BOAC – Henry Tenby – Aviation Fan – Worldwide Operations

BOAC and British Airways 1960s-1970s: A time of Growth and Change – A Photo History

Henry Tenby — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 00:34:45 +0000

BOAC and British Airways 1960s-1970s: A time of Growth and Change – A Photo History
Photos from the Collection of Henry Tenby
Write up by Henry Tenby

Passenger air travel specially in Britain boomed dramatically throughout the 1960s. The UK’s State owned international air carrier was BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation, and like many nationalized industries at the time, efficiencies of private enterprise proved difficult to compete with during these times of massive air travel expansion.

BOAC 707-436 G-ARRC at Manchester May 1971.

By the early 1970s it became apparent that something had to be done and the decision was made for extensive amalgamation of the larger air carriers in the UK. The short haul domestic BEA was combined with even smaller feeder carriers and BEA along with BOAC were joined to become British Airways. The images presented here are from the slide collection of Henry Tenby.

At the time BOAC and British Airways operated a fleet largely made up of UK designer airliners including Viscounts, Vanguards, Tridents, BAC One Elevens, VC-10s, which ar also complemented by US built 707s and 747s for the long haul services.

I am looking to purchase 35mm Kodachrome aircraft slide collections. Please contact me: henrytenby at gmail dot com

Thank you very much for visiting this page, and enjoy!

Five engined Boeing 747 BOAC Classic at Zurich Klotten in May 1972

Henry Tenby — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 17:23:37 +0000

Back in the 1960s and 1970s aircraft manufacturers devised special engine pods so that passenger jetliners could easily transport a spare engine between locations, often during the course of a schedule flight.

The first generation jetliners including the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 were factory engineered for this special engine carrying capability. Special hard points were established on the underside of the wing between the fuselage and the inboard port side engine, and aerodynamically shaped engine transport pods could be easily and quickly anchored to the hard points.

Even the DC-10 and Boeing 747 (series 100 and 200) were engineered with this special feature. Photos of a four engined DC-10 are extremely rare, and fine engine 747s are not a lot easier to find.

In May of 1972, BOAC attached a fifth engine onto one of their then new 747-136 aircraft which positioned into Zurich’s Kloten Airport with the spare engine, which was possibly bound for locally based Swissair, which had just taken delivery of two brand new 747-257Bs of their own.

The photos below were taken of that special visit by a Swissair employee who kindly gave me a small number of slides he took back in the day. (He wishes to remain anonymous.)

BOAC Boeing 747-136 5 engine ferry into ZRH MAY 1972