Bye-Bye Jumbo

Always full of initiative, Virgin Atlantic is set to open doors to its last Boeing 747 aircraft for one day only next Saturday 12 December.

It was a 747 that launched Virgin Atlantic on 22 June 1984.  BTN’s John Bell was on the inaugural flight.  His memoir of the airline was published here 36 years later. (See BTN 22 June ON TOUR: Virgin Atlantic – A Short History)

Hosted at the airline’s Heathrow hangar on 12 December, visitors will experience a full aircraft tour, where they can delve below deck to explore areas of the plane the public rarely see, as well as enjoy a sumptuous three course on-board meal. All proceeds from the £50 per person ticket sales will be donated to The Trussell Trust which supports a network of food banks and provide emergency food and support whilst campaigning for change to end the need for food banks in the UK.

Virgin Atlantic pilots, cabin crew and engineers who have worked on the 747 will be present to provide first-hand accounts and anecdotes on what life was like on-board the famous jumbo jet.

British Airways 747 G-BYGC, painted in the BOAC ‘Gold Speedbird’ livery used between 1963 and 1974, will soon make the short journey from Cardiff Airport to the Bro Tathan business park in the Vale of Glamorgan where it will be maintained as a heritage piece by aviation specialists eCube.  The Negus-liveried 747, registration G-CIVB, one of the last two 747s to depart Heathrow Airport in October has also been found a permanent home at Cotswold Airport in Gloucestershire.

https://virg.in/747experience

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

Katherine Bell, Heysham

My father worked for an airline and I travelled on many Jumbos during my childhood and subsequently. I will never forget sitting on the floor on an American airline in first class playing with my Noah's Ark and setting the animals out down the aisle two by two. The crew was very accommodating!

Paul Kay, London, UK

..."I'm booking a 'Club Europe' ticket on BA's new route... ...'Cardiff to Bro Tathan'... "Whats the Exec lounge like at 'Bro' anyone know ?"

Peter North, High Halden

My first Jumbo flight was on a TWA aircraft out of Los Angeles fifty years ago in February 1970. It was an industry familiarisation flight and I still have the memento, a cockpit key mounted as a paperweight. Sadly the airline and the aircraft gone. Sic transit gloria mundi.

David Duthie, United Kingdom

My first flight on a B747 was on a SAA flight from Johannesburg to London in August 1972, sadly I don’t know the registration. My last flight on a B747 was on the delayed BA58 from Cape Town to London on the last commercial flight of G-CVIK arriving 20 March 2020. It’s last flight was in May when it went for scrapping. So my B747 experience in over 48 years. I have also travelled in the upper deck in an almost new B747 designated SUD - Stretched Upper Deck and that was in June 1987.

Celia Jones, Crawley

I flew out of Gatwick on an early service. Not many upstairs but solo Upper Class. The bigger version was split at first with premium economy, not quite the same, but later sorted. The bar was always downstairs. I for one will miss the Jumbo, better than the A380 in the executive cabin!