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Retro 747 BOAC

Old 18th Feb 2019, 12:23
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Retro 747 BOAC

Just seen some pics of the repainted 744 at LHR. Isn’t the Union Jack upside down??
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 12:29
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Looks mighty fine to me.

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Old 18th Feb 2019, 12:42
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You're right, I had the glasses on upside down! I reckon It looks better than the present 'Chatham Dockyard] scheme.
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 12:59
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Originally Posted by cessnapete
Just seen some pics of the repainted 744 at LHR. Isn’t the Union Jack upside down??
Were you by any chance looking at the starboard side?

At the risk of stating the obvious, when a Union flag is painted on a UK-registered aircraft, it is (or should be) always shown as if the flagpole is forward. So it's flipped left-to-right, not upside down.

Twas ever thus.

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Old 18th Feb 2019, 13:10
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Yes you are right,I was looking at starboard side. I plead old age!!
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 13:16
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The Union flag is a trifle too high. A shame they couldn't get it right, but wonderful to see those colours again, so much better than the current ones.
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 13:27
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Has it got a cheese board?
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 13:33
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I saw this aircraft on approach to Heathrow today - it really looks fantastic such a classy livery
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 13:41
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Lionel Lion
No!
The cheeseboard was a BEA Nigel thing. Never mentioned in BOAC. Us BOAC chaps never nicked food ,and always ate orf trays with tablecloths, and the cheese course served off the board by a nice young Stdds/Std!!

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Old 18th Feb 2019, 15:09
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Have you seen this!
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...ays-ce-455845/
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 15:12
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Angel Union Flag

Only matelots fly a "Union Jack." (On the jackstaff at the pointy end.) Us others have a Union Flag.
alt
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 15:18
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Makes me feel young again
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 15:25
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In order to be truly authentic, it should now sit on the ground for a year before flying any revenue passengers while BALPA argues with management.
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 15:49
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It's only a ' Union Jack ' when flown on the ' Jackstaff ' of a naval vessel ! I think you mean the ' Union Flag ' !

And I'm Irish FFS !

And yes, it's too high and yes , lovely colour scheme .
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 15:50
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Originally Posted by cessnapete
Just seen some pics of the repainted 744 at LHR. Isn’t the Union Jack upside down??
Was it doing a loop?
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 16:32
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Originally Posted by Vonrichthoffen
It's only a ' Union Jack ' when flown on the ' Jackstaff ' of a naval vessel ! I think you mean the ' Union Flag ' !

And I'm Irish FFS !

And yes, it's too high and yes , lovely colour scheme .
There is some debate on the authenticity of whether it’s Union Jack or the Union Flag.
The conclusion is part of a 12 page review by Flagmakers. The result is that both can be used quite properly.
12 pages to determine which is right and they can’t make a decision. Sound like an accountants meeting
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 16:42
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Now being from Belfast where we know a thing or two about our glorious flag!!
In my opinion its fine
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 16:52
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Originally Posted by Lionel Lion
Has it got a cheese board?
Cheese board and liquors yes very nice - plus 34'' legroom in Y with 2-4-3 abreast (BOAC 1971 747-136)

27 or 36 First Class 42'' legroom armchair seats

Monarch lounge on Upper Deck 16 lounge seats and cocktail bar with steward

315 or 335 Y seats
Fillet steaks served in Y and full hot meals and drinks on all sectors

3 flight deck crew and up to 16 cabin crew
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 16:56
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Retro BOAC 747 routes

The kangaroo route was a favourite. It would be a three-week round trip from London to the Middle East – Rome, Bahrain or Tehran – then Bombay, Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok before on to Sydney or Melbourne "and sometimes Perth and Darwin" and vice versa.

Working positions on the 747 worked like this. Note this was before equality for women.

Cabin Service Director (always a male) in charge of the aircraft.
Purser First Class (male) in charge up front.
Purser Economy (male in charge 'down the back'
A bird (female) slaved up front and did the PA's.
B bird (female) looked after mums and babies.
C & D (either male or female) worked down the back.
Lounge steward (male) worked up front and looked after the lounge and flight deck.
Steward 1 (male) looked after and cooked the food up front.
Steward 2 (male) looked after and cooked the food down the back.
Bar 'tarts' 1 2 3 & 4 (male or female) worked in the 4 positions down the back selling drinks and duty frees along with renting headsets.

In those days there wasn't club or super club class and first class had 27 or 36 seats. Promotion was usually 'dead man's shoes' and took about 6 years to get from Steward 2 to Steward 1 and another 6 to make Purser.



A Typical 3 week trip from a BOAC steward's diary.

22 Dec 1973 Pax QF760 B707 LHR-ATH-TEH- DEL
23 Dec Asleep
24 Dec Taxi to Agra visit Taj Mahal. Evening Xmas room party with BOAC VC10 crew in the Oberoi plus we invite the Lufthansa 707 crew down the hall to join us for carol singing.Their incredibly young Captain leads them in 'Stille Nacht' (Silent Night) - puts me in mind of the Xmas day truce in WW1
25 Dec The flight we are due to operate diverts to Dum Dum due fog at Delhi airport, we remain in hotel with Xmas lunch provided by BOAC Catering. We are now OFF-SCHEDULE
26 Dec We are told to operate BA812 to HKG. The crew who should have taken that flight are not best pleased as they now have to stay in Delhi OFF-SCHEDULE
27 Dec Evening we Pax on Cathay Convair 880 HKG-KUL-Djakarta-PER.
28 Dec Asleep in the Parmelia. Evening room party plus the Cathay crew
29 Dec PM operate to SYD via MEL (bad turbulence)
30 Dec Bondi
31 Dec Bondi New Years Party on beach
1 Jan 1974 Bondi
2 Jan Bondi Visit Rose Bay and marvel that QF still operate Flying Boats from there (to Lord Howe island?)
3 Jan Operate SYD-HKG
4 Jan Evening operate HKG-BKK
5 Jan R&R in BKK
6 Jan evening operate to BAH
7 Jan Gulf Hotel on standby for diverted flight - no go
8 Jan Due to pax back to LHR on BA743 - but off-loaded so back to the hotel
9 Jan evening repatriation flight to UK on QF Jumbo, but in-flight engine shut down (my second such experience in two months with P&W JT9Ds) and we land in Vienna
10 Jan Lifted back to Blighty on BEA Trident 2 - trip over. £££allowances good

So there you have it -20 days at sea with just 5 flights operated plus 4 pax trips,
but that's how it often was - over forty years ago.

Regarding the upstairs lounge he recalls looking after Sir David Frost back in the days when he commuted to New York for ''that was the week that was''
All he wanted was a plate of smoked salmon and to curl up and go to sleep. On landing he always had strong coffee and orange juice.

RE my anecdotes in this thread about BOAC/BA crew life and lay-overs down route - may I extend the courtesy to Ian Burgess-Barber for his kindness in allowing his memories to be published here.
Best R.

Last edited by rog747; 25th Feb 2019 at 14:11.
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 17:02
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Originally Posted by DaveReidUK
In order to be truly authentic, it should now sit on the ground for a year before flying any revenue passengers while BALPA argues with management.
Great banter.
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