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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0424.PDF
432 FLIGHT,6 April 1961 Right, "Ro//s- Royce" 707 G-APFI, the prov- ing fight aircraft, at Kindley Field, Bermuda. Bs/o/V, steep take-of from Kindley PERUVING FLIGHT By Mark Lambert UNDOUBTEDLY the best way to travel over long distancesis by big jet airliner—and the best way to experience big-jet travel is, to my mind, a "round-the houses" proving flight like the one I have just accompanied. With their "Rolls-Royce 707s," BO AC have made proving flights west-bound to Hong Kong, east-bound to Teheran and, on this third flight, southinto the Caribbean and down to Lima, Peru. The 707 route net- work is now being greatly extended and next Tuesday the first ofthe direct services to Lima will begin, re-establishing an Anglo- Peruvian link which was broken by BO AC in April 1951. BOAC's fifteen 707s are already flying services to New York,with extensions into the middle west at Chicago and Detroit; to Hong Kong via San Francisco, Honolulu and Tokyo; to LosAngeles non-stop; and from New York to Bermuda. The new Lima service will be twice weekly in each direction, flying a throughservice via New York and Nassau. The total distance is just over 7,000 miles and the outward flight will take 18hr 20min elapsedtime, although the difference between local departure and local arrival time will be 12hr. 20min. The return trip will take 17hr 15min. The 707 cabins are laid out for 32 first-class passengers four-abreast forward and 97 economy class six-abreast in the rear; and separate galleys and cabin staff attend the two groups. Economyservice is good: first-class service is almost unbelievable, with some little touches of exotic luxury which really add to personal comfortrather than merely filling the overnight bag with odd trinkets. BOAC certainly takes its reputation for service very seriously. After each sumptuous first-class meal—and there seems to be anendless succession of them—each passenger receives a very hot, damp face-towel with which to mop his brow. A Japanese idea,this, but surprisingly effective if one accepts that a fine meal taxes one's resources a little. The seating is extremely comfortable, thedecor restful and the small but closely spaced windows provide a surprisingly good view. Flying high and fast, the journey-time isshort and one may see little or nothing of the ground below: a complete climatic or geographical area may slip by unnoticed.To cram eight hours of time difference, longitude-wise, into a nine- hour flight may be hard on the passenger's system, but it is infinitelypreferable to a long, noisy haul at half the speed. Still further extensions of the 707 network are in prospect. ALondon - Washington service, calling alternately at Boston or New York, will come in June; and the same month will see aLondon - New York - Barbados - Trinidad route. Later in the year Bogota will also be served, on a separate route via Bermuda,Trinidad and Caracas. During the summer of 1962 BOAC hope to extend the Lima service down to Santiago, Chile, to link up with theexisting Comet service via Africa and the eastern states of South America. Any new service into South America is an importantflag-carrying operation and a very useful business service—and the holiday potential of that continent, already high for Americans, islooming large for British travellers. These new routes should raise 707 utilization from 6^hr to lOJhr per day and will require apronturn-rounds at London Airport. Some 52 services per week will leave London. The proving flight which this account concerns was logicallyaimed at investigating operating conditions and familiarizing crews for most of the new services to be introduced this year. Westarted from London Airport with perhaps 50 people on board, including 11 BOAC captains, two engineers, two first officers, onenavigator and one pilot navigator. Among the captains were Capt J. T. Percy, senior pilot of BOAC; Capt T. Nisbet, flight managerof the 707 flight; and Capt Alderson, BOAC's technical manager. The flight, in aircraft G-APFI, was numbered JPF 024 and tookoff from London weighing 128,400kg at an unstick speed of 161kt. Capt Nisbet was in command, and we made Bermuda, cruising formost of the time at 35,OOOft, in the record time of 6hr 52min. Our route took us north of weather ship Juliet, south of Charlie, andthrough 47°N 50cW, quite close to St. Johns, Newfoundland. Bermuda, a collection of more than a hundred islands, small andlarge, has average temperatures ranging from 67° in February to Below left, modern Spanish colonial architecture in a residential suburb of Lima. Right, the ultra-modern sailing club headquarters on the Pacific at Callao, almost on the outskirts of Lima. The bathing season is just ending
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