The old man used to work for Pan Am, and spent a few years on assignment in Paris during the 60s. We still used to fly to and from the UK several times a year, but always on staff travel on a PanAm 707. For reasons now lost in the mists of time, my mum and I once took a BEA flight instead. Used to the comparatively vast and modern 707, at least to my mind, my six-year-old self was not impressed with the Viscount we were to fly on, a tiny old plane (propellors?!) with funny windows.
I was even less impressed soon after take off when we had to turn around and go back due to an emergency (I later learnt that it was a hydraulics failure which meant the wheels didn’t fully retract and needed to be cranked down manually).
Anyway, a terrifying moment I am sure for passengers, not helped in the least by one little six year old excitedly and loudly asking ‘are we going to crash, mummy? Brilliant!!!’. Full on emergency landing, with brace position and fire englnes lined up alongside the runway – what could be more thrilling for a young boy?
So, first BA (or predecessor) flight, first (and, thousands of flights later, so far only) adoption of the brace position.
For completely unconnected reasons, it was perhaps ten years before I flew them again, by which time they had become British Airways.