Caravelle Memories?
 

The Sud Caravelle has always struck me as a beautiful aircraft. Sadly, my "flying life" began after the Caravelle's faded. Does anyone have any memories of flying on a Caravelle which you could share with me/us? How did it compare to other aircraft of the period? What route did you fly it on?

This may be the wrong forum for this, but I am posting here as I am sort of seeking, rather than posting, trip reports/memories.

As an aside, it is my understanding the last Caravelle in passenger service - with Air Gabon - has been relegated to cargo only duty.

I flew in September, 1971 between Mallorca and Paris on Air France. I agree the Caravelle was a good looking plane, but it seemed small. It was an afternoon flight and served a snack/lunch. To celebrate flying up to Paris I remember ordering a small bottle of champagne.

I flew on an Air Inter Caravelle in 1986 from Marseille to Paris Orly. I was a student at the Univesite d'Aix-Marseille III in Aix-en-Provence France returning home to California.

I had a friend buy me a Paris CDG-SFO via LHR ticket on British Airways, but I had to get up to Paris, so I chose this flight (I originally tried for the UTA DC-10 coming from Abidjan to Marseille continuing onto CDG, but the timing was not right. So I ended up on the Caravelle.

It reminded me in size of the 727 and this one had some backwards facing seats as well. I remember (in '86) a feeling of it being 'old', but that didn't bother me at all, I rather looked forward to being on an aircraft type I'd never been on before. I remember as opposed to overhead compartments, there seemed to be some sort of 'netting' (although I am not 100% sure of this as this was over 15 years ago).

When we landed at ORY, they wheeled up the stairs to our plane (I should have took a picture), and we descended into the cold misty day..

All in all, I enjoyed my one and only Caravelle experience on Air Inter. I still have the inflight route, drink and snack menu 'booklet' theat was in the seat compartment.



[This message has been edited by Axi (edited 01-06-2002).]

I road many a Caravelle ORD/CVG on "Student Standy" from 66-69. I think I remember it had netting rather than luggage racks. There was a hump in the isle to cover the wing spar. We all thought the hart shaped windows gave it a striking look. I think it was AA metal but I'm not sure.

There's one parked at CMH I don't think it flys but is there for display.

I think that Caravelle you flew ORD-CVG was UA metal. They were the only scheduled U.S. airline to fly these planes. Here's another interesting fact - between 1956-1970 United flew "Men's only Business flights" to major business centers. During the short history of the Caravelle at United they used the planes for these flights. Towards the mid to late 60's. Just another bit of trivia....

Link to a picture of a Caravelle:
www.ual.com/site/primary/0,10017,1420,00.html

Link to info on the Mens only flights:
www.ual.com/site/primary/0,10017,3302,00.html

My first charter flight as a kid was on a Caravelle out of FBU (Oslo) to TRF in 1970, I remember the oddly shaped windows fairly well, but my dominant memory is the level of nois (We were located well to the rear of the plane).
Pitch must hav been approx. 30', I was definetely feeling cramped.
The Caravelle did not have extended range, so we had refuelling stop both ways in Faro, Portugal.

The first flight recorded in my flight log is of a flight aboard a United Caravelle between LAX and SBA. I was very young and have only vague memories however.

Not long ago, an article appeared in either Airliners or Airways about the last CVL in passenger service. The airline was Gabon Express, not Air Gabon, an entirely different operation. I'm not sure if Gabon Express is still operating or not...

It's interesting to read of some of you flying Caravelles so recently (1986) in Europe. I suspect in countries like Colombia one could fly them well into the 90s.

Thank you all for your posts.

Seat 2A, you are quite right about Gabon Express/Air Gabon. I mixed those two up. I received a post the other day saying that Caravelle is now flying out of Kinshasa (cargo only). I understood it to be still with Gabon Express, but I am not 100% sure of that.

The Gabon Express web page is down, but it used to have a deal where you paid so much a day to fly the Caravelle all you wanted stand by, and I think, the daily price included lodging. If I remember correctly from the last time I looked, it ran about $175/day (I think). I could never figure out how to get to Gabon for a price I could/would pay (it seemed the route was through Paris...). Apparently even the outstanding Gabon Express FF program "Bantu Miles" or the joys of "Libreville Class" in the front of the plane could not keep the old girl competative in the Gabonese passenger market. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I guess as close as I'll now ever get is the World Air Routes video of the Gabon Express Caravelle doing it's thing. The aircraft looks pretty tatty, and one engine smokes a fair amount, but it is an enjoyable video to view.

Do I dare even ask about the Yak 42???

Vague memories. AF LHR-ORY in the late '60s (or very early '70s).

Flew UA Caravelle in 1968 a few times between EWR and CLE. Plane was configured as First Class only with a F fare of $33.plus tax . Y Class on the other jet A/C used on that route, a 727, was $28.00. UA even served a full breakfast or lunch on the short flight.
The Caravelle on UA, as earlier noted, was used on the 5:00 PM Men only flight from EWR to ORD. Those executive flights had a whopping surchare of $3.00 over the F fare of about $55 between EWR and ORD.
I seem to remember that the caravelle's cabin was not as quiet at cruise as the "new" 727s.

I only flew twice in a caravelle, on Luxair between Paris and Luxembourg. I liked the caravelle very much for its shape, particularly its triangular windows.

I flew one from Bogota to San Andres, Colombia about 3 years ago. It was a freighter, operated by Suramericana.
Noisy as hell, used the entire runway to take off at San Andres.
I worked for an airline then, that's how I managed to get the jumpseat.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Caravelle and the Comet shared the same front end, i.e. from the first passenger door forward.

Anybody have any insight on this?

I used to fly the Caravelle a lot as a kid in the seventies and even into the late eighties.
Air Inter would fly them once a day between Lorient and Orly. It was always a treat to fly them instead of the old Vickers Viscount or the noisy and uncomfortable F-27. I even liked it better than the Dassault Mercure, which I flew a few times between Nice and Paris.

There was just something sleek about the Caravelle. The fact that the engines were in the back was a major feature. The Caravelle was the original aircraft with engines in the back, making for a much quieter ride.

I flew the Air France version many times as well.

I really liked how the nose sort of merged into the body of the aircraft. You could see the obvious relationship to the Comet. And of course, the triangular windows were just fabulous. And the tail ladder was always a thrill to climb as a kid.

That was a cool aircraft. I flew my last Caravelle on the morning flight of a cold September 8, 1987, on Air Inter between Lorient and Orly.

The flights attendants were still wearing white gloves... As the engines stopped in Orly and I left my seat, I wondered if I'd ever fly the Caravelle again. I never did.


[This message has been edited by Droneklax (edited 01-08-2002).]

If you are interested in seeing pictures of flights on board the Gabon Express Caravelle, World Air Routes did a video of several flights. You can view pictures or buy it at:
http://www.worldairroutes.com

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Jason Seiple
JAX