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BRITISH EAGLE OPERATED DURING THE ERA OF CHARTER FLYING. A NUMBER OF AD HOC CHARTER OR SPECIAL FLIGHTS WERE CARRIED OUT WHICH ARE RECORDED HERE. IN ADDITION WITHIN THE SPECIAL FLIGHT CATEGORY A NUMBER OF THREE ENGINE FERRY FLIGHTS WERE CARRIED OUT.

EG 710 The first "Round-the-World" flight undertaken, was for Sir Henry Lunn, commencing on 10th March 1964, G-AOVT. a series 312 Britannia under the command of  Captain Frederick Burkett took 58 passengers. The route was London - Cairo - Karachi   (Tech stop) - Delhi- Bangkok -  Hong  Kong - Tokyo - Honolulu - San Francisco - Las Vegas - New Orleans - NewYork - London Returning on the 5th April 1964 the total time recorded was - 65hrs 25mins.

EG_ _ _ This flight was chartered as a 'round the world' aerial safari. The flight departed London on March 16th 1966 stopping in Jerusalem, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Honolulu, Mexico, and the USA returning to London in April 1966. (More information on this flight is being sought)

EG1030 This flight was chartered by the London Symphony Orchestra fora  world tour commencing on March 20th 1966. G-ARKA a series 324 Britannia, under the command of Captain Vincent Twomey, carried the 60 strong orchestra and their instruments on the 19 day tour. The aircraft operated without any technical problems during the time away and returned to London on April 8th 1966. The route followed was as below with concerts taking place at various stopping points.                                                                                                                                
LONDON -- BELGRADE -- BEIRUT -- NEW DELHI -- SINGAPORE -- DARWIN -- SYDNEY -- BRISBANE -- NANDI -- HONOLULU -- SAN FRANCISCO -- NEW YORK -- WASHINGTON -- NEW YORK -- LONDON.

EG3449 This flight was chartered by the Manchester Halle Orchestra for a tour of South America commencing on June 2nd 1968. G-ARKB a series 324 Britannia, under the command of Captain Barry Hoad, carried the orchestra and their instruments on the 41 day tour. The aircraft returned to London on July 13th 1968. The route followed was as below with concerts taking place at various stopping points
                                                                                                                                                            LONDON -- MANCHESTER -- MIAMI -- MEXICO CITY -- CARACAS -- PORT OF SPAIN -- KINGSTON -- LIMA -- SANTIAGO -- BUENOS AIRES -- PORTO ALEGRE -- SAO PAULO -- RIO DE JANIERO -- DAKAR -- MANCHESTER -- LONDON.                     

THREE ENGINE FERRY FLIGHTS.
Most airlines who operate over similar routes operate pooling arrangements where spares can be used by the member airlines. When similar types of aircraft are in use by the pool airlines then there is a large saving in the cost of providing spare parts. At the time British Eagle was operating the Britannia they were the only airline regularly operating the type on the far east routes. Whilst spares were positioned at transit stations and also carried on flights a spare engine tended to be in one place. If that spare had been used in replacing a failed engine and a subsequent failure occurred then the only choices were wait for a new engine to be sent or ferry the aircraft to where a replacement engine was available.

It is interesting to note that with the arrival of jet transport aircraft some types were able to carry a spare engine on an underwing hard mount. The engine was contained in a special  pod  which was streamlined and fitted between the port inner engine and the fuselage. The engine could be fitted or removed within the normal en route turn round time of 1 hour. The only penalty in operation was a slight reduction in cruising speed and the necessity to carry slightly more fuel to compensate for the increased drag. Operating  procedures existed for ferrying with 3 engines and were used on a number of occasions to recover aircraft to London. Certain limitations designed to make the operation safe were contained in the type Flight and Operations manuals. Of course this would be a flight crew only operation.

Detail of two such 3 engine ferry flights is below.

28-6-1965         G-AOVF         BOMBAY - BAHRAIN              Flight time 5.08
28-6-1965         G-AOVF         BAHRAIN - BEIRUT                  Flight time 3.49
Crew taking rest time at Beirut
29-6-1965         G-AOVF         BEIRUT - NICE                          Flight time 5.57
29-6-1965         G-AOVF         NICE - LONDON                       Flight time 2.46

10-6-1966        G-ANCG         SINGAPORE - CALCUTTA       Flight time 6.33
Crew taking rest time at Calcutta
12-6-1966        G-ANCG         CALCUTTA - KARACHI           Flight time 5.18
12-6-1966        G-ANCG         KARACHI - BAHRAIN              Flight time 3.39
Crew taking rest time at Bahrain
13-6-1966        G-ANCG         BAHRAIN - BEIRUT                  Flight time 3.58
13-6-1966        G-ANCG         BEIRUT -  BRINDISI                  Flight time 4.06
13-6-1966        G-ANCG         BRINDISI - LONDON                Flight time 5.05

29-10-1966       G-ARKB         KUWAIT - CAIRO                     Flight time 3.50
29-10-1966       G-ARKB         CAIRO - BRINDISI                    Flight time 3.49
29-10-1966       G-ARKB         BRINDISI - LONDON               Flight time 4.44               

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