islander.

There are five pages about John Welford in Bill Innes' 'Flight from the Croft' (see here). The 'I might fly this thing myself' story is included, but the author also explains that this particular tale did the rounds for many years and got embellished in every retelling. Some of these same anecdotes are in an earlier book, Bob Price's 'Life on the Airliners' (this one), but I guess that in 1991 Captain Welford was still around as names have been carefully omitted. A nice one from Innes' book was that Welford kept a one-move-a-day chess game going by transmitting his move on a common frequency during his daily flight so Sumburgh. The next day his opponent, a controller on the same frequency, would transmit his counter move. The author, his co-pilot for a two-week rotation, didn't know what was happening at first and thought that Welford had lost his marbles.

Elderly female passenger visiting the flight deck at night, asked the Capt. how could he see to know where to go ? Well Madam, he replied, look out of this window and can you see a red light on the end of the wing ? Yes, she confirmed. Now, look out of that other window, can you see a green light ? Yes. Well, I just have to keep steering between them. How clever, she said, I always wondered.

Completing the pre-start checks, the door opened and a female voice said " What winks, whistles, and f8cks like Tiger ?" We turned around to see one of our stewardesses winking and whistling. ( and no, I can't confirm !! )

On an early 707 flight across the USA from LFK to LAX, none of us had flown across the whole country before, and the Capt had brought a Continental road map, and referred to it from time to time to indicate various well known landmarks and cities of interest. A passenger visiting the forward toilet, and with the flight deck door in its usual open position, said " Jeez, don;t you guys know where to go ?"

The Blind Dog incident reminds me. In command MCR/PIK/JFK and during the stop at Prestwick I was walking through the cabin, and a pax asked me if he could possibly check on the status of his dog, accompanying him, but in the rear hold. Maybe he could let him stretch his legs, maybe cock one, and give him a drink and check on the supply of water in his travelling cage ? I explained that he couldn't do that, but maybe I could check the status of the dog for him ? Reaching the back of the aircraft I noticed the baggage loaders stood back, and the rear hold still mostly closed. Don't go near there, they said, there's a dangerous animal loose. I saw a black snout sniffing at a crack in the partly cracked open door, and assuming that it might be passengers dog, I told the loaders that it was only a dog, and promptly opened the door, to be immediately engulfed in the ministrations of a happy Labrador, delighted to be set free and trying to lick me to death. Fearful that it might runaway I clung on to it, and tried to get one of the loaders to come and help me, but eventually had to roll around with the dog whilst I released my belt and fashioned a leash around its neck to help keep hold of it. Eventually order was restored and the happy dog led away. The passenger said he had only made the travelling cage the night before, and hadn't tried it out, but the dog had managed to break out and roam around the hold in flight. Pax. and dog were offloaded.

Post 25, Debonair Captain, any takers on the late-lamented Ray Godfrey? We left together at the end for a turbo-prop operation.

Sounds like the sort of trick Ray would play. I knew him in AirUK days, and he was always up for a laugh.

I've been aware of the story of the ukulele-playing BEA pilot, on the Highlands and Islands run, for over 60 years!

Post 25, Debonair Captain, any takers on the late-lamented Ray Godfrey?

It wasn't Ray Godfrey, when Debonair went bust he went back to Belgium and later unfortunately passed away after a short illness. his name will probably come back to me at some point!

Ray Godfrey
 

Went to Suckling after Debonair, several did.

lobao
 

My father (BEA Senior Traffic Officer GCI, JER and Station Supt SOU) also recalled the antics of Johnny Welford, who performed number of "tricks" on unsuspecting passengers and staff in Jersey and Guernsey in the late 1940's and early 1950s. In my book "An Illustrated History of BEA" I refer to him as Captain "welman" because I suspected he was still alive at the time of writing. Regarding ops in the Highlands & Islands, I flew from Campbeltown to Islay in a Viscount on a very murky day with the altimeter showing 350ft. When we picked up the coast of Islay the crew followed the road until they came to the airfield when a tight circuit and landing brought the papers and mail. Jack Ridgeway was Station Supt there then before he moved to Kirkwall.

The things we could do in the days when passengers had a sense of humour, instead of a videophone and an internet link.

Sometimes passengers can turn the tables..................

For a long while Gulf Air ran a daily F27 service from Bahrain to Abu Dhabi, timed to connect with the first charter rotation to Das Island. It was used pretty much exclusively by oil company staff working their 21 days on, 7 days off system.

One day the GF catering manager decided that the clientele on this service deserved a better breakfast, stylishly served. And so it came about that the FAs had work their way down the cabin handing out plates and cutlery, then one would hand out bread rolls and butter, followed by the other with a large "country wife" basket filled with 80 hard-boiled eggs, 2 per passenger.

It didn't take long. One morning, a grizzled toolpusher, seated near the front had a dreadful fit of coughing just as the eggs got to his row. Quick as a flash, his neighbour said to the FA "I'll hold the eggs, please quickly get him a glass of water." She did that, the toolpusher recovered quickly, she collected her basket, and the egg handout was resumed.

5 minutes later, mayhem They had substituted all the hardboiled eggs with uncooked ones, and all down the cabin these has been smashed against the edge of the seatback trays.................

2-sheds: you don't HAVE to read . Take a quick look at this though. LHR to BAH, load of new joining CC. Two by two, I entertained the FD visits. Sliding past Istanbul, lovely northern lass asked "Captain, where are we ?" I looked out of the window, and gave her the answer inviting her to share the view. She then said " is this near Barwain ?". I did the math and said "well, getting closer at 8 miles every minute." She stepped back and said ; "yeah, you can feeeeeel it gettin warmer." !

Easyjet hostess just after landing at Luton : "Please remain seated until the aircraft has come to a full stop. This is because the captain is a brilliant pilot but a terrible driver."
Later: "Thank you for flying Easyjet, we hope you enjoyed your flight. If you didn't , thank you for flying Ryanair."

Hi, Old ,not Bold. The story of the hard boiled eggs reminded me of a BOAC
situation at MAN. Speedbird operated a couple of B707 freighters, G-ASZF
and G-ASZG through MAN The story was that the Flt Deck crews had
demanded a steward be on board (rumour had it,) that one of the stewards
allocated to freighters had been suspended from pax flts for "Striking" a pax.
I had a visit one early morning at BE from Geoff Hargreaves, a friend and,
duty manager at BOAC cargo, asking if I would like some fresh eggs.
The capt. refused the move the aircraft until they had eggs for breakfast.
Geoff drove to a farm in Styal, near MAN, and bought 144 eggs, giving the
cpt. 6. The rest are history.