I was still in my teens when I first got to fly aboard the Boeing 747. I suppose that over the decades there have been countless teens who did the same only I was aboard Air Canada's first and brand new 'jumbo jet.'
I was supposed to be on a DC-8 red eye flight Toronto to Heath Row. It was lightly booked, something that happened in those days. It was also delayed and delayed and delayed. Gremlins apparently.
Airlines cared more about their paying customers back then which was probably why we were informed they were fetching another aircraft for the flight. Fine, great, whatever - let's just go. And then it showed up. It wasn't this 747's very first flight but it was close.
So the passengers on what was to have been a lightly booked DC-8 instead boarded this cavernous beauty. The cabin crew invited us to seat ourselves and stretch out. Many of us got a row of seats to ourselves. For a red eye, we were going to be comfortable.
And now that era ends. The Queen of the Sky will soon be no more, at least for the passenger trade. Covid-19 and the collapse of air travel is pushing her to a premature demise. British Airways just announced it is retiring its entire 747 fleet.
There are still some 747s on Boeing's assembly line, about 16. That'll be it. The 747-8s include two that will be the next and last Air Force One(s). With any luck, Joe Biden will be their first presidential passenger.
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BTW, the 747 may have been the Queen of the Sky but, when it comes to jumbo jets, Lockheed's L-1011 was always the King. The Tri-Star damned near ruined Rolls Royce but there was nothing like it.
"Airlines cared more about their paying customers back then . . . " They sure did. Early air travel was influenced by the competition: trains and boats which had spacious seats and good service. That was waning by the time the 747 appeared but the influence lingered.
ReplyDeleteThen along came Reagan to ruin air travel with deregulation. The first casualty was Pan Am.
BTW, remember the 727? Designed for the Berlin Air Lift and short runways, it could take off like an homesick angel.
I remember the 727 well, the D.B. Cooper special.
ReplyDeleteMulroney echoed Reagan when he deregulated air transportation in Canada. The inevitable result was consolidation. Canadian Pacific, gone. Pacific Western, gone. Wardair, gone. Regional and charter carriers, gone. Jet service (DC-9 especially) to secondary airports, gone. Air service to northern Canada whittled to the bone. Then, under Air Canada, economy/coach class was downgraded to Cattle Class.
I did a lot of air travel in the 70s and 80s. I last flew seven years ago and that was to attend my dad's funeral. That, I hope, was also my last flight.
I remember it well. Now if you want good service you have to fly with Korean Air with 747. Anyong
ReplyDeleteI flew on the IL-86, the first Soviet wide-body jet. Boarding in Leningrad, as St. Petersburg was then called, we entered the plane from stairs on the tarmac, depositing our luggage in the baggage hold on the way up to the passenger compartment. On takeoff, the jet blasted down the runway then bumped along a field before we finally got airborne. The Canadians I was with cheered, which was met with glares of disapproval from other passengers and crew. White knuckle flying doesn't begin to describe it.
ReplyDeleteCap
ReplyDeleteCap, I've never flown Soviet/Russian but I did work for a guy who ran various Third World airlines and operated a lot of that equipment. The events he recounted were enough that I would take a train first.
While the Russians were struggling to develop the IL-86 they tried to buy 30 L-1011s but the sale was blocked by Jimmy Carter. Moscow also tried to buy American engines for their widebody but, again, the sale was blocked because the engines had too much sensitive technology. It seems no one had forgotten that Stalin used copied Rolls Royce engines to power the Mig-15.
Ahhh, Wardair no doubt the pinnacle of cut rate flying!
ReplyDeletea shame they took on the big boys!
Lockheed 1011; the nicest airliner I ever flew in.
Most interesting flight, a Cessna Seneca transporting loggers to Ingenika https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingenika_Airport
I flew in a Bristol Britannia cargo aircraft, no seats, as an air cadet, and the pilot showed his prowess at aerobatics!
He would not get away with those antics nowadays.
Most successful aircraft ever; the DC3 Dakota.
TB
Hey, TB. I share your fond memories of the L-1011. I read a description of what set Lockheed apart from its competitors. The others, Douglas, etc., designed aircraft to the "latest" technology. By contrast, Lockheed went one step further by identifying and developing innovative technology to suit their projects. Call it the Kelly Johnson advantage, the attitude that created aircraft such as the SR-71. That's why the L-1011 was so far ahead of its time and so costly. Douglas countered with the DC-10. I can't imagine anyone flew in both without recognizing the differences.
ReplyDeleteI too flew in the Bristol Brittania, an RCAF Yukon. Largest propellers in the Free World and second only to the Soviet Bear bomber. I assume you also flew aboard a Yukon. Did you ever get aboard the ASW patrol aircraft, the Canadair Argus? It could fly from Shearwater to Portugal and back without refueling. I knew some navigators and pilots who flew those endless missions. They said the a/c had a static electricity problem that made just about everyone airsick at some point on those extended patrol missions.
I never flew on the DC-3, the best airplane Douglas ever produced. I remember flying into Winnipeg with the David Lewis campaign during the 74 election. The Convair we were aboard had developed a major oil leak in the port engine so we had to set down in Winnipeg for repairs. While we taxied in to a service hangar I was amazed to see so many DC-3s on the tarmac. I never imagined there were so many still around in service. There are still some flying and they're in demand, sort of like the DH Beaver and Otter.
That was a golden era for aviation. This may sound weird but I really loved the smell of jet fuel.
I flew in the Britannia in the UK as a member of the Air Cadets with who I learnt to fly some very basic gliders/sailplanes.
ReplyDeleteI also did air experience in a DH Chipmunk .
Since then I did a little gliding and jumped out of few airworthy aircraft just for the hell of it!!
My biggest mistake was not to take up a customers offer to fly in a Boeing Stearman out of Qualicum!
Aviation fascinates me from the engineering to the politics of manufacture.
TB