A few days ago, I caught Will sobbing in the corner. Okay I exaggerate, but he did look somewhat downcast. The cause of the gloom which surrounded him was my fault. I’d forwarded him an email from Heathrow Airport and it included a tribute to the Queen of the Skies featuring the last of the British Airways’ 747s to make their way to Kemble. “I haven’t even been on one” he (almost) wailed.
I gently reminded him of the previous two aircraft types we’d waved goodbye to; that we had fond memories of them even though he hadn’t been on those either.
It didn’t help. Turns out that Concorde and the Avro Vulcan had never made it onto the Viable Holiday Destination Travel Options list, so they didn’t count.
Will was a little happier to find out that one of the Jumbos will be preserved as a museum at Cotswold Airport, so a visit has already gone into the virtual diary ready for the announcement that it’s open to the public.
Perhaps in the future we’ll have to plan our holidays not by the destination, but by the means of getting there. That way, we’ll have a good chance of having flown in whatever aircraft next passes its ‘best before’ date.
Featured image: British Airways
A Pilot's Companion 