Paul K wrote:I flew from Heathrow ( or was it Gatwick ? ) to Lagos, via Kano in 1976 with BCal, and I wonder now if it was a DC10 ? I have a feeling it was.
In '76 it was more likely to be VC10.
How I wish, Nigel. I'd love to be able to say I'd flown in a VC-10, but it definitely wasn't one.
cstorey wrote:Paul : you are almost certainly correct that it was a DC10 as I think that all the VC10s had gone ( to Malawi, Oman etc) by late 1974, and BCal did not acquire its only 747 ( known as Hitler's Revenge for some obscure reason connected with its lack of reliability) until rather later
Yes, it definitely wasn't a 747 so you must be right, Chris. I've flown on a number of DC-10s, but had completely forgotten about that one until this thread came up. I believe its also the only time I ever flew with British Caledonian.
Garry Russell wrote:BCAL had two Boeing 747's that I can think of
G-BJXN, G-HUGE
BA inherited them and operated them on routes out of Gatwick. At least one of them was a combi and had freight on the main deck. We Heathrow crews were called to work them when they were short at LGW. It only carried a small number of economy passengers which meant that the senior crew took those positions in contrast to LHR aircraft which had hundreds
That picture of the Caledonian Tristar is very odd. It is dated 1998 but BA had got shot of Airtours/Caledonian by then so it can't be. But as Dave says, Utopia came in in 1997 so that could be right. I don't remember the BCAL Airbuses being in Caledonian colours either. I wish I hadn't found that photo now
DaveB wrote:I was going to add that G-HUGE was BA's toe-dip into big time freight.
BA have had a few of their own freighters in the past. At the moment they wet lease three brand new 747-8F freighters in BA World Cargo livery as well as leasing others on an ad hoc basis.
I used to love working on the 707 freighters. I know I'm always going on about it - but a steward on a freighter? It was the best job in the world
