Must have been even worse with an Easterly.....:p

Not really, because you would depart on an easterly runway and then you would go past the airfield, to position for the easterly runway at Brize.

Similar situation with the BAe 146 operating Jersey-Guersey

Herod, that is what I was tempted to say apart from the Smiley that 212 used, so I thought he had some secret plan.

I wonder now if he got the direction of an easterly wind wrong.

No, I was simply thinking tailwind/head wind, and not extended routing....

212, thank you, so a down wind take off etc.

Jenkins has spurred me on to hijack the thread to see what other 'record breaking' flights we might have competed for in military hardware.
May I start?
BFS to NHT (HS125) Conditions required were RW 17 or 25 for departure from BFS. Cruise at FL290 for max TAS with strong NW'ly Jet followed by the WCO 'snatch' onto 08 at NHT with the connivance of the LHR Director who were usually up for it on receipt of a phone call from Aldergrove.
I think the record for the 260nm was held by a grey haired ex-Britannia skipper (initials ML) who posted 38 mins TO to LDG in a 600 Series in either the late 70s or early 80s. Average 410kts - not bad for a short flight!
Any more?
mcdhu

So, in this age of Royal flights, CamForce 1 etc, what is going on? Today, Prince William and family left Heathrow on a visit to British Columbia. On a Canadian Air Force plane (A310 15001). BA and the RAF having a weekend off then?

Kelvin

The Canadians usually provided a VVIP aircraft for Royal Visits to Canada. They have pride in their Royal Family.

Unlike some others who relegate HM and ilk to tourist.

The Canadians have class.

He is simply using the services of another of his grandmother's airforces, she has more than one at her disposal.

Its standard form for royals when doing overseas tours to use host nations aircraft when they share HMTQ as head of state.

Two weeks ago the RNZAF did tasking for DSCOM, flying Marines from Exeter to Albania. It's something that our air forces do.

Edited to add the Bootnecks didn't know what hit them. They were offered full airline service - less alcohol - on board the Kiwi B757s (ie no horror boxes); to the extent that quite a few sat in Business Class!

There may well be a protocol issue in all of this. In July 1976, HM The Queen visited the USA as part of the Bicentennial celebration using HMY Britannia and a 10 Sqn VC10. But despite the VVIP assets on hand and ready, she was then flown to Canada to open the Montreal Olympics by a Canadian Forces 707 (CC-137?) of 437 Sqn.

While she is in Canada, she is Queen of Canada, taking over from the Governor-General.

KelvinD wrote: A pity that the Duke of Cambridge and family weren't flying instead in 15004 or 15005:


That would have been rather a good Guard of Honour!

I bet they were more polite than many a commercial passenger.

Ref post #87, how about Brize to Abingdon ( 1974 ? ) in a Britannia to see if it would fit into the hangar there. It did. Sorry for being off thread.

Post #87
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...pslzahevl7.jpg
Extract from my log book of 99 Sqn Britannia positioning at Gatwick in April 1960 - 40-mins Lyneham to Gatwick.

Not particularly of high quality, but below is a screen grab from some 8mm cine film I shot of the Gatwick departure hall as it appeared during the flight above. The occasion was when we were tasked at very short notice to fly Julian Amery, the then Colonial Under-Secretary of State, to Nicosia for talks with Archbishop Makarios and Mr Kutchuk. These talks led to the creation of the Sovereign Base Areas.


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...60-Cropped.jpg

Note the ‘busy’ departure check-in desks on the left. With what appears to be just two pax checking in!


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...atwick1961.jpg
Postcard of Gatwick dating from around the same time.


Apologies for the thread creep - WT

Looks like they could have built a parallel runway way back then but alas.....

All we need now is a new Britannia (not the Bristol one!)