WHBM

Let me see if I can help with the non-US ones, although that's just a few.


1. What was the first non-U.S. airline to launch a new Boeing aircraft? What kind of aircraft was it?
The Boeing 737, with Lufthansa. Part of the problem of being first, this was for the 737-100, which was then rapidly supplanted by the larger -200 model, and Lufthansa ended up with an orphan fleet of the smaller aircraft, which they prematurely had to replace. Moral, there are downsides to being first.

7. What was the first airline to order and operate the Boeing 747F (The first 747 built as a freighter from the beginning of its production)
This was Air France, for quite some time they were the only operator.

8. At least three airlines have marketed their aircraft as “Starliners”. One was foreign and two of them American. Name the airlines and the aircraft so marketed.
The foreign one was British South American Airways, in business 1946-50. There's a complete list of their long-forgotten aircraft types here, almost all being by UK Manchester-based manufacturer Avro.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British...erican_Airways

BSAA is a fascinating little study (there was a book about them published recently), who never seemed to succeed but nevertheless operated halfway round the world. The aircraft overall were called Starliners, every one had an individual Star xxx name, the stewardesses were Stargirls, etc.

Extra trivia questions.
1. Which BSAA aircrew employee inspired their child to become a very well-known figure in the airline world a generation later ?

2. BSAA operated the first commercial flight to depart from which airport ?