British European Airways documentary.I hope that you enjoy it,Thanks for following.#aviation #planespotting #airport #british #britishairways #londonairport
Seeing this brings back loads of memories. I joined BEA in 1972 as a young second officer on the Trident 3B at Heathrow. Retired from by then BA in 2006. Halcyon days.
I'm intrigued to know what the Captain's were like , especially the older ones . I imagine them to be stiff , humourless sticklers with juniors in constant fear of doing something wrong - like it was for me as a junior doctor . I suppose I'm biased having read about the Staines crash .
@@alistair-01 No. I joined BEA several months after the PI crash and on a different type of Trident so our paths would not have normally crossed. I was on the Trident 3B. It was a Trident 1 which crashed at Staines. The two a/c were very different so T3 crews didn’t fly T1 a/c and visa versa.
I love these old films of English life of times past and one common denominator that strikes me (whatever the films content) is that life was handled with efficiency and decorum by, both men and women, of a certain age and experience.....Something that rarely seems to be appreciated these days......And, of course, those refined English voices speaking vocabulary with such diction. Marvellous
Some happy memories; I joined BEA as a load control clerk in1968 and eventually retiring as a BA Airbus captain in 2005 (having "climbed up the hawse pipe" in naval terms). I saw a couple of shots of Terminal Control up high in Terminal 1 (the bit where the engineers were finding a replacement aircraft). Load control was next door with the same wonderful view of the northern runway.
My old man was BEA and BA for thirty years too. Started on the Tugs and became Supervisor of ground staff. You probably crossed paths on more than one occassion!
I lament when I see films like this. When Britain was an industrial power house, producing, amongst others, the Trident, Viscount & VC-10. 😭. I think the narrator is Patrick Allen.
@@bfc3057 And you obviously haven't noticed it is no longer a cesspit of poverty today. We are a new member of the League of Third World Nations. Our new visitors no longer need airlines, the people smugglers have bankrupted Thomas Cook and cheap unseaworthy dinghies have replaced jet airliners. I'm sure you must agree that things can only get better under our wonderful new Prime Minister Mr. Blair.
@@bfc3057 I watched this video because the first planes I travelled on were BEA in the late sixties and early seventies. Furthermore the British didn't tend to shoot their way into other countries, France excepted of course. The first British to arrive on foreign shores were almost exclusively traders travelling for commerce. The greatest cause of problems were inevitably politicians. Some things just never change.
Happy memories. I joined BEA straight from university in 1968 and enjoyed a very happy and rewarding career until I left, what was now British Airways inn 1982
While operating the Vanguard we often positioned to Paris on the Trident. !st Class included a pre take of drink, full silver service produced from a trolley, 3 course meal plus cheese and biscuits, after dinner liqueur and of course chocolates. Trays cleared away just after the gear went down, all in a calm atmosphere for a 30 minute flight. Very similar to today?
I recall BEA/BA intra-European F class service from this era and this sounds about right for a longer intra-European sector except that on BEA the starter was pre-plated and was on the tray when handed to you. But I think that you will find that on very short sectors such as London - Paris it would have been a single service all on a tray, albeit with table linen, real china and glassware, rather than the full silver service referred to, as due to the very short sector time a course by course service from the trolley would not have been possible.
Just seeing the BEA livery brings back memories of my first ever flight in an Airliner, a BEA DH Comet 4b to Basle and back in 1968. So different to how big Airliners seem now
Great video , with narration of its time . BEA was my first flight . Glasgow to Edinburgh on a BEA Viscount , so forever one of my favourites . It was a time when travelling by plane was exciting - now it’s efficient but routine , no glamour at all . It was truly No1 in Europe ! Thanks for posting
Strangely my first flight was also on a BEA Viscount in the opposite direction. I was at university in Edinburgh but lived in Glasgow and at the start of my second term decided to use two guineas out of my grant to pay the fare to fly home for the weekend (don't tell the authorities!). I was desperate to experience the thrill of flying for the first time.
@@fritzfrostick6910 yes it was my Mum , knowing I was desperate to fly , that took me to Edinburgh . I think the plane went on to Aberdeen . Unfortunately having spent the day in Edinburgh the plane was cancelled on way home ! Still my first flight was magic . I think he got up to 4000 ft and it took 20 mins
Joined BEA as a General Apprentice in 1965.Between 1968 and 72 worked at West London Air Termina ( WLAT ) in the Traffic Dep.Retired from aviation in 2011.The years at BEA were without doubt the most enjoyable !
I flew on BEA trident to Nicosia, Cyprus from 1970 to 1973 on main school holiday from my school in Basingstokento stay with my parents in Famagusta. My father worked for MOD as civil servant at the British army base. Thankfully, my family went back home to Britain in 1973 a year before the Turkish invasion in 1974. Nice Nicosa airport but sadly it is in ruin and closed except as a UN base. The Cyprus airways Trident still there up to now still damaged beyond repair. I remember flying with BEA except for one trip in a Cyprus airways Trident. As you may well known, in the late 1970's BEA merged with BOAC to became British Airways in which I start flying in 1976 to Hong Kong.
Some nice shots of BEA Routemasters at work there, the service was operated by London Transport on behalf of BEA from what is now Stamford Brook Garage.....
I flew in Tridents throughout the late 70s...so stylish, and elegant. Even towards the end of service, the captain would frequently announce a perfectly automatic landing, which I appreciated, as an avgeek who knew I was flying history❤❤❤
I was fortunate to have flown on BEA during my family trips to see relatives and friends in Yugoslavia during the early 70s. We'd fly from MIA-LHR on National and then connect at LHR to Belgrade.
Took my first trip on a Trident in '75. School ski trip. Fog in Sofia so we diverted to Bucharest. Escorted back to Bulgaria on the train accompanied by rifle and bayonet carrying guards. Fun! Thanks for posting!
Wow if this was 1971 then the only widebody aircraft would be the B747 with the A300, L1011 and dc10s coming a few years later. Most long haul flights would be dc8 and 707 aircraft with b747s gradually becoming more used over the years
From the triumphant tone at the end it sounded as if they didn't see the merger with BOAC coming; "new generations of aircraft which will carry the name BEA through the 70s" 😳
My ears pricked up when the stewardess announced, "Captain Gillman welcomes you aboard..." I presume this is referring to Ron Gillman, who wrote the excellent book "Croydon to Concorde". What a great film. How it has all changed!
The Trident was an amazing airplane. The longer Trident 3B featured the extra "booster" engine, for extra power on take-off, making it the only "four-engine" tri-jet. The most noticeable thing about the Trident was the off-set nose gear. It certainly was seen quite often throughout those European airports back then, until the Boeing 727, 737 and the MCD DC-9 then dominated the short-haul jet service. It was a tremendous marvel of British technology back then with "Auto-land" and "CAT-II" installed in the cockpit. Later in the future, when the wide-body Lockheed L-1011 was produced, that airplane also featured the "Auto-land" as well.
Yes it was a trailer containing passengers luggage. These AEC Routemasters (a variation of the famous London bus) provided a shuttle service from Heathrow Airport, via the M4, to the West London Air Terminal on the Cromwell Road. They lasted into British Airways days, but I’m not sure when this service was withdrawn. Possibly when the extension to the Piccadilly Line opened in 1977 ?.
@@idealjohn It ended in 1974, which was when BEA and BOAC merged to become BA. I can still remember using that terminal as a young child. It became a Sainsbury's, which is still there. They kept the raised access road for some time, but it's largely gone now, replaced by flats, though there is still a raised access road to the flats.
@@idealjohn Did it not get replaced by the A1 buses from Cromwell Road or so. I seem to remember them running in the 80s but not a route master though.
It sounds optimistic in tone. And yet, by 1971, the British aircraft industry was in terminal decline by 1971. In fact, the entire British manufacturing industry was in a terrible state everywhere. Ship yards, motor vehicle manufacturers, coal mining, steel, virtually every conceivable industry that made something was closing down, or in merger negotiations, or dealing with strikes etc. The choices had already been made. Then trident, the Vc10, the Britannia etc. So it is quite interesting to see how happy and optimistic the tone is, and how we look at those days as being optimistic. Perhaps it really was? Perhaps, we imagine that it was doom and gloom only knowing what happened by the early ‘80s, when the Thatcher era was really the final nail in the coffin. But life was maybe better then. And people were hopeful? Even when the economics of it didn’t reflect that?
I agree with you in general terms. The meal was better and the seat pitch better. On the downside, in a direct comparison between BA C class (Club Europe) today and BEA Y class, there was no lounge access, no empty centre seat and no free drinks (alcoholic drinks were charged for in Y class in the 70's). It must also be remembered that BEA also offered First (F) class on intra-European flight in the 70's. But the big difference was the atmosphere on board. Less regimented. Less tense. More relaxed.
Why is "Auto Land" still not a viable thing? Surely in the 21st century, if visibility was zero, say, surely planes should be able to land themselves as the Trident would seem like a model airplane out of a box compared to the technology today.
The answer to that is yes. By 1971 there had been rumblings of a merger, but no name had been chosen. In fact even after the event there hadn't really been a merger there was British Airways Overseas Division (BAOD) which was the former BOAC and British Airways European Division (BAED) which was the former BEA. It took a long time to really become one company.
05:15 “..Returning by BE023 from Orly on the 19th, yes his accommodation is confirmed for 5 nights at the George V.. “ Ooh Very swanky! A night at the George Cinq would probably cost about the same as the value of my car! A popular inn for the very well heeled along with the next door Prince de Galle don’t you know 😄
I remember when I was very young plane spotting at Heathrow from the Queens building and there being nothing but those trident aircraft . I try to avoid flying these days with the UK Border Farce problem when you return to your own country . Illegals get in quicker!
British Airways history aside, is it not about time they freshened up their image with perhaps a new livery and logo. The last time, I think they did it was over 30 years ago. I know it's a costly thing to do but many airlines have been doing so over the last 5-10 years. Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Air France, Air New Zealand, American Airlines and Cyprus Airways are just some examples i can think of. Might help to raise their profile in people's minds and thereby lead to more passenger bookings.
