MoD Contract / Chartered Aircraft

I flew out to Gutersloh from Luton and was checked in by a Matelot would you belive, and I flew back from the Gulf on a Caledonian airways 757 to Gatwick.

Lloyd International Airways (Britannia) - Gatwick to Changi Aug 65.

I was flown out of Kuwait after Op Telic in a chartered Icelandic Air 747 instead of the expected Tristar. It was brilliant, particularly the cabin crew who were the first women we'd seen in anything other than combat dress for months.

Theres a good reason why you didnt see Twiggy at Luton airport, the model in the ads was Lorraine Chase!!

And Im surprised that when it comes to chartered aircraft that no one hasnt mentioned exercise LIONHEART in 1984.

Britannia did do the airbridge during the gulf war , I flew back on a 767-200. Ghost was the in-flight film:roll:

The Virgin 747 I mentioned was in fact the first trooper in to MPA when it opened in 86.

Yep the Virgin flights were done, I believe, due to the timmy's not been ready

canberra wrote:

The MOD has always used contracted aircraft, anyone remember Britannia airways and the 737s doing the trooping flights to Germany?

Went to Gibraltar camp with the ATC in 1982 in a Britannia '737, then Cyprus camp at Akrotiri in 1986 in an Air Europe '737, then in late '86 went to Bruggen via the Luton - Wildenrath weekly Britannia charter flight which ran every monday.

On 5 Nov 73, I flew on a Monarch Airways Britannia from Wildenrath to Luton\ The majority of the other passengers were undergraduates (UAS or UOTC), who had been drinking for most of the day in the air terminal bar. because the aircraft had been delayed at Luton with technical problems. When we were eventually loaded, the movers could noyreconcile the number of pax with the manifest. The movers called the roll with the inevitable result and were on the point of offloading us when the flight deck door opened and they were informed that if the aircraft did not leave soon the crew would be out of hours and would be staying overnight. Faced with prospect of finding transit accommodation for a bunch of inebriated officer cadets, the movers decided to close the door and let Luton sort out the problem. Things changed after 9/11!

When he split from British United to form Laker Airways, Freddie Laker claimed that the trooping contracts were with him personally and not BUA. Naturally the MoD disagreed.

Gong back even further, in the mid-1950s, my father was a radio officer with Airwork when the airline had the Far East trooping contract. The airline operated the Hermes on the route from Blackbushe. The return trip took about two weeks with stopovers ln Bangkok.

Graham