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BETTER ON A CAMEL
BOAC and BEA reminiscences, memorabilia and history |
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Dedication
About the charity 'Practical Action' |
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Foreword
Foreword by Sir Ross Stainton, former Chairman of BOAC |
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Introduction
Review of background to airline experiences and recollections |
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CHAPTER ONE - THE FAR EAST AND INDIAN OCEAN
airport and airline memoirs about the far east - from India and the Seychelles to Japan |
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Bangladesh - All Together Now! by John Anderson (1973)
john anderson |
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Bangladesh - Memories of Dhaka, by Simon Watts (1981-1985)
Life and Work in Bangladesh |
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Bangladesh - Days in the life of a new Station Manager, by Jim Mackison (1976 - 1980)
Turbulent times in a challenging environment |
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Burma - Lighting Up Time, by Gerry Catling (1954)
an airport story - cigars as insect repellent |
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Burma - The Day of the Dear Departed (1954), by Gerry Catling
memories of a delicate diplomatic exercise with BOAC in Burma |
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Burma, etc. - Britannias, by Alan Douglas
recollections of the Bristol Britannia in service with BOAC |
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Burma -The Sound Barrier, by Tony Russell (1972)
Dealings with the civil aviation authorities in Rangoon |
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Burma - The Fertiliser Factory, by David McCormack (1972)
memoirs of an airline manager - going the extra mile in customer service... |
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Burma - Cigars, Religion and Superstition, by Peter Jones (1975)
Meeting the Burmese People |
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Burma - Special Adviser to the Manager, by Peter Jones (1975)
attending a funeral in Rangoon |
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Burma - Burmese Days, by Peter Jones (1975)
a visit to Mandalay and the temples of Pagan |
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China - Learning Chinese by Ralph Glazer (1983)
Meeting CAAC |
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China - Scotland the Brave by Ralph Glazer (1985)
burns night |
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India - Holy Cow, by Ralph Glazer (1964)
Obstruction on the runway... |
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India - Delhi (Not) Singing in the Rain, by Ralph Glazer (1964)
Monsoon (and its Cargo) Close airport |
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India - The Morning Commuter, by Peter Fieldhouse (1970)
Getting to the office in Calcutta |
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Japan - The Mount Fuji Disaster, by James Wilson (1966)
a retrospective view of the management of the aftermath of a major air crash |
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Pakistan - Yaqoob and Musaleem, by Peter Liver (1987)
fond memories of two aged retainers |
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Philippines - Cutting it Fine, by David Hogg (1970)
memoir of the chaos to civil aviation caused by a typhoon in Manila |
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Philippines - Being British, by David Hogg (1969)
reactions to an earthquake |
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Sri Lanka (Ceylon) - The Day my Number (almost) Came up, by Gerry Catling (1960)
memories of a BOAC Comet 4 landing on a wet runway.. |
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Seychelles Days, by Mike McDonald (1974-1977)
An island idyll..civil aviation (and British Airways) arrive in the Seychelles |
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CHAPTER TWO - THE MIDDLE EAST
airport and airline reminiscences and memorabilia in the Middle East |
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Abu Dhabi - Ice Cold in Abu Dhabi, by Graham Moss (1970)
keeping VC-10 passengers cool on the ground |
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Abu Dhabi - Sand Trap, by David Hogg (1972)
hazards of driving in the desert |
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Dubai - a Training Posting, by Peter Liver (1970)
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Bahrain - The Traffic Manual Expert, by David Meyrick (1962)
an air cargo problem - loading a BOAC DC7F |
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Bahrain - The Thunderstorm, by Ron Colnbrook (1968)
a scary flying story |
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Iran - The Nosewheel Incident, by Alan Hillman (1965)
a problem on the runway in Tehran |
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Iran - Hold Five, by Brian Cannadine (1972)
Teheran Airport - animal alert! |
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Israel - Cultural Differences, Mike McDonald (1972)
airline tales from Tel Aviv |
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Kuwait in the Fifties by Jamil Wafa (1955)
Kuwait |
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Kuwait - a 'Fifth Pod' Operation, by Jack Wesson (1965)
a BOAC flight planner's nightmare |
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Kuwait - the Oil Drillers, by John Cogger (1970)
a BOAC Sales Manager at work - life in the fast lane |
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Kuwait - Out of the Fog, by Peter Richards (1991)
Return to Kuwait after the Gulf War |
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Yemen - Sana'a Memories, by David Hogg (1973)
a testimony of everyday life in the Yemen |
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Saudi Arabia - Abdul and the Bacon, by David Hogg (1973)
a treat goes missing |
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Dhahran, Saudi Arabia - Rats! An Unwelcome Customer, by John Anderson (1978)
An Unwelcome Passenger |
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CHAPTER THREE - AFRICA
recollections and tales of life with BOAC and British Airways in Africa |
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Ghana - the Watchman, by Anthony Farnfield (1966)
a letter in the files |
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Kano, Nigeria - Willie on the Rampage, by Pat Noujaim (1959)
The randiest dachshund in Northern Nigeria nearly causes a delay |
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Nigeria - Bush Telegraph, by David Hogg (1965)
bad news travels fast in West Africa |
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Nigeria - Things Other than the World Cup, by Don Ford (1966)
BOAC involved in events in Lagos before the Biafran War |
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Nigeria - Boom Times, by Peter Jones (1975-1979)
the oil boom in Nigeria in the seventies |
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Nigeria - an Attempted Coup, by Peter Jones (1976)
violent regime change in Nigeria |
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Nigeria - Living and Working in Lagos, by Peter Jones (1975-1979)
stories of expatriate life in Nigeria |
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Nigeria and Concorde, by Peter Jones (1976-1979)
How Nigerians took to Concorde |
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Nigeria - Never Knowingly Undersold, by Peter Jones (1979)
Travails with the Lagos Telephone Company |
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Nigeria - Student Travel, by Peter Jones (1981)
a student goes to the wrong destination |
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Nigeria - Lagos Airport Again! by Nick Robertson (1989-90)
Wild West (Africa) |
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Ethiopia - Petrol Rationing, by Doug Tester (1975)
Michael to the rescue |
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Uganda - The Road to Kampala, by Peter Liver (1972)
a moment in history - BOAC in Uganda in the days of Idi Amin |
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Uganda - Exodus of the Ugandan Asians, by Mike Wickings (1972)
Organising the departure of Asians from Uganda |
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Uganda - Kenneth's Mortars, by John Anderson (1972)
Diplomatic Incident in East Africa |
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Zambia - Jottings from the Copperbelt, by Peter Jones (1969-1972)
Ndola |
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Malawi - The President's Plane, by Peter Woodrow (1977)
VIP Travel to the Commonwealth Conference... |
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Kenya - Nairobi 1956 etc., By Maurice Flanagan
early memories of BOAC in Nairobi |
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Kenya - The Frustrations of the Comet 4, by Don Ford (circa 1962)
recollections of ingenious improvisation to make best use of space in the BOAC Comet 4 |
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Kenya - Customer Recovery, Kenya Style, By Simon Watts (1988)
Going the extra mile... |
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Kenya - Concorde and other big beasts, by Simon Watts (1986-90)
Concorde and other big beasts |
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Kenya - Nanyuki Wedding, by Steve Sturton-Davies (1992)
a wedding in the bush |
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Egypt - The Six Day War, By Ron Colnbrook (1967)
memories of a war zone |
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Libya, Sudan and Iraq - The Personal and Confidential File, by Roddy Wilson (1955-1960)
more camel stories... |
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Libya - Monkeys in a Hangar, by Ralph Glazer (1954)
Wildlife in Tripoli |
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Libya - The spirit of Christmas Past, by Gerry Catling (1958)
hijinks in the Tripoli transit lounge |
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Libya (and Ceylon) Unaccompanied Minors by Gerry Catling (1959)
The difficulties that younger passengers sometime cause... |
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CHAPTER FOUR - THE CARIBBEAN, AMERICAS AND ATLANTIC OCEAN
WESTERN HEMISPHERE |
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Jamaica - Dr No by Mike McDonald (1964/1974)
a James Bond memory |
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St. Lucia - Hurricane Allen, by Peter Jones (1980)
surviving a major hurricane |
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St.Lucia - The Wrong Taxiway, by Peter Jones (1983)
consequences of miscommunication |
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St. Lucia - The Red Lady, by Peter Jones (1983)
voodoo and the Boeing 747 - an unsolved mystery |
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St. Lucia - The Collector, by Peter Jones (1983)
An Illegal 'Collector' of Rare Species is seen off |
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St. Lucia - There's a Hole in the Runway, by Peter Jones (1984)
suspension of operations in St Lucia |
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Trinidad - Management Skills, by Bill Smith (1965)
learning the ropes, the hard way |
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Bahamas - Cabin bags and Elephants, by Tony Russell (1966)
squashed baggage |
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Canada - Gander, Crossroads of the World, by Gerry Catling (1956)
Transatlantic travel as it used to be |
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Mexico - A Day in Mexico City, by Ralph Glazer (1975)
Concorde, a Road Accident and the Mexican Police |
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Panama - Don't Stop! by David Hogg (1975-1980)
what about the snakes? |
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Panama - Flying Positive, by David Hogg (1975-1980)
BAC-111 pilots in Central America |
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Chile - Chile-Chile-Bang-Bang, by Howell Green (1994)
Frustrations in the queue for take-off |
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Uruguay - Jet Flight Arrives in South America, by Alan Douglas (1959)
introducing the Comet 4 in South America |
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USA - I Was There That Day, by Jonathan Martin (1963)
Dallas 1963, the day of President Kennedy's assassination |
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USA - The Cricket Team, by Peter Jones (1964)
cricket in New York with BOAC? |
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USA - The New World, by Don Ford (1967-1969)
An expatriate airport manager comes to Chicago |
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Ascension and Falkland Islands - Encounters of the Third Kind, by Bruce Fry (1985-1987)
a BOAC station engineer goes on secondment to the RAF in the Falklands |
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CHAPTER FIVE - EUROPE
EUROPE |
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UK - A Shetland Story, by Anthony McLauchlan (1972)
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Bulgaria - Fog in London, by Mike Lewin (1976)
BEA schedules affected by fog in London |
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Cyprus - Suez and the Rocky path of True Love, by Gerry Catling (1956-57)
effect of Suez on BA schedules and social life.. |
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Cyprus - the Hijack, by Bruce Fry (1970)
when a hijacked BOAC VC-10 diverted all flights to Nicosia |
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Cyprus - The Turkish Invasion, by Taff Lark (1974)
Evacuation of tourists when Cyprus invaded by Turkish forces |
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Germany - from BSAA to the Berlin Airlift, by C. I. (Charlie Item) Smith (1948-49)
Following the BSAA disasters, the Avro Tudor fleet is assigned to the Berlin Airlift as fuel tankers |
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Germany - Learning German, by Larry Gorton (1966)
recollections of a BEA manager having problems learning German |
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Italy - The Secret of Fiumicino, by Bill Smith (1967)
airport customer service staff get a morale boost and valuable lessons for motivation are learned |
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Romania - Heidi's Haggis, by Mike Lewin (1971)
a bit of BEA memorabilia - ingenuity in the kitchen saves Burns Night in Bucharest |
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Poland - The Stand-off, by Roy Burnham (1978)
an encounter with American presidential security guards |
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Russia (USSR) Trans Siberian Start-up, by Brian Burgess (1969-1972)
planning for an historic moment - BOAC's trans Siberian route to Japan |
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Russia(USSR) - The Omelette Factory, by Peter Richards (1970s)
Navigating over Siberia |
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Russia (USSR) - Red Faces in Red Square, By Bernard Garvie (1970)
Diplomatic Incident with Chandelier |
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Russia (USSR) The Security Guard, by Peter Richards (1976)
How to scare a Russian Security Officer |
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Russia (USSR) -The Stewardess, by Taff Lark (1980)
shades of 007 |
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Russia (USSR) - the Golf Lesson, by Peter Richards (1976)
In a Moscow Hotel Room.. |
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Russia (USSR) - Domodedovo Airport, 'the House of my Grandfather' by Mike McDonald (1989)
a memoir of early days at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport |
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Russia (USSR) - Moscow Anecdotes, by Jim Mackison (1970)
various memories of working and living in Moscow |
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Spain - Dictatorship and Honour, by Gerry Catling (1960)
a recollection of Franco's Spain - negotiating the 'personal honour' code at Madrid Airport |
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Spain - A Soft Touch, by Ralph Glazer (1971)
A Meeting with Franco |
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Switzerland - The Precision of the Swiss, by Gerry Catling (1968)
recollections of how we proved to the airport authority that the Super VC-10 was not a noisy aircraft |
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Further reading and watching for addicts.... |
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PICTORIAL APPENDIX
Some miscellaneous photos that don't have a story to go with them |
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BETTER ON A CAMEL
Practical Action - helping the world's poorest people to help themselves

Better on a Camel - click here with new stories, comments, suggestions
We begin the New Year 2022 with two new stories from Jim Mackison, about his experiences as Station Manager in Dhaka, Bangladesh and his life in Moscow including acting as interpreter for the British delegation negotiating overflying rights across the Soviet Union for BOAC services to the Far East .
As ever, new stories are welcome, as well as other airline related material from readers from the extended BA family. All photographs I am able to use will remain the intellectual property of the photographer or owner and some will be subject to copyright if the provider so wishes. No pictures shown on the website may be copied or used for commercial purposes without the express permission of the photographer/owner.
Please do get in touch if you are ex-BA/BOAC/BEA/BCAL or any other part of the extended BA family, and have a memory you would like to share. The e-mail address is:- betteronacamel@hotmail.co.uk and there is a link at the bottom of this page. An alternative address if this doesn't work is camel667@outlook.com.
Pictures, if you wish to include any, should be sent as a JPEG attachment to an e-mail.
Any comments from readers regarding the content of the stories are welcome and will be given due consideration.
BETTER ON A CAMEL
The website's title "Better on a Camel" was a popular and gently teasing nickname, as well as an acronym for BOAC - British Overseas Airways Corporation. BOAC was the main long haul predecessor of British Airways, and joined with British European Airways (BEA) to form British Airways in 1975. This is a collection of nearly a hundred stories (96 at last count) recording memories of events over the past 60 years or more, contributed by over 40 former (mainly overseas, but some flying) staff of BOAC, BSAA (British South American Airways), BEA and British Airways. There is no single theme, only that of memory of a tale worth the telling. There are recollections of events which have passed into history over the past half century. Stories both funny and serious, some with distinct elements of farce. Not only camels, but other unpredictable creatures feature from time to time. The website is free of charge to all readers. The original plan was to publish it as a book, and any revenue from it was to go to the charity 'Practical Action', who help the poorest people on earth to take steps to improve their lives with appropriate "Intermediate Technology." This is a term coined by Dr.E F Schumacher in his iconic book "Small is Beautiful", first published in 1975,which was the basis for many of the principles followed by Practical Action in their charitable work. However, in the end the book became a website - giving me the advantage of keeping the collection alive to add further tales over the years. If you particularly enjoyed the stories, you may well want to follow the link (at the bottom of the page) to www.practicalaction.org to find out more about the excellent work they do worldwide, and, if you can, make a donation. Any amount, however small, will be gratefully received, and will be put to good use to relieve the effects of extreme poverty. If you do donate to Practical Action, it would be most helpful if you would mention that you have learned about them from this website. If any overseas staff, past or present, of the British Airways family (and this includes airlines like British Caledonian, Cambrian and BMI which became part of the BA group over the years) would like to contribute any experiences which they particularly remember, I'd be happy to have them contact me by e-mail at www.betteronacamel@hotmail.co.uk (link at top of page) Any stories I am able to use will be fully credited, although I may need to make small editorial adjustments. Illustrations would also be welcome where they support the text. If any readers would like to make comments - or indeed corrections - on the material or website, they may use the same e-mail address.
My grateful thanks are due to a number of people for their help and encouragement in producing this website: Sir Ross Stainton, who was the Chairman of BOAC when it merged with BEA, has very kindly written a Foreword. Ba Thompson gave me generous help with the proof reading and provided invaluable professional advice in the editorial process. Annette Hedges kindly allowed me to reproduce the frontispiece picture; apparently the Emir of Kano's camelborne envoy used to blow his horn before the daily BOAC Argonaut arrived - to warn camel trains of its presence - or was it simply as a greeting to the flight - I've heard both explanations put forward!
Mike Springate tells me the trumpeter blew for every international arrival; whereupon the baby camel by its side invariably vented! Ian Beckett was able to recall in detail one of the tales of our Lagos days; various other colleagues and friends have offered help, advice and support as this website has taken shape. I also owe a debt of thanks to the kind folk at the British Airways Archive and Museum Collection, who have allowed me to reproduce some of their collection of old aircraft prints to decorate the website, as well as sharing their own knowledge of the period. There is more information about the archive on their website www.bamuseum.com. And of course, my especial thanks to the willing contributors who have generously shared their stories with me, and who made this website possible in the first place. I am most grateful to them all. They are: John Anderson Brian Burgess Roy Burnham Brian Cannadine Gerry Catling John Cogger Ron Colnbrook Alan Douglas Anthony Farnfield MBE Peter Fieldhouse Maurice Flanagan CBE Don Ford OBE Bruce Fry Bernard Garvie Ralph Glazer Larry Gorton OBE Howell Green Alan Hillman David Hogg Taff Lark Mike Lewin Peter Liver David McCormack Mike McDonald Anthony McLaughlan Jim Mackison Jonathan Martin David Meyrick Graham Moss Nick Robertson Pat Noujaim Peter Richards Tony Russell C I 'Charlie Item' Smith Dr William E (Bill) Smith Steve Sturton-Davies Doug Tester Jamil Wafa Simon Watts Jack Wesson Mike Wickings James Wilson Roddy Wilson Peter Woodrow
Enjoy! Peter Jones

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