Bristol 175 Britannia

My first ever flight was in January 1960 on board a Britannia charter flight out of the RAF Katanayeke Ceylon.
We had just closed down the station and handed over to Ceylon Air Force. We took off at a temperature of 104F and landed at Gatwick with ice and snow. We had engine trouble all the way and after climbing to altitude out of Istanbul we descended on 3 all the way to England where we were diverted from Heathrow to Gatwick (in case we made a mess on the runway?) Never the less we always felt the Britannias were a good solid aircraft. My last flight on one was in 1972 Akrotiri to Lyneham.

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One of the great joys of my life was to fly on one of Caledonian's Britannia's in 1965 between JFK and Prestwick. I was very young and had flown twice before on 707's. But the magic of flying on the Brit was an experience that never left me.

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My first flight, I was a Royal Navy rating, I flew to Singapore on a British Eagle Britannia on Sunday 20th February 1966 (wish I could find the flight number) via Abadan, Colombo and landed at Paya Lebar Airport, Singapore something like 23 hours later. It was cold and drizzly on take-off at Heathrow, and very hot and sticky on arrival - you could smell the jungle. A good flight (if you forget the screaming babies!) and the crew could not do enough to make our journey more comfortable. Long live the name of British Eagle.

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remmember my second flight ever was in the brit .i think its the duxford aircraft , monarch were operating it i flew from clermont ferrand to luton , amazing aircraft even at the end of its service life the aircraft was class

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My first ever flight from USA to England was on a Britania in 1959. It was a wonderful experience and I can vividly recall my first glimpse of dawn on the horizon and my first view of English soil in the early morning. The flight and the whole experience were obviously memorable.

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My first ever flight from USA to England was on a Britania in 1959. It was a wonderful experience and I can vividly recall my first glimpse of dawn on the horizon and my first view of English soil in the early morning. The flight and the whole experience were obviously memorable.

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My father was a Britannia Captain with Ghana, Caledonian and Donaldsons. Flew many hours in G-AOVJ, G-AOVF, G-ATNZ, G-APNA & G-APNB. Favorite trip, DA 115 /116 Gatwick - Munich.

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44 years ago I scrapped Britannia G-ANBH at Southend (BKS). This was an ex-BOAC aircraft. Just found in my loft, the Captains control column (map lights still work), pilots fuel log and coloured route maps bearing the registration and some other paperwork. Amazing what we keep sometimes .

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my flights as follows
Stansted air charter london via Istanbul Karachi columbo Singapore I was in forces she then went via Christmas is via
America on her way home carrying two crews it was her maiden
voyage as we helped with the meals a shortage of hostess
next my return a bua Britannia got caught in a storm after
leaving turkey on landing the control tower told us part of the tail was missing this was in the 1950s-1960s
yours david smith

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In the Summers of 1966 and 67 I had a 'vac job' at Teesside Airport. BKS were using 'Brits' on theeir scheduled service to London and British Eagle used the airport for crew training. Transglobe Airways also used Teesside for training and brought a Brit they had recently bought from Aero Mexico. It was memorable because the mother of the airline's owner was repairing seat covers with her needle and thread as the training was going on.

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I visited the Brit at Duxford yesterday. Like many of you on here I too flew on one of these to Singapore in June 1966. I was only a young child - Dad was in the forces. However, thanks to the example in the Duxford aircraft, I distinctly remember the "air cot" hung on the luggage rack rail in which my 6 week old sister spent many hours. Wouldnt happen these days!

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Do you have color pictures of the Bristol Britania aircraft when it had the Capital Airlines paint. When Capital was interested in buying them in the 1950's. I worked for Capital from 1951 until the United merger 1n 1961 and retired from United in 1991. I am trying to build plastic scale 1 /144 models of Capitals planes flown and hopefully to buy.

I found a Eastern DC-3 ---located Capital decals in Texas(man has since past on). I used a PanAM DC-4 ---found Capital Decals in Canada. Used a TWA Connie ---found decals in Idaho. Vicount was no problem. But wante to go further with wishfull hoping of Capital to purchase: Electra Convair 880 Bristol . Have found decals for Capital's Electra and Convair 880. But the vender isn't able to find any pictures of Capital and the Bristol. Thanks! Dutch

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When in the RAF I flew in a Britannia from Heathrow to RAF Changi Singapore in June 1966, the aircraft landed at Abadan and Colombo(then Ceylon).

I made the return trip in March 1967 landing again at Colombo where we had an overnight stop due to an undercarriage problem another stop was made at Kuwait.

I found the flights quite smooth in the main but a little on the noisy side.

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Both Britannia types the 102 and 312 have been all time favourite aircraft for decades. My brother and I used to fly from London Airport (as was) as unaccompanied minors to Kuwait with BOAC where our parents were then living. Fond memories of what was then an enjoyable flying experience and which was to give me a 43 year career in aviation.

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We flew on a B.O.A.C. Britannia in 1960 on our way to join my Father who was stationed in the R.A.F. at Singapore. I was 10 years old, I recall, the aircraft stopped at Karachi ( I think to refuel). Soon after we had taken off from Karachi an fire started in one of the engines and we had to make a quick landing.....now I'm not sure if we returned to Karachi, or landed elsewhere, in any case we were put up in a hotel , while a new engine was flown out........all exiting stuff for a 10 year old.. and thats when I joined "The B.O.A.C Junior Jet Club.

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I was a loadmaster for african cargo airways in 1974 on 5Y ALT
our main work back then was the meat run from Khartoum to Tripoli, have some hairy stories about the whispering giant including nearly hiting the tower in Khartoum in a sandstorm !

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we travelled from i think manchester to perth 1966 as imigrants via persia colombo one thing i do recall was turbulents .and landing in perth was just afield if anyone has flown this route would apreciate feedback.have since flown on jumbo an a380 .

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I was captain on the Britannia at the age of 27. I bring the last one from South Africa.It is now preserved at Kemble in RAF colours as XM496. Superb Aircraft.

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I was Flight Engineer on the Bristol Britannia I was very young and the aircraft was older technology. I enjoyed it it was a tough apprenticeship for a Flight Engineer most of my fellow crew were forty plus I was mid twenties and looked like a kid the F /E carried a huge amount of responsibility on this aircraft so I had to really prove my worth being the youngest crew member-often younger than the cabin crew. I now have a pilots licence and 18,500 hours as a Flight Engineer including the the 707 and the 747-300 series. Flying has been my life to date long may it continue.

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I first flew in a Brit on my 1966 RAF posting to Singapore in a British Eagle a /c and was posted to Staging A /C Servicing (S.A.S) flight for 2.5 years. I developed a great respect for the Queen of the Skies as I worked on it for all that time along with all other visiting A /C.On leaving the RAF I joined BOAC /BA where I obtained CAA licences on many Boeing A /C and Concorde.

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