[rodders]

My first flight was in a Comet 2 of RAF Transport Command to el-adem airbase in eastern Libya, all very exotic in the mid 1960’s for a young lad from N Ireland. These flights were latter supplemented by Britannia’s and we would stop in Malta for lunch before getting back on-board for the leg to the UK. I recall all the seats being rear-facing, and curtains on the windows, and IFE was a sleep or a book!

[lloydah]

Good luck LP, it’s the way they say “Oh DAD!” when you do the slightest thing wrong with the glue/paint then proceed to mess it up even further with absolute confidence. BTW make sure there’s plenty of glue on the wings, we don’t want them cracking!

[millionsofmiles]

At that time I used to fly ZRH-OSL each week, full fare. This way I constructed a ticket including BKK in C(full fare Y) for just 235 SFR each way.
Which is still possible, but the gains have become rather smallish nowadays.
Just to show, how: Regular was 2300 SFR for ZRH-OSL-ZRH
I built in exchange: STR-x/CPH-OSL-FRA-BKK M25
STR was cheaper, as in DEM per FCU.
Since it was a SITI (or SITO) ticket, there was no HIP.

IATA was great!

[LuganoPirate]

Sorry to sound a bit thick MoM, but I don’t really understand that one? Where was the final destination, OSL or BKK?

Also remembered now MCO’s I think they were called?

Thanks Lloyd, im sure they’ll moan about it and will probably go off and play Xbox while I slave away. Extra glue on order!

[millionsofmiles]

@ Lugano Pirate
You are right, it ended in Europe again on the same ticket.

The return was: BKK: BKK(TG)-x/CPH(SK)-OSL(LH)-STR.
So that was a full fare Y BKK-Europe, the Baht was low and so for a total of 470 SFR I had a fully flex BKK rtn. On the return there was no M+, since it went straight through.
An MCO was not needed in that case, the fare difference was collected at reissuing. The trick is using STR-BKK for MPM and DEM being cheaper for FCUs.

[DavidGordon10]

I remember the Silver Arrow to Paris well, and used it many times. The only downside was that the Le Touquet to Paris train was pretty full – obviously planned to have the same number of seats as the plane. A few years ago I flew over Le Touquet and the rail spur was still there, but it has now gone, although the course of the railway line is clearly visible in the satellite view of Google earth.

[canucklad]

Another memory as a 10ish year old was transiting Schipol with my step-dad and being taken away from him for a security check behind a screen !!
Which if i rightly recall involved me stripping down !! before boarding our flight to LHR….. I was fascinated by the policemen with sub machine guns at the ready and thought it was a big adventure….
And wondered why we never got an armoured escort like the blue plane with the star on its tail !

[TiredOldHack]

@LuganoPirate – knock some chunks off one of the engine pods and punch a couple of holes through the port wing….

[lloydah]

@tiredOldHack – Only if you have enough paint for the kangaroo

[TiredOldHack]

@canucklad – now it can be told….

January 1973 and Little Bruvver and I, then aged 14 and 12 respectively, were on a skiing trip to Austria with an outfit called the Young Skiers’ Association. We flew to Munich.

On the return trip, security was hyper-tight. Remember this was only a few months after the Munich Olympics massacre. There were armed police and soldiers everywhere. We were used to flying, as parents were diplomats and frequently served abroad, but this sort of thing was unknown to us. And to the rest of the world, I suppose.

Anyway, our flight was delayed and so all us kids were roaming the airport, looking for amusement. LB and I discovered the soldiers’ rest room and there, hanging on a hook inside the door, was an amazing peaked cap. You have to hand it to the Germans: they really know how to design uniforms….

So I stood guard, and LB nipped in and took it, and we stuffed it into our hand luggage.

Three things then happened in quick succession. First, we saw a hatless armed guard wandering disconsolately around, peering under tables and chairs. Second, our flight was called, and third, we were all lined up to have our baggage searched.

We were panicking. We reckoned that when they opened our bag and found one of their colleagues’ hats inside it, there’d be all hell to pay. And we couldn’t just throw it away: we were all in a line, being watched.

Anyway, thank God, someone recognised us as a kids’ trip, realised we were no security threat, knew our plane was late, and waved us all through.

The moment that aircraft was in the air, all the ‘souvenirs’ came out from the kids’ luggage. Towels, ashtrays, glasses, and (from the petrol station that had been opposite our hotel), a large Austrian flag. That got a round of applause.

And then LB and I proudly held our trophy aloft. Our tour leader went absolutely white. “Where did you get that from?” she stammered. We told her, and she went whiter.

I can still remember that it was a remarkably small hat – too small to fit either of us. And it had the owner’s name inside, written in ballpoint ink. Herr Worbs, I am deeply, deeply sorry if you got into serious trouble. OK?

[Papillion53]

TOH – priceless! LOL!

[lloydah]

Fabulous. I’m less worried now. Not slept so well since son no.2 brought home a “Welcome to W A M Airport Salzburg” banner that didn’t quite fit across his bedroom wall, and that was 15 years ago ish. kept thinking the next knock on the door…………

[lloydah]

Does anyone else have memories of sounds rather than flights? I was stuck in an isolation hospital at the age of 4 with Scarlet Fever. Single room, no visitors past the door. I remember staring out of the -what was to me – a huge sash window at the clear blue June sky and hearing, then seeing, a small single engined aircraft amble its way across the heavens. I wished with all my heart that I was up there with it. Now, every time I hear a similar aircraft engine I’m immediately whisked back to that room. Strange how some memories can be so powerful.

[canucklad]

TOH…. Brilliant…I too have a collection of policemans hats, from my days following the tartan army…like yours..the pride of place is a peaked MInsk captains hat…do not ask how i acquired the so said helicopter landing pad… 80% Belarussian vodka put paid to that!

Tried to take a policemans german shepard on board our return flight after a game in Kaunaus…long before Lithuania became westernised !

[canucklad]

lloydah….yes i clearly remember the sound of the barking dog at the bottom of the 757”s steps…it was either pining for his new founfd friend or telling us not to return !!

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