WHBM

Well done JL for a real tour-de-force here. Hope it was all enjoyable putting it together.

In the 1993 timetable, were Mandala still running an Electra from Jakarta to Medan ? It was the last year of this very last Electra passenger route.

Just a few years before, there was an article in Propliner magazine about 1990 (sorry, my collection is all up in the roof) where one of the team had taken this flight, which was then operated by an Electra. Pretty much an all-day affair with three lengthy Electra sectors right across Indonesia right through to Ambon. Oh, to have been there, although the third world nature of Ambon, with dogs ranging across the runway, sounded grim.

I was thinking of this account some years later on Cathay Pacific London-Hong Kong-Perth, W. Australia, where on the last leg we actually transited directly overhead Ambon. It was at night, and just a few lights flickered upwards; it looked like it hadn't changed much.

The whole Empire route operation was a very integrated operation between Imperial and Qantas, the crews flew each other's aircraft, and the aircraft themselves could get changed over at various points along the way. The Qantas Empire Flying Boats had to come back to the UK for overhauls.

By the 1990s Qantas was a real second force at Singapore - they used to board more local passengers on Singapore to London than BA did, and it was an out-of-country hub for them. Flights from various Australian cities arrived in the evening, passengers transferred over, and then they left onwards to various European points overnight.

Seat 2A

jlemon’s impressive effort using schedules published in 1993 got me to wondering what this trip might look like just 30 years later – in 1969 – flying aboard aircraft that I’d personally find much more interesting to fly upon than today’s Boeing and Airbus models.

Thanks to WHBM for the timetable link and the question. My writing style and grasp of history being what it is – well, Alex is unlikely to be impressed much less even take notice – but above all this will be fun, especially as I’ll be accompanied by a nicely chilled six-pack of Deschutes Brewery’s delicious Mirror Pond Pale Ale. (Sorry gang, I finished off my last bottle of red wine late last night – an aged bottle of Mad Dog 20/20, of April vintage, I believe ;-)

In each city I am using the first and/or most convenient flights to continue along the 1939 schedule as expeditiously as possible. As such, when you see mid-afternoon departures it’s because they’re the first available flights, not because the traveler wants to sleep in or see the sights.

Utilizing jlemon’s well-organized template for the flights and times along with a well read edition of the November 1st, 1969 OAG, let’s head on down to Waterloo Station and get this trip underway.



PART ONE: LONDON to KARACHI

Based upon the twice weekly service between Athens and Alexandria, to be travelled five days hence on a Tuesday, this journey will commence on Friday. British Rail offers numerous departures from London Waterloo down to Southampton’s Central Station. Arriving at Southampton in the early evening, you might enjoy dinner at your hotel before retiring for the night in anticipation of the marvelous journey ahead.

While the original 1939 schedule called for a 5:00am departure, flying nonstop to Marseille, in 1969 the only way to fly from Southampton to Marseille is via connection at Paris’s Le Bourget Airport. The first flight of the day to Paris is aboard a Cambrian Airways Viscount departing at the leisurely hour of 1100. Unfortunately, the next possible departure out of Le Bourget down to Marseille won’t be until 2115. The vast majority of flights between Paris and Marseille depart from Orly Airport, located on the other side of the city. Pleasant though it might be to spend the afternoon in and around Paris, you’re looking forward to strolling about Marseille's historic old town (Aix) and so hire a taxi down to Orly where a seat aboard Air Inter’s mid-afternoon Caravelle nonstop awaits.

From Marseille Alitalia offers a convenient afternoon departure the next day that allows time for a leisurely lunch in Marseilles before boarding a Caravelle to Rome. After a short one hour and twenty minute layover, you'll continue on to Brindisi aboard a DC-9-30. A comfortable hotel and a delicious seafood dinner await.

In 1969 the only air service into Brindisi was two daily flights from Rome and one each from Bari and Catania. The best way to continue on to Athens is to fly back up to Rome, where a multitude of connections are available to the Greek capitol. You’ll get an early start aboard Alitalia’s 0700 F.27 to Rome, connecting to Olympic’s daily 727-200 over Athens. Or if you’d prefer, you could fly aboard TWA’s daily 707 departing Rome just 30 minutes later. Despite your early arrival in Athens, you’ll still have to spend the night as the next available flight into Alexandria won’t depart until tomorrow afternoon.

United Arab Airlines delivers you down to Alexandria aboard an Antonov AN-24, the Soviet counterpart in both appearance and capabilities to the Fokker F.27. At a quaint family run restaurant just two blocks from your hotel, you discover the wonderful flavors of Egyptian cuisine via a plate of Kushari, a delicious combination of rice and lentils cooked together, then topped with pasta with garlic tomato sauce and garnished with chickpeas and crispy fried onions. It just might be the best meal of your trip so far.

Travel from Alexandria to Tiberias (Tel Aviv in 1969) will be substantially more difficult than it was back in 1939. In 1969 there are no nonstop flights from any Arab country into Tel Aviv, so the most geographically convenient schedule would involve routing through Cyprus, located 350 miles to the north of Alexandria. Getting to Nicosia from Alexandria will involve a connection in Cairo. Interestingly, the schedules indicate that United Arab Airlines offers First Class seating aboard one of its four AN-24 departures between Alexandria and Cairo. Unfortunately, that flight operates on Tuesday only and here it is Wednesday already. As such, you’ll depart Alexandria for Cairo at 0845 where there just happens to be a most fortuitous twice weekly flight with Cyprus Airways operating a Viscount to Nicosia with convenient connections into Tel Aviv aboard a Hawker Siddeley Trident. Since a First Class seat aboard that Trident can be had for just £6.06 more, you’ll enjoy the sun setting over the Mediterranean from the comfort of seat 2A.

The 1939 schedule indicates onward service to Habbaniyeh (now served through Baghdad) and once again the lack of nonstop service between Tel Aviv and any Arab countries presents you with an interesting challenge. You’re more than up to it however as you consult your trusty OAG and come up with an exciting day involving flights through Nicosia and Beirut. Fortunately for you, the only flight operating between Tel Aviv and Nicosia on Thursday is a morning Viscount departure, which sets you up nicely for the daily MEA VC10 over to Beirut where a multitude of connecting flights are available onwards to Baghdad. Although you were quite tempted to lay over in Beirut for the Friday only Convair 990 into BGW, you’ve decided that MEA’s Comet 4C departing at 8:00pm will be quite satisfactory!

In 1969 there was no problem finding flights between Baghdad and Basra as Iraqi Airways offered daily Viscount service. You book a seat on the 0730 departure. Unfortunately continuing on from Basra to Bahrain in a timely fashion proves to be quite a bit more difficult. There’s a once weekly direct flight from Basra to Bahrain that stops in Kuwait. It’s a Monday only service though and today is Friday. Iraqi Airways does offer three once weekly flights from Basra to Kuwait but unfortunately they only operate on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Hmm… You could turn around and fly back up to Baghdad but then almost all of the very limited number of flights from Baghdad to Kuwait, Doha or Bahrain leave in the early morning, well after your return flight from Basra would arrive. In fact, the next possible flight from Baghdad south to any of these cities wouldn’t depart until the next evening via a Kuwait Airways Trident down to Kuwait City. You’d be forced to spend another night in Iraq.

Then again, Kuwait is only 96 miles and three hours away by road from Basra. Even though you’d like to do as much of this trip as possible by air, the idea of staying in Basra - consistently one of the hottest cities on the planet – holds no appeal. Neither does adding another day by routing through Baghdad. So, it’s off to Kuwait on the noon bus. You’ll arrive with plenty of time to enjoy a savory plate of Machboos, the national dish made with chicken (or mutton or fish) served over fragrant rice that has been cooked in a well spiced broth. Later that evening, a First Class seat aboard BOAC’s VC10 will deliver you down to Bahrain in comfort and style.

The next morning it’s back to the airport where you’ll board Gulf Aviation’s one stop service (via Doha) down to Dubai. Interestingly, the schedule indicates this flight being operated with a two-class Hawker Siddeley Trident though so far as you know GF never operated this aircraft.

The Dubai of 1969 was a far cry from the gleaming city of today. Nonetheless, you manage to entertain yourself with a local tour followed by a delicious lamb stew dinner before heading back to the airport for your late night flight across the Gulf of Oman to Karachi. Four airlines offer service between Dubai and Karachi – BOAC (VC10), Kuwait (Trident), Syrianair (Caravelle) and PIA (Indicated as a “JET” Most likely a Trident or a 720B). Each of the flights are once weekly services as opposed to the multiple daily departures found today. You’re thankful for a seat aboard Kuwait’s Trident even if it does depart at 0245.


Day One ~ Friday

London to Southampton by train

Day Two ~ Saturday

Cambrian Airways (CS) 3707: Southampton (SOU) to Paris (LBG)
Dep. SOU 1100, Arr. LBG 1215 - Nonstop service
Equip: Vickers Viscount

Air Inter (IT) 705: Paris (ORY) to Marseille (MRS)
Dep. ORY 1520, Arr. MRS 1635 - Nonstop service
Equip: Sud Aviation Caravelle

Day Three ~ Sunday

Alitalia (AZ) 705: Marseille (MRS) to Rome (FCO)
Dep. MRS 1430, Arr. FCO 1535 - Nonstop service
Equip: Sud Aviation Caravelle

Alitalia (AZ) 064: Rome (FCO) to Brindisi (BDS)
Dep. FCO 1655, Arr. BDS 1755 - Nonstop service
Equip: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30

Day Four ~ Monday

Alitalia (AZ) 181: Brindisi (MRS) to Rome (FCO)
Dep. BDS 0700, Arr. FCO 0830 - Nonstop service
Equip: Fokker F27

Olympic Airways (OA) 416: Rome (FCO) to Athens (ATH)
Dep. FCO 1300, Arr. ATH 1540 - Nonstop service
Equip: Boeing 727-200

Day Five ~ Tuesday

United Arab Airlines (MS) 748: Athens (ATH) to Alexandria (ALY)
Dep. ATH 1545, Arr. ALY 1830 - Nonstop service
Equip: Antonov AN-24

Day Six ~ Wednesday

United Arab Airlines (MS) 302: Alexandria (ALY) to Cairo (CAI)
Dep. ALY 0845, Arr. CAI 0930 - Nonstop service
Equip: Antonov AN-24

Cyprus Airways (CY) 068: Cairo (CAI) to Nicosia (NIC)
Dep. CAI 1330, Arr. NIC 1510 - Nonstop service
Equip: Vickers Viscount

Cyprus Airways (CY) 066: Nicosia (NIC) to Tel Aviv (TLV)
Dep. NIC 1900, Arr. TLV 1950 - Nonstop service
Equip: Hawker Siddeley Trident 2E

Day Seven ~ Thursday

Cyprus Airways (CY) 067: Tel Aviv (TLV) to Nicosia (NIC)
Dep. TLV 0920, Arr. NIC 1010 - Nonstop service
Equip: Vickers Viscount

Middle East Airways (ME) 262: Nicosia (NIC) to Beirut (BEY)
Dep. NIC 1140, Arr. BEY 1230 - Nonstop service
Equip: Vickers VC10

Middle East Airways (ME) 320: Beirut (NIC) to Baghdad (BGW)
Dep. BEY 2000, Arr. BGW 2230 - Nonstop service
Equip: De Havilland Comet 4C

Day Eight ~ Friday

Iraqi Airways (IA) 015: Baghdad (BGW) to Basra (BSR)
Dep. BGW 0730, Arr. BSR 0840 - Nonstop service
Equip: Vickers Viscount

Local bus transport from Basra to Kuwait City

BOAC (BA) 780: Kuwait (KWI) to Bahrain (BAH)
Dep. KWI 2050, Arr. BAH 2245 - Nonstop service
Equip: Vickers VC10

Day Nine ~ Saturday

Gulf Aviation (GF) 303: Bahrain (BAH) to Dubai (DXB)
Dep. BAH 0950, Arr. DXB 1155 – Direct service via Doha
Equip: Hawker Siddeley Trident

Day Ten ~ Sunday

Kuwait Airways (KU) 270: Dubai (DXB) to Karachi (KHI)
Dep. DXB 0245, Arr. KHI 0520 – Nonstop service
Equip: Hawker Siddeley Trident 1E


More to come as I get around to it (provided the interest is still there)

WHBM

Very good, S2A (back from your Arctic adventures I presume), and it seems there is interest (we're nearly at 125,000 views on the thread) - never thought that from my initial simplistic question it would come to this.

Quite possibly in G-AMOO from their small fleet, which was the first aircraft I ever flew in.

Gulf Air in 1969 were using a Kuwait Airways Trident on these services pending the delivery of their own One-Elevens at the end of the year. Here's the Kuwait Airways timetable of the time, where "Gulf Services" shows the combined operation. Both airlines had effectively complete British management and crews at the time.

http://www.timetableimages.com/ttima...u68/ku68-3.jpg

Don't be so sure

Seat 2A

And the grand journey continues! (I suspected there'd be at least a smidgen of interest ) Thanks to WHBM for the additional detail on the first section. ^


PART TWO: KARACHI to SINGAPORE

Arrival into Karachi was early Sunday morning, so we're now beginning the tenth day of travel since departing London. By comparison the 1939 Imperial flying-boat service took just four days to get to Karachi. Then again, there was no enroute change of aircraft or airline on that schedule.

From Karachi the original 1939 schedule continued on across India with stops in Raj Samand, Gwalior and Allahabad. Per the 1969 OAG there are no scheduled flights into Raj Samand, but there is service into Udaipur, just 40 miles to the south. Unfortunately there is no service eastward from UDR, and the two flights from Bombay into Gwalior do not fly anywhere close to the 1939 Imperial Airways routing. However, it does appear that one could cobble together a few flights with state-owned Indian Airlines along a route that geographically at least would not be too far off the original 1939 routing. So it looks like the best thing to do is get down to Bombay and commence your air tour across India from there.

Consulting the OAG, the sight of Swissair’s Convair 990 “Coronado” departing Karachi for Bombay at 0730 is cause for a considerable spike in blood pressure. Oh no! It’s a Tuesday only service and today is Sunday. Hmm… what’s this? An Air Ceylon Trident is departing Karachi at 0830, just three hours after your arrival from Dubai. Book it, Danno! In First Class, please.

From Bombay Indian Airlines has a conveniently timed daily service up to Jaipur with stops in Ahmedabad and Udaipur (close to Raj Samand). The same plane continues under a different flight number on up to Delhi. There you can overnight and then catch an early morning four stop Fokker into Calcutta with stops in Lucknow, Allahabad, Patna and Ranchi. There is a similarly timed two-stop Viscount service as well as a nonstop Caravelle from Delhi into Calcutta but you really want to route through Allahabad as the 1939 schedule did, so you’ll spend your morning on the Fokker. The breakfast served enroute consists of Aloo Paratha (Basically unleavened dough stuffed with a spiced mixture of mashed potato with butter and/or chutney) and coffee.

Arriving in Calcutta early Monday afternoon, you procure an air-conditioned hotel room in the city before heading out to the fabulous Kali Temple. Tonight’s dinner will provide a delicious introduction to Bengali cuisine with a main course of Kacchi Biriani.

Although in 1939 the flying-boat continued from Calcutta down the coast to Akyab and on to Rangoon, the 1969 schedules require one to fly first down to Rangoon and then up to Akyab. Since you'd have to spend the night in Akyab and you’ve got to fly through Rangoon anyway, it is decided to skip Akyab. Pan American offers an early morning (0655) nonstop from Calcutta to Rangoon, with continuing service on to Bangkok. You were hoping to take the Burma Airways Viscount down to Rangoon at 1000 but unfortunately there are no later flights from there onward to Bangkok. In fact, you’d have to stay in Rangoon until Thursday – two days later – before a Thai International DC-9-41 could get you down to Bangkok. Looks like it’s time to book a First Class seat aboard The World’s Most Experienced Airline.

Despite your late morning arrival into Bangkok, there are no connecting flights down to Penang until the next day. Oh well. There are certainly worse places to layover. You book yourself a room at Bangkok’s landmark Oriental Hotel, then head out for a canal tour of Bangkok before ending the day with a deliciously spicy bowl of Tom Kha Gai soup in the hotel's excellent dining room.

Your 1120 departure down to Penang the next morning allows you to take full advantage of the Oriental’s comfortable mattress on your extra large bed. Your flight down to Penang will be aboard MSA (Malaysia Singapore Airlines) utilizing a 737-112. MSA is the first Asian operator of the 737 and this will be your first flight aboard the slightly smaller -100 variant of the 737. After a 45 minute layover at Penang, your aircraft continues on down to Singapore. Luncheon will be served in the forward cabin.

A limousine will deliver you to your suite at the Raffles. After a shower and a short nap, you greet the evening with a visit to the Long Bar followed by...?


Day Ten ~ Sunday

Air Ceylon (AE) 322: Karachi (KHI) to Bombay (BOM)
Dep. KHI 0830, Arr. BOM 1035 – Nonstop service
Equip: Hawker Siddeley Trident 1E

Indian Airlines (IC) 126: Bombay (BOM) to Jaipur (JAI)
Dep. BOM 1300, Arr. JAI 1715 – Direct service via Ahmedabad and Udaipur
Equip: Fokker F.27

Indian Airlines (IC) 482: Jaipur (JAI) to Delhi (PLV)
Dep. JAI 1800, Arr. AGR 2005 – Direct service via Agra
Equip: Fokker F.27

Day Eleven ~ Monday

Indian Airlines (IC) 411: Delhi (PLV) to Calcutta (CCU)
Dep. PLV 0615, Arr. CCU 1315 – Direct service via Lucknow, Allahabad, Patna and Ranchi
Equip: Fokker F.27

Day Twelve ~ Tuesday

Pan American (PA) 002: Calcutta (CCU) to Bangkok (BKK)
Dep. CCU 0655, Arr. BKK 1130 – Direct service via Rangoon
Equip: Boeing 707-320

Day Thirteen ~ Wednesday

Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MS) 521: Bangkok (BKK) to Singapore (SIN)
Dep. BKK 1120, Arr. SIN 1455 – Direct service via Penang
Equip: Boeing 737-100


To be continued sometime in the coming week...

Seat 2A

During the intermission, I figured there might be some interest in a picture of an Imperial Airways flying boat. Don't know if this was the model used in the 1939 schedule though...

jlemon

Bravo Seat 2A! But let us also take advantage of your intermission to answer a question from WHBM in addition to adding some information with regard to his comments concerning Qantas operations at Singapore (SIN) back in the day.....

Once again referencing the October 1993 OAG, there was indeed Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop service being flown between Jakarta (CGK) and Medan (MES) in Indonesia by Mandala Airlines (RI) with two flights a day. The distance between GGK and MES is 874 miles. Here are the scheds.....

RI 092: Dep. CGK 0900, Arr. MES 1145
Op: Daily - Nonstop service
Equip: LOE

RI 096: Dep. CGK 1415, Arr. MES 1700
Op: Daily - Nonstop service
Equip: LOE

The Electra was also used for two daily flights nonstop from MES to CGK.

At this same time between CGK and MES, Garuda (GA) was operating weekly nonstop service with B747 equipment as well as a weekly one stop service (via DPS) with an MD-11. These wide body flights operated by GA also served Amsterdam (AMS) and Paris (CDG) from Medan on a direct basis with the MD-11 actually operating nonstop MES-Munich (MUC) service once a week as well. In addition, Garuda was flying A300, B737-300 and DC-9-10 service between CGK and MES. Another operator on the route at this time was Sempati Air (SG) flying A300, B737-200 and F100 jet equipment.

There was also another Vickers Viscount operator in Indonesia at this time besides Mandala: Bouraq Airlines (BO). Here's a sched example.....

BO 426: Dep. Manado (MDC) 0800, Arr. Balikpapan (BPN) 1030; Dep. BPN 1115; Arr. Jakarta (CGK) 1315 (total distance: 1,355 miles)
Op: Daily
Equip: VCV

Meantime, our trusty OAG also lists the following flights operated by Qantas (QF) nonstop (except where noted) into Singapore (SIN) in October of 1993 from the following destinations:

Adelaide (ADL) - Equip: B767-300
Bangkok (BKK) - Equip: B747-400
Brisbane (BNE) - Equip: B747SP & B767-300
Cairns (CNS) - Equip: B767-200
Darwin (DRW) - Equip: B767-200
Frankfurt (FRA) - Equip: B747-400 (one stop service via BKK)
Hong Kong (HKG) - Equip: B767-300
Jakarta (CGK) - Equip: B767-300
Kuala Lumpur (KUL) - Equip: B767-200
London (LHR) - Equip: B747-400
Melbourne (MEL) - Equip: B747-400
Paris (CDG) - Equip: B747-400 (two stop service via FRA and BKK)
Perth (PER) - Equip: B767-200 & B767-300
Rome (ROM) - Equip: B747-400 (one stop service via BKK)
Sydney (SYD) - Equip: B747-400 & B767-200 & B767-300 (767 services were one stop flights SYD-SIN)

Indeed, Qantas had quite a presence in Singapore for many years.....

And, oh by the way, I can definitely attest to the excellent nature of the Mirror Pond Pale Ale brewed by the great folks at Deschutes Brewing Co. in Bend, Oregon as reported by Seat 2A!

jlemon

Ahem, sir.....I truly hope you do get around to it!

WHBM

Yes, that is indeed one of the Empire Boats of the time, in fact the first one (somewhat inevitably), G-ADHL "Canopus", delivered October 1936 and a survivor into 1939 and WW2 when the service was given up, at least in part. Many of the boats were not survivors, there was a very considerable attrition of the aircraft in those early years, to the extent that the services proposed for them were never fully inaugurated. Incidentally, passengers were a secondary justification for their operation, it was mail between London and The Empire in Africa, Asia and Australasia that was the primary rationale for building the fleet, which depending on which ones you count in or out ran to over 40 aircraft, a huge fleet for its day.

All the British and Australian Empires had names beginning with C, and were sometimes known as "The C class" or "The Canopus Class" instead, after the name of the first, as was the style then for ships and locomotives as well. The Australian ones had Aboriginal names, and the New Zealand ones had Maori names (these all beginning with A), while the British ones had classical names, the management realising an opportunity to recall their Latin and Greek education, thrust into them in dreary school classes .......

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

Seat 2A

PART THREE: SINGAPORE to SYDNEY

The schedule between Singapore and Djakarta (ex-Batavia in 1969) is a delight to contemplate. At various times and days of the week it is served by the following airline and aircraft combinations:

Air India: 707
CSA Czechoslovakian Airlines: IL-62
Garuda Indonesian Airlines: DC-8 * 990 * Electra
Japan Air Lines: DC-8-61
Malaysia-Singapore Airlines: 707 * 737
Qantas: 707
Thai International: Caravelle * DC-9-41

As tempting as it is to stick around for the Friday departures of either the 990 or the Electra, there is a time element to this journey that requires continuing on to Sydney just as the Australia-bound passengers of old did. So it is that on Thursday you plan to fly on to Djakarta aboard the first flight of the day - Garuda’s 1330 DC-8 departure.

But wait! The last flight of the day from Djakarta to Surabaya (ex-Sourabaya in 1939) departs at 1250, forty minutes before you even leave Singapore! Once you get to Surabaya, you won’t be able to continue on to Kupang (ex-Koepang in 1939) until Monday morning. Worse yet, in 1969 at least there is absolutely no way to get from Kupang to Darwin without going all the way back to at least Denpasar. Alright then, so what if we just go straight to Surabaya and skip Kupang? Alas, there are no nonstop or direct flights from Surabaya to Darwin and the only available connection – via Denpasar – would entail a two day layover until Monday morning.

Hmm…

How about we just go from Singapore to Djakarta to Denpasar to Darwin and onwards? Once again, the Thursday departure out of Singapore is going to leave you with an overnight layover in Djakarta since the first scheduled flight to DPS that connects with your inbound from SIN won’t depart until Friday at 1300. And even then you’re still going to have to layover in Denpasar until Monday morning before there’s a flight over to Darwin.

Sigh…

Alright then, since you’re going to have to layover somewhere enroute and you’ll still get to Darwin at the same time on Monday regardless of where those layovers will be – here’s the plan:

You’ll contact the Raffles and see if they can put you up for another night. On Friday morning you’ll depart Singapore aboard Garuda’s all-economy class 990 down to Djakarta (Yes!!!), connecting to the early afternoon flight over to Surabaya. You’ll spend the weekend there. On Monday morning you’ll catch the early morning DC-3 departure over to Bali and then continue aboard yet another 990 down to Darwin. As an added bonus, the 990 flight between Denpasar and Darwin offers a First Class cabin. A seat up there will cost just £30.00 more. Yes, please!

As an aside, the original 1939 schedule called for a 0530 departure out of Sourabaya, stopping briefly in Koepang before arriving in Darwin at 1810. Your 1969 schedule departs Surabaya at 0600, has a one hour and fifty minute connection in Denpasar before arriving in Darwin at 1410. Gotta love the speed of those 990s!

The 1939 schedule spent the night in Darwin and then continued on to Karumba and Townsville the next morning. Unfortunately, in 1969 there is no direct service to Karumba from Darwin. MacRobertson Miller Airlines comes very close, offering a Fokker F.27 down the coast to Gove and Groote Eylandt (Island). Unfortunately, there’s nowhere to go from GTE but back to Darwin. The only way to get to Karumba is via connection through Mt. Isa, but then getting from Karumba to Townsville will require a three day layover and connection via Cairns or a return to Mt. Isa and onward.

Weighing the desire to follow the old 1939 routing as closely as possible vs. continuing your journey as expeditiously as reasonably possible, you decide to route south through Mt. Isa where you’ll overnight before continuing over to Townsville the next morning. Your decision is made easier by the fact that TAA Trans-Australian Airlines just happens to offer a Monday only 727-100 T-Jet nonstop down to Mt. Isa. The connection is tight (only 1:05) but the OAG indicates that the one hour minimum at DRW for International to Domestic flights makes it legal. It also helps that the four General Electric CJ-805-23s powering your Convair 990 made short work of the 1100 mile flight from Denpasar, enabling you to arrive into Darwin twenty minutes early. Welcome to Australia, Mate!

After a blissfully comfortable night in the comparatively dry air of Mt. Isa, you awake the next morning to a classic old Australian breakfast – steak and eggs with toast and Vegemite – before heading out to the airport for your early morning three-stop flight to Townsville. Man, you sure have been spending a lot of time aboard Fokker F.27s of late. Your flights across India accounted for ten individual segments, to which you’ll add another four today and two more tomorrow. Throw in the Alitalia flight from Brindisi up to Rome a couple of weeks ago and you’ll have logged seventeen flights aboard F.27s on this trip.

Continuing on from Townsville we’re back to that little problem of trying to match the 1939 routing with 1969 schedules. While there is service to Gladstone from both Ansett and TAA, unfortunately GLT is not on any of the mainline through services from Townsville south to Brisbane. It gets service up from Brisbane but not from Townsville or Rockhampton. Interestingly, a check of schedules from the year before shows that ROK-GLT service existed. Perhaps the fact that Gladstone lies only 70 miles south of Rockhampton may have had something to do with dropping the Rockhampton-Gladstone route a year later in 1969. As such, since it makes no sense to fly down to Brisbane just to fly back up to Gladstone and back, you elect to fly straight to nearby Rockhampton. Following a two and a half hour layover in Townsville (Those were great homemade meat pies at the airport kiosk!) you’ll board Ansett’s DC-9-30 for the short one-stop flight down to Rockhampton.

The next morning you’ll head out to the airport to board yet another F.27 for the short two-hour service down to Brisbane. Your flight to Brisbane makes a stop in Bundaberg, home to Australia’s famous Bundaberg Rum. It’s a bit early for rum though, so during your three hour and forty-five minute layover at Brisbane Airport you order a delicious plate of baked Barramundi in a coconut curry with a delightful Chardonnay from the Margaret River region in Western Australia.

And finally, we’ve arrived at the last leg of this fantastic journey! You’ve a choice between either an Ansett or a TAA DC-9-30, both of which depart at 1445 and arrive at 1600. Since you’ve not yet flown aboard TAA’s model, that’s the one you choose to take you down to Sydney.

It’s been a long journey, but what a great trip! Now – how do we get home?

Well, I suppose that depends upon where you call home.

If y’all want, I could come up with an itinerary from Sydney to Fairbanks…



Day Fourteen ~ Thursday

Forced layover in Singapore

Day Fifteen ~ Friday

Garuda (GA) 891: Singapore (SIN) to Djakarta (JKT)
Dep. SIN 0950, Arr. JKT 1045 – Nonstop service
Equip: Convair 990

Garuda (GA) 470: Djakarta (JKT) to Surabaya (SUB)
Dep. JKT 1250, Arr. SUB 1500 – Nonstop service
Equip: Convair 340

Day Sixteen and Seventeen ~ Saturday and Sunday

Forced layover in Surabaya

Day Eighteen ~ Monday

Garuda (GA) 620: Surabaya (SUB) to Denpasar (DPS)
Dep. SUB 0600, Arr. DPS 0730 – Nonstop service
Equip: Douglas DC-3

Garuda (GA) 998: Denpasar (DPS) to Darwin (DRW)
Dep. DPS 0920, Arr. DRW 1410 – Nonstop service
Equip: Convair 990

TAA Trans-Australian (TN) 551 Darwin (DRW) to Mt. Isa (ISA)
Dep. DRW 1515, Arr. ISA 1730 – Nonstop service
Equip: Boeing 727-100

Day Nineteen ~ Tuesday

TAA Trans-Australian (TN) 467 Mt. Isa (ISA) to Townsville (TSV)
Dep. ISA 0700, Arr. TSV 1055 – Direct service via Cloncurry, Julia Creek and Hughenden
Equip: Fokker F.27

Ansett (AN) 651 Townsville (TSV) to Rockhampton (ROK)
Dep. TSV 1330, Arr. ROK 1515 – Direct service via Mackay
Equip: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30

Day Twenty ~ Wednesday

Ansett (AN) 669 Rockhampton (ROK) to Brisbane (BNE)
Dep. ROK 0845, Arr. BNE 1100 – Direct service via Bundaburg
Equip: Fokker F.27

TAA Trans Australian (TN) 419 Brisbane (BNE) to Sydney (SYD) D9S
Dep. BNE 1445, Arr. SYD 1600 – Nonstop service
Equip: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30

jlemon

Yes, please.....and I'll be interested to see what side of the Pacific you choose to fly over on your way home to East Ester!

BTW, you have my vote with regard to your three part journey from London to Sydney being some of the all time best posts ever to grace this little old thread! ^^^

WHBM

Oh, well done S2A, that's an equal tie with JL's trip for detail and logic. Thoroughly enjoyable

Sydney home to Fairbanks in 1969 ? Sounds like Pan Am all the way !

miniliq

These imaginary travels are great -- and especially since they trigger memories for all of us I'm sure. But your choice of 1969 for Part III of the trip really hit home because some of it was not imaginary. In January 1969 I took my wife with me from Houston for a one-month job in Palembang on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. We began with a brief visit with relatives in western Canada (where the temp in Edmonton didn't get above -15F for a month) and left YVR in a snowstorm on a DC-8, JL flight 11 (only 9 other pax!) for the long trip to the warmth of Djakarta -- fuel stop in ANC; overnight stop in TYO (hotel courtesy of JL); then JL flight 711 TYO-HKG-BKK-SIN-JKT (your SIN-JKT list sparked this recollection); overnight in JKT; then by company DC-3 to PLM. One weekend we flew the DC-3 to JKT, then a Garuda Electra to DPS and back. And at the conclusion of my assignment, we began the journey home with a Thai International (TG) flight on a Caravelle to SIN. Didn't stay at Raffles, though -- the Singapura (not there anymore -- we've spent the past two Christmases in SIN at Hilton properties).

Sorry -- I didn't mean this to be a trip report, but the 1969 coincidence was too hard to pass up -- fond memories! Thanks to JL, Seat2A and WHBM for all of the research and information -- keep it up! I was on a mileage run the past four days (15 flights, 18k miles, only one hotel night) and monitored your posts whenever possible (usually in a United Club), so please know that you are being heard and appreciated.

Seat 2A

Thanks for the kind words, gang! I had a lot of fun putting that itinerary together and it's nice to read that you all enjoyed it. Now if only I could just go back in time...

You're right WHBM, Pan Am would be the logical choice, likely routing SYD-HNL-PDX-SEA-FAI. Still, since I won't be tethered to a specific routing on the way back, I'm hoping for something a bit more exotic, perhaps island hopping across to say - Tahiti - before making my way North To Alaska. If I'm lucky, I might even find my way onto an Air New Zealand Electra somewhere along the way!

Although I scanned the relevant OAG pages into my laptop in order to complete the DRW-SYD portions of the 1969 trip, the actual OAG is back in Fairbanks so whatever routing I end up with, it'll have to wait a couple of days until I get back home.

Good on ya, miniliq! I've got a big mileage run on United coming up in a couple of weeks. It'll run September 16th - October 5th. If you're flying the Friendly Skies during that time, perhaps our contrails might cross somewhere!

WHBM

Well, I just felt that a few words on what things were like along this route even earlier might round things off, so going back in time another 13 years from S2A’s great story, I’ll have a shot at …… July 1956, which timetable I just happen to have on the shelf here.

1 - London to Tel Aviv

One of the joys of the old “IATA days” was that a regular fare between A and B (or Southampton and Sydney) could be used on any combination of flights and airlines, as long as you stayed within the overall ‘allowed’ mileage, which on this trip, which is around 10,000 miles Great Circle, was probably about 12,000 miles. And if you exceeded that you just got charged a directly proportional extra amount, so if it comes out at 15,000 when you add all the legs together, that’s just another 25% extra on the standard fare, no matter how you do it. The airlines each got a share of this fare in proportion to their mileage, and this wasn’t tied together until the trip was done and all those paper coupons torn from inside the ticket (remember them ?) had got back to the central IATA accounting house. For a trip like this it must have taken one of the clerical staff there half the morning, reading off all the mileages and then dividing the fare up, ending up with all the foreign currency conversions – and that was if you hadn’t changed things along the way, when some poor ticket agent on the spot had to work out whether to charge you more, and if so how much. It’s no wonder that the ticketing back offices of airlines were one of the first users of commercial computers in the world.

Southampton airport was just a grass strip in 1956, but – joy of joy – there are still big flying boats operating out of Southampton Docks to Marseilles, and on to Genoa. Once a week leaving on Friday. Well, we have to go for that. So an early start from London Waterloo by the 8.30 train to Southampton (with a Merchant Navy 4-6-2 steam locomotive for the train buffs), then a special bus over to the flying boat base. This is a little-known independent operator, Aquila Airways, who tried to keep the ex-BOAC flying boats going through the 1950s, and ran them to various, principally holiday, places, like Madeira which didn’t have an airport yet. They finally gave up in 1958 and that was the end of the big flying boats in Europe. An 1130 departure from Southampton was in a Short Solent, which is really no more than a post-war version of the old Empire boats. I suspect that Aquila’s service probably didn’t match the old Imperial standards of elegant food and drink, but the route is the same, over The Channel and down across France. Into the old flying boat base at Marignane, Marseilles, landing on the inland Etang de Berre lake, which is up against the main airport (still is, it’s at the back of the terminal by the car park), and instead of needing to get into the city we can stay on board for another glorious flying boat sector, on along The Med to Genoa in northern Italy, passing Nice and pretty much hugging the coast all the way, arriving nicely 5.00 pm. The Solent overnights here and returns nonstop to Southampton the following morning.

Now part of the reason why Aquila have a flying boat service here is that Genoa doesn’t run to an airport in 1956, while Marseilles didn’t have any air service towards Rome, our next stop, either, so we have to resort to the train to get up from Genoa to Milan, it’s about 100 miles and will occupy us into the evening. I wonder if the Hotel Echo, which I used there a couple of years ago and which is right across the street from the Central train station, was there in 1956 to just walk across to, maybe for a late dinner, a Martini aperitif with a few olives, a little seafood starter, a small pasta, a veal Milanese (of course), an ice cream confection, a bottle of Barolo, an Amaretto and some real Italian coffee to finish, and hopefully a not-too-early start tomorrow. A big flying boat and Italian food. Day 1 could have been worse !

Next task is getting to Rome and Brindisi. There isn’t much of an internal air service in Italy in 1956 (the opposite applies today), and in fact the entire domestic flights timetable occupies just three inches (albeit closely printed) of one page of the timetable, and Brindisi doesn’t appear in the destinations, nor in the overall timetable index. However, there’s just one daily flight shown to Bari, up the coast from there, and there’s a little sideways-printed note down the timetable, which reads ….. “flight continues to Brindisi.” Goodness, what a need to be a detective. It stops at Rome along the way, so that's twopoints hit in one flight. The LAI (not yet merged with Alitalia) DC3, leaves Milan Linate at 1420, stops Pisa at 1550, Rome Ciampino at 1705/1730, Bari at 1910, and gets to Brindisi at 2000. That’s a longer overall trip than yesterday’s flying boat run.

We need to find a hotel quickly, maybe with just enough time to nip down to the Adriatic shore and see where Imperial’s flying boats came in, because early the next morning it’s an 0700 Sunday departure, on the same aircraft we came down on last night, only flight of the day, back to Bari and Rome, arrive there 0940. I looked up the shipping schedules of the time, because Brindisi was a principal port to sail from Italy to Athens’ port of Piraeus, but although there are several companies on the run, the ship takes 36 hours, so air, even backtracking to Rome, is the way. There is a wide range of operators from Rome on to Athens, but many just provide an odd flight or two through the week, even the Italian and Greek carriers, and thus the next departure is a BEA Viscount 700 which started from London in the morning, leaves Rome at 1300 on Sunday with us on board, gets us to Athens at 1650, and will end its day at Nicosia in Cyprus. Note, by the way, that what Imperial managed to do in a day through its various stops has taken us three days to perform the same thing 17 years later.

Now, in a notable change from later schedules, there is a daily direct flight from Athens to Alexandria, allowing us to skip the dogleg down to Cairo and back. We need to overnight in Athens because it leaves in the morning. This is TAE (the Greek national carrier of the time), on a DC3, which once a week on Mondays makes an extra en-route stop at Rhodes – and today is Monday. So an 0800 departure from Athens, out across the islands to Rhodes, and then on to an African landfall at Alex and a 1240 arrival.

Alexandria was always a key junction point for Imperial’s flying boat services, where the African and Asian routes parted, crews were changed, and there was indeed some Africa-Asia connecting traffic. There’s a little local difficulty just about to happen between Britain and Egypt here at the end of July 1956, and the best thing to do is “get out of Dodge” (remembering that ‘Gunsmoke’ had just started its long US television run at this time !) again pretty promptly. The straightforward way on to the next stop, Tiberias, now in Israel, would be through Nicosia in Cyprus, but there’s nothing headed from Egypt to Cyprus at all for two days, and given the possible issues on the ground the best thing to do is stay inside the TAE DC3 with the doubtless bemused crew, and leave 30 minutes later headed back nonstop to Athens. I hope there’s some good viewing of the harbour, where the Empire boats used to rendezvous, as we depart again at 1310, for what is quite a long leg for a DC3, arriving back in Athens at 1650. Something to eat at the airport, and then we’re on to the 2020 departure of an El Al, with an L-749 Connie (hooray !), which has come through from New York, where it left at noon on Sunday, stopping at Gander, London and Paris on the way. We get to Tel Aviv at 30 minutes after midnight, and by the time you’re in a hotel it’s going to be a couple of hours after that, early on the Tuesday morning, doubtless with the song of Pratt & Whitney still ringing in the ears.

to be continued ......

Seat 2A

Bravo, WHBM! You're certainly off to a great start with a wonderful recall of history and some first class wordsmithing to boot. I'm sure I speak for us all when I say we look forward to savoring the next installment soon...