To mark Queen Elizabeth becoming Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, British Airways pilots, cabin crew and ground staff – past and present – who have flown her got together at Heathrow Airport.
Dressed in the uniforms they would have worn when they flew with the queen, 30 crew members gathered at Terminal 5 to raise a flag in honour of her reaching this historic milestone on Wednesday.
Bob Godfrey, 79, a retired chief steward, said: “I had the honour of serving Her Majesty on two flights, once in 1972 and again in 1990.
“We all felt so proud when we boarded the aircraft and could not believe our queen would shortly be coming on board.”
Patricia Pearce, MBE, who joined BOAC – BA’s long-haul predecessor in 1962 – and served the queen on her two-week visit to New Zealand in 1974, said: “The trip ended up lasting almost two months because the Heath government was brought down in the middle of the trip, so the royal couple had to come back to the UK and then fly back out again.”
Jane Ainley, 47, a long-haul cabin crew member, served the queen on the flight home from Perth following her state visit to Australia in 2011.
“I was thrilled to be asked to serve on a royal flight from Perth to London, which was the first non-stop flight between Australia and the UK.
“My father had the honour of carrying the queen on a flight from Heathrow to Vancouver back in 1963, so I felt rather emotional when I was given the opportunity to follow in his footsteps.”
The airline also released photographs from its Speedbird Heritage Centre, including one of the first telegrams sent to the princess after she became queen.
On January 31, 1952, BOAC flew Princess Elizabeth to East Africa on the first stage of a Commonwealth tour.
A week later, following the death of her father, King George VI, she was flown back on a BOAC Argonaut as Queen Elizabeth II.
The BA museum has the telegram received on the flight home from the Queen Mother to her daughter, which reads:
“To: Her Majesty The Queen
All my thoughts and prayers are with you. Mummie, Buckingham Palace”
The message was received over the radio, written directly into the captain’s logbook and then copied out by hand on to a BOAC signal form, before being presented to the queen.
Sunday Tribune