大象传媒

Chapter 6

Number 5 Line B.O.A.C. was based at Almaza Airport, Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo. It was a new experience for me, for the first time I had to look after myself, to be responsible for my own accommodation. Half of the new intake was posted on to a "B" licence course, and the other half, including me to a second class Navigators course. These were Civilian Licences and were required to operate passenger aircraft. The basic navigation syllabus was similar to the G R course of RAF days but there were new fields such as form of the earth, meteorology and much more theory. In factthe course was more examination orientated. The licence system was run by the Civil Service and it was many more years before the "need to know" became the normal. Any how at this stage we diligently sat at our desks and learnt parrot fashion meteorology by Sutcliffe although a lot of his theory had already been discounted as aeroplanes flew higher. The exercise was to pass the exam which I did, before starting on the "B" licence course.

On the accommodation side three of us found a villa in Heliopolis available for three months while the family of an university professor, a Sheik no less, took his summer vacation in Alexandria. He used to appear once a month to collect the rent. The first time he came with a chap from across the road to act as an interpreter and when asked if he would like a Scotch the neighbour admonished us saying "The Sheik does not touch alcohol" The next two months the Sheik came on his own and we
found no language difficulties either! The "B" licence course was mainly on the aircraft type both airframe and engine, although we had other subjects such as Aviation Law, and various procedures,
again with an examination to be passed to obtain the Licence. The aeroplane was a Lockheed Lodestar or L18, American built . Looking at my notes I see that it had a span of 68 feet six inches and a length of 49 feet ten and half inches and a propeller clearance to the fuselage of only two and half inches. All scintillating stuff! No wonder
the old brain is worn out . The engines were two Wright Cyclones with a take-off 1200 horse power, pistons of course. It was quite a small aeroplane carrying a crew of three, two pilots and a wireless operator. The cabin had just ten seats, five a side. It also had a loo, unheard of in military aircraft and in case you should ask "How?" there were tubes which would make quite a sketch for "Alternative" comedians.

By the Eighth of October 1945 with licences in our hands we were flying the
aircraft completing with a company route check The next day was my first service as a
First Officer in BOAC uniform , bush jacket and shorts with a flat hat. It was quite a
change from service life although we were still in the RAF. This had its advantages as
our spirit ration from the NAAFI remained and rent day was no hassle. When we
complained about a little insect life in the villa, the next day a man arrived with a blow
lamp and did a first class job of eradication.
There had been quite a break between military and civil flying which in itself
was an advantage The emphasis was different but the discipline of the flight-deck was
the same. At this time there was only minimal air traffic control mainly around airports
and national boundaries. Look out and adherence to height and the quadrant (direction
flying) was essential. Most of the passengers were still "Officials" and service
personnel, but as time went on fare paying people returning home or visiting relatives
started to appear. We had no catering staff on board just boxes with sandwiches and
fruit and large vacuum flasks of tea and coffee, an original MacDonalds in fact. So why
didn't I have the idea then? It was the First Officer's duty to see that the passengers
were suitably victualed and comfortable and I remember with great pleasure an
occasion when a lady and gentleman returning to Kenya congratulated me on being the
best steward/ess they had had. I realised then that we were a service industry and the
grandeur of being saluted as an individual had gone forever. But not the practice itself
because as each aircraft left the departure bay the Station Manager, at the head of a
line comprising the traffic officer and the engineering staff, would solemnly give a
perfect salute.
The network from Cairo flew South as far as Nairobi and Addis Abeba, North
to Athens, East along the Gulf to Karachi and Calcutta, and Southeast to Aden and the
Southern Arabian coastline to Karachi. Mainly operated by Lodestars there were some
Dakotas and the remaining A.W. Ensigns from pre-war Imperial Airways which
operated the Calcutta service. These were remarkable aeroplanes originally powered
by four 850 HP Tiger engines, re-engined with the more powerful Wright Cyclones.
They continued in service, gradually being cannibalised, until the last one in a flyable
condition G-AFZU positioned back to the U.K. on the Ninth of May carrying a
number of us for our demobilisation from the RAF.
The First Officers flew on all three types but could only do landings on the
Lodestars for which they were properly Licensed. The longest away service nine days
in all was on the Ensign to Calcutta. The day would start soon after dawn and at
nightfall or as near as the stop would allow, everybody, passengers and crew would
adjourn to the Hotel and dine and sleep. Extremely civilised it was but would have
been better if air conditioning had been invented and single rooms for the crew had
been in the contract of service then.
A final thought on the aeroplanes, the flight decks reminded me of service
aircraft painted the same dark olive green, a colour guaranteed to look dirtier and more
depressing than any other. I always suspect that at the time of the big rearmament of
the late thirties this disgusting colour was in such huge supply that nobody else would
have considered it. On the other hand the cabins were a great improvement, especially
the Ensign. It was obviously based on a Pullman railway carriage. There were four
compartments sitting six people facing each other with a door to a corridor, rather
grandly known as the promenade deck. In memory the ceiling was very high so I
presume the baggage compartment was small.
In our spare time a number of us studied for a First class Navigators Licence.
This entailed taking a number of star shots and establishing an astro fix for a position.
The corporation laid on a training flight for that purpose. The Lodestar had no
astrodome so we all occupied the cabin windows with our bubble sextants and our
issue of astro chronometers to get accurate timing, not to mention our air almanacs for
the correct stars. Unfortunately nobody was actually navigating the aeroplane and we
got lost. At first light an aerodrome was spotted and the aircraft landed safely. There
were no buildings but when we stopped a fellaheen on the back of a donkey appeared
and shouted up to the cockpit window " I am the Shell Representative, how much fuel
do you want?" Having confirmed the necessary information he reappeared this time
with the donkey pulling a cart with two barrels of petrol and set about getting us on
our way with red faces all around
. Back in the U K I was demobilised from the R A F and on the Thirty-first of
May 1946 I signed a contract with British Overseas Airways Corporation. Having a
"B" and wartime First class Navigators Licences I entered on the top scale First
Officer's grade at a yearly salary of 拢550, Five Hundred and Fifty Pounds, it was
wonderful.

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