The Brit Collection

[amesmj]

I thought i would start a thread on British Aviation from the earliest days before the merger of British European Airways BEA and British Overseas Airways Corporation BOAC through to British Airways of the present day. To make the thread more intersting i wondered if we could make it an open thread for all to participate, so if you have any photographs, post cards or any other memorabilia you can photograph then please post them here.
To start us off lets start with BEA.....
To post model photo's of Vickers Vikings, DC-3's and Airspeed Ambassadors would be great, but unfortunately i don't have any, but if anyone has (any scale) then it would be appreciated. So here goes with a few photo's from my model collection....
First a few props, these being a Viscount, Vanguard and the Merchantman Freighter











please enjoy the pics and please add any info, pics etc if you have any......

[robertjon5]

well as you know, i have loads of boac models. will post some soon.
great models and pics!!

[amesmj]

BEA moves into the 'Jet Age' with the purchase of Comet 4B's and the Hawker Siddeley Tridents.......

[amesmj]

Here's a few pictures of the Trident 3B G-AWZK during it's restoration at Manchester Airport UK.

[steve k]

Loving the model shots Martin, dioramas looking great mate. Fantastic to see this restored Trident, I have a few of em in 1/400 and they look great.

[robertjon5]

WELL, FINALLY GOT ROUND TO TAKING FLEET PICS OF MY BOAC COLLECTION! 21 IN ALL NOW, AND 2 MORE TO COME, HOPEFULLY 3! <div></div><div>my prop fleet!</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>and non prop!</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>hoping to get this 1/100 blank concorde done in boac colours by westway!!</div><div></div><div></div>

[Polynesian Airlines]

Those BOACs are a realbeautymate. Great collection.

[amesmj]

G-AWNA was the first 747 to be delivered to a British airline when BOAC took delivery of her on 20th April 1970. She was the 23rd 747 built (s/n 19761), made her maiden flight on 15th March 1970 and originally cost $21 Million. In 1974 BOAC and BEA merged to become British Airways, and "November Alpha" has flown with them ever since. Throughout her career, she wore three different names "Sir Richard Grenville" (79-84), "City of Peterborough" (84-89), and finally "Colliford Lake". But sadly, after over 28 years of sterling service, she flew her last commercial flight on 31st October 1998 flying from Philadelphia to Heathrow as BA068. At the time of her retirement she was the oldest and longest serving 747 still in operation by it's original airline owner. She spent a total of 102,151 hours in the air, made a total of 20,919 take-offs and landings and travelled over 51 million miles.
To commemorate her retirement, British Airways re-painted her into a special BOAC livery before she was shipped to Cardiff on the 5th November. She made the flight to her final resting place at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire on 14th November 1998.
(info from jezweb.dsl)

[Polynesian Airlines]

This plane truly flew.. thanks for the info on this one mate. I think it was great the British Airways repainted her as a tribute. Great model.

[ALITALIA_747]

What a beautiful looking classic 747 Martin! I love it!!! Thanks for posting the photos, plus the interesting history! Do you have any pics of her last flight?

[steve k]

I have the strangest feeling ive catered G AWNA and her sister ships also, back in late 80's here at ADL, recall the rego, and im sure it was Landor cols, I know i worked on the 100 series, then the 400 series

As a kid, still remember a BOAC 747 at ADL, obvs diverted, was my 1st 747 sighting and was in BOAC cols, we were on a school exursion and as we passed the airport there she was, just mind boggling how big ehe was, many years later, Id be catering them!!!!

[amesmj]

What a beautiful looking classic 747 Martin! I love it!!! Thanks for posting the photos, plus the interesting history! Do you have any pics of her last flight?

John, this is G-AWNA before it's last flight....



It was painted in BOAC colours on one side only.

[amesmj]

Another model from my collection is G-AWNB, sister ship tp G-AWNA, this came into service with BOAC on 23rd May 1970 and also took on other names during it's service, "Llangorie Lake", "Sebastian Cabot" and "City of Newcastle", she was withdrawn from service 15th March 1999 and scrapped at Roswell.



These are pictures taken at Melbourne Tullamarine (MEL/YMML) April 1973.....





and her final livery before scrapping....

[ALITALIA_747]

Ohhh wow, she even served Melbourne! As soon as i saw George Canciani i new it had to be Tulla.
<DIV>Shame that they couldnt puther in an aircraft museum. </DIV>

[amesmj]

With the merger of BEA and BOAC, a new
corporate identity had to be created, this was designed by Britain's
**** Negus in July 1973. Both company's were long established and
highly respected and so, the Red, White and Blue from the BEA flag
and the Speedbird logo from BOAC were combined to form the 'Red
Tail' as we know it. The underside was dark blue and the top white
with 'British Airways' titles. The conversion to the new livery took
a long time to complete and many aircraft carried hybrid liveries for
quite some time. In 1980 the word 'British' replaced the 'British
Airways' title..