Historic flights for BA’s 90th anniversary
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Dubai, UAE: A British Airways captain has recreated part of the carrier’s first ever flight to mark the airline’s 90th anniversary celebrations.
The airline can trace its routes back to Hounslow Heath on August 25, 1919, when a De Havilland Airco 4A, operated by Air Transport & Travel Ltd, a forerunner company of British Airways, launched the world’s first daily international air service.
The 1919 aircraft, piloted by Lieutenant E.H. “Bill” Lawford, took off just after 9.10am for its two and half hour long flight to Paris Le Bourget carrying some newspapers, a consignment of leather, several brace of grouse, Devonshire cream and just a single passenger.
Nine decades on, British Airways Boeing 747 Captain Stratton Richey took to the skies in the world’s oldest flying De Havilland Tiger Moth to fly part of the original routing across the Kent countryside.
Flying in an open air cockpit, with just a compass, stopwatch and local knowledge for navigation, the aviation industry’s first commercial pilots could only have dreamed of how much aircraft technology would advance over the next 90 years.
Captain Stratton Richey said: “Flying in 1919 would have been very challenging and we owe a lot to those pilots’ bravery and pioneering spirit in developing aviation as we know it today. Even on a route as short as London to Paris many flights would have been forced to land several times along the way due to bad weather or technical issues.
“The Tiger Moth which I am privileged enough to fly in my spare time was built in 1933 and has many of the same features as the De Havilland 4A from 1919.
“One of the main differences between flying in 1919 and 2009 are the demands on the pilots. In 1919 you really had to fly every second of the journey sitting out in the open air being buffeted by the best of the British weather.
“In 2009 it is much more about managing the flight as part of a worldwide operation, the aircraft’s myriad of computer systems, and ensuring up to 350 customers sitting behind you are flown safely from A to B while having an enjoyable and relaxing time.”
The fare for a return flight to Paris in 1919 was
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