Do You Remember Your First Flight

[Grandad]

Do You Remember Your First Flight
This weeks Russian aircraft disaster set my mind thinking about my own flying experiences. Apart from a short flight in a De Haviland Rapide around 1950 when in the sea cadets, our first holiday flight was in 1958. On that occasion we flew from London Airport to Milan, then by coach to Lignano for 7 nights followed by a transfer to Molveno for a further 7 nights. 14 nights in all, half board, flights hotel and transfers; £26 each.
We flew with Alitalia in one of their lovely Vickers Viscount airplanes. Propelled by four Rolls Royce Dart turboprop engines and seating 48 passengers. Two each side of a centre aisle. I had personal association with Viscounts because as an apprentice I did some of the machining of nosewheel and main undercarriage trunnions for those aircraft. The flight took about 4 hours (Max speed around 320mph) and here is a snap through the window of the two port engines as we approached Milan just as the sun was rising.

I was in the RAF at the time and we had married the year before so this was our first 'foreign' holiday. We have taken well over 100 holiday flights since that first one.
Thinking back; what is now Heathrow was at that time London Airport, a miniscule airport compared to todays massive 5 terminal complex. The original London Airport was opened in 1946 when there was no departure areas as we know them today. Passengers waited in tents to be called to their flights. In 1955 the Queen opened the new London Airport with its new building and departure lounge.
Part of the new 'Queens Building' was an observation room above the departure lounge. From 1960, when we lived in Harrow Middlesex, it was a popular Sunday outing to drive to the airport (free parking) and watch the aircraft arriving and departing from The Queens Building. Mrs G used to get a kick out of watching the 'batman' guide each aircraft on to its stand and give the pilot a 'thumbs up' . I have pictures somewhere but have never (yet) digitally scanned them. And of course, there were no security checks when you just went as a visitor.
How things have changed.

Do any of you remember your first flight?

[Grandad]

Just found this picture from The Queens Building c1959 of a Sabena (Belgian) Convair Metropolitan. A Viscount can be seen in top left corner of frame. Note passengers and crew just wandering around the aircraft and the apron looking more like some third world airport today. The control tower is upper centre frame.

[Ruby Slippers]

Yes, I most certainly DO remember my first flight, Grandad! It was in 1993 - to Egypt! a terrifying experience. I was separated from my travelling companion, seat-wise, and we kept hitting air pockets! I wondered what the hell was happening! However, I went on to make many more flights and much longer ones.

[Grandad]

Turbulence doesn't worry me RS but, with my engineers hat on, I DO think that if this big bird is dropping through lack of atmosphere, I hope the wings are strong enough when they hit something that will give them lift.

[LovelyLadyLux]

The first flight I remember was in or about 1965 which was a Translantic when I flew with my Grannie via British Airways back to Scotland from Canada. I don't remember specifics of the flight other than it was long. I think the time change impressed me more.

I'm not sure how many flights I've had over the years either - quite a few. I've flown in 2 seater Cessnas to Beavers up to big airliners. Have never been in a helicopter though.

[Horus]

Grandad, your reference to flying Alitalia made me start digging back through some old pre-digital photographs to find this one. It is on a Zambian Airlines DC3 (I think) and we are about to land at a small bush airport in the North of the country around 1970.

Note the Rolls Royce engines


It jogged my memory because in keeping with a lot of newly emerged African countries they could not operate an airline in their own right and so would sub-contact the operational side to other more established world airlines, in this case it was operated by Alitalia Airways. Subsequently I flew many times with that airline both on sub-contracted Zambian Airways and proper Alitalia flights between Zambia and the UK on mainly DC8’s & DC10’s.

I also flew on the very last VC10 operated by the now defunct British Caledonian, now that was a plane to fly on, a relatively short take off on full power, then slammed back into your seats and an almost vertical climb up to about 20,000 feet before levelling off. Narrow aircraft by today’s standards and no in flight entertainment as such, but you could have a cigarette if you smoked and while away the flight with a drink and a good book, in many ways it was better than today’s experience of flying.

No fear of being blown up, just the odd hijacking by Bader Minhof or the likes and little if any restrictions. I often asked and was never refused a visit to the flight deck and I have been in the cockpit of most long haul flights I have been on during that time. Looking back I now realise that I lived in a better age and time when compared to today’s experience.

[Grandad]

Ah yes H, we both smoked at that time and when checking in you had the option of smoking or non smoking. I think all the smokers were at the back but my memory may not be too clear on that because most people smoked at that time
I too have spent many hours on flight decks and I remember when the children were small taking them all forward to say hello to the captain.
LLL, I can imagine that was a very long flight. Was it BA then or still BOAC. Were Comets in service at that time? As Horus has said, flying was a different experience at that time.

[Jayway]

Yes, I remember mine, at a county fair. A small plane, the seats were tipped back, the whole thing shook at takeoff and I felt like the Pope when it landed, felt like kissing the ground - - -

[LovelyLadyLux]

@Grandad - it was so long ago I don't remember which airline it was but it was a British Airline as those were the only ones (I believe) flying across the Atlantic. Planes were not flying that fast then either so am sure it was a SUPER long flight. I think I slept most of the way

[Grandad]

As we have talked here and on another thread about security when travelling abroad, I thought you might like this Pathe video about cross channel car ferries from Dover in the '60's. It seems that security was no more than someone checking your ticket as you boarded the ship.

phpBB [video]

A little blast from the past

[Horus]

As I said earlier, we lived in more peaceful times, maybe the recent memory of the world war made people more content with their lot and religious and political agendas did not exist.

[Robbo70]

My first flight would have been sometime in the 70s and probably to somewhere in Spain. I do remember as I got a little older how we were all a little hesitant about a trip to Spain flying with the infamous Dan Air. It was a bit rough but it got us there and got us back

[Horus]

They used to call it Dan Dare in my day, it really did have a crap reputation

[Grandad]

As I said earlier, we lived in more peaceful times, maybe the recent memory of the world war made people more content with their lot and religious and political agendas did not exist.

I think you are probably correct H. I remember those as happy times, good employment, we started a family early '60's, and the Northern Ireland 'Troubles' did not start until 1968.
With that came our first experiences of terrorism.
And we have not been free of the fear of terrorist activity ever since...

[Horus]

To be fair, in most cases the IRA certainly in the early days before all of the splinter groups emerged used to give coded warnings that allowed the authorities to clear the area. This resulted in plenty of structural damage, but human casualties were usually fairly low and they got the propaganda exposure that they craved.

[Mad Dilys]

My first flight was from Manston Airport in Kent to Perpignon in France in June 1963. Manston airport was pretty basic and vey small. The plane was a Douglas DC3 left over from the war - no frills at all, nothing like emergency oxygen when my sister collapsed with breathing trouble. When we landed they carried her off the plane and laid her out on the bare roasting hot asphalt in the "shade" of the wing.

My other travelling companion was a Round the World air stewardess for BOAC who nearly did a runner when she saw what we were going to be travelling in and the fear increased during our stay, when a plane crashed into the mountain taking off from Perpignon. The airport was completely surrounded by mountains so take off was at a very sharp angle with no room for error.

[Horus]

I well remember the DC3's MD that is one in my picture, at least it was better than the usual plane which was a Turbo Prop of some unknown origin that obviously doubled up as a cargo transport as there was usually a hydraulic support similar to a pit prop (maybe it was one ) that went up and down with alarming regularity as the fuselage flexed during the bumpy low level flight.

[Grandad]

And amazingly there are still some DC3's in service. A real workhorse.

I remember as a boy (here goes grandad again ) we thought the Daks in the war only had one engine because, as the engines were so close to the fuselage, you couldn't see the furthest engine viewed side on.

H, I looked again at your picture, doesn't look like a DC3 nacelle, and where is the prop hub? Looks more like a jet

@MD Since your flight from Manston the airport has gone through many changes of use over the years. Yugotours ran from there; then for many years it was a freight only airfield. More recently KLM tried to use it for a shuttle to their hub at Schiphol, but that was not viable. Right now Thanet council is considering compulsory purchase so that the airport can be used for residential and commercial development.

Manston has a commendable history being over a mile long and built by the Yanks in the war and continuing as an emergency airfield for many years because it still had 'Fido' the airfield foam system for aircraft in difficulties with failed undercarriage or even fire....

[Mad Dilys]

Good point Grandad about the propellers because I clearly remember them. There was a lot of presumably intended flexing of the wings too, which we made a few jokes about.............

[Horus]

H, I looked again at your picture, doesn't look like a DC3 nacelle, and where is the prop hub? Looks more like a jet

I agree and should have checked the hastily upoaded image (which was scanned from a tiny 4" print) I think thjat may be an Alitalia flight landing at Lusaka airport