Flypast: A380 or London bus? No contest

May 28 2009 By Barry Dix

HOW I envy those lucky people who’ve already flown on one of the first of the Airbus A380s.

The closest I’m likely to get to arriving at Heathrow aboard a double-decker is on a red London bus – the views aren’t so good and the only ‘in-flight entertainment’ is a teenage girl talking loudly to her boyfriend on her mobile. Mind you, I’d swap the chance of a flight on an A380 any day to have the opportunity to sample the delights of a transatlantic crossing in a piston-engined Stratocruiser, the first twin-deck airliner.

Sadly, that will remain a dream. Those big Boeings, which offered unparalleled luxury for their pampered passengers, have long gone to the scrapyard.

In fact, it’s 50 years ago this week that the last of BOAC’s Strats touched down at Heathrow on its final service. The state airline had operated a fleet of a dozen on the prestigious Monarch service to New York. By the end of the 50s, however, the Strats had been taken off the transatlantic run in favour of routes to west Africa.

The last plane, G-ANTY, named Coriolanus, left London on May 30, 1959, on a journey which took it to Barcelona and on to Kano in Nigeria and finally Accra in Ghana.

It returned to London the following day, marking the end of the type’s service in BOAC livery.

An idea of what it was like to fly as a passenger aboard a Stratocruiser is provided by Jeffrey Renshaw, whose father was a BOAC manager stationed at La Guardia and Idlewild (now JFK) in New York during the 1950s.

He was lucky enough to travel on several of the airline’s Strats in the 1950s and recalls: "Inside, these ‘giants of the sky’ were roomy and comfortable.

"The bathrooms had double sinks, with wall-length mirrors, where I can recall men shaving in the early hours before arrival." 

The flights were long – up to 15 hours via Gander, Shannon and Prestwick – and sleeping berths were available for passengers.

Jeffrey remembers: "My sisters and I spent many a night in between those crisp white sheets peering out of the small ‘porthole’ at the stars or the moon.

"Dining on these flights was equal to that of some of the finest restaurants, even in ‘tourist’ class.

"Stewards (there were few stewardesses in the early years), dressed in white dinner jackets, would serve appetisers from silver trays on to real china using real silverware and glass.

"Smoking was the norm and the Stratocruiser had a lounge down a central circular stairway where passengers could sit and chat with an after-dinner drink and a smoke.

"A few hours before arrival time, as dawn approached, the head steward would come by and offer a ‘spot of tea’ prior to a breakfast of bangers, eggs, bacon and toast."

You certainly don’t get that on a red London bus!