British Caledonian had 10 DC-10-30s – G-BEBL, G-BEBM, G-BFGI, G-BGAT, G-BHDH, G-BHDI, G-BHDJ, G-DCIO, G-MULL, G-NIUK – plus two DC-10-10s G-BJZD and G-BJZE. At least one of the -30s was second hand – one came from Ariana Afghan Airlines for sure – and the two -10s came from Laker when Laker collapsed. The rest were new build.
Two were sold – G-BFGI and G-BGAT, and the two -10s were transferred to Cal-Air/Novair. The other eight were aquired by BA when B.Cal was bought by BA. They remained based at LGW until they were disposed of. They mainly operated on the former B.Cal routes ex LGW to the USA (e.g. IAH, SFW, ATL, SAN/LAX), to South America and to a limited extent to Africa.
I flew on several of them in BA service – to ATL and from SAN to LGW via LAX. They were great airplanes to fly on – always seemed slightly more comfortable than the 747s – and the crew were mainly ex-B.Cal people who seemed to be just that little bit more friendly.
All eight BA DC-10s were converted to freighters, and most are still flying including with DAS Air Cargo, Gemini Air Cargo and Centurian Air Cargo.
Andy
I agree with everything you say Andy except
and the crew…seemed to be just that little bit more friendly
Not sure when you took your DC10 flights, but I flew at Worldwide LGW for a couple of years in 94/95 and I’m afraid the one thing the crew were not was friendly!
1L.
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