Feeesh wrote:

> In spite of the extremely short connecting time at GUAM (the plane to
> Honolulu was already boarding when our plane arrived), and almost as
> short connections in Honolulu and Houston, and a non-stop flight from
> GUM to HNL (instead of the 5-stop island-hopper when we came), we
> didn't get back to Hotlanta (whose 40 deg F or 4 deg C was anything
> but HOT, especially with a wind-chill factor) until 11:15 on Nov 22
> (that's two days and 10,507 flying miles later, not counting the
> Sydney/Cairns miles).

In the mid to late fifties I used to regularly commute from England to
Ceylon (Sri Lanka today) for the summer holidays.

IIRC it used to take about four days, including an "overnighter" in
Karachi at the local "guesthouses" of the Airlines. The BOAC one was
called "Speedbird" and the KLM one "Halfway" house. As a HUGE, VERY
HUGE, generalisation I don't much like the Dutch but they DO know how
to travel, thus I mostly went KLM (but by my parent's choice) after
that first time when BOAC (Better On A Camel?) screwed it up bigtime.
I arrived two days late (aged 14, my second flight ever, the first
being European only) and my parents were none the wiser at any time
until I arrived via taxi at home and asked for money to pay for it.
Ceylon Rupees were not readily available in the UK at that time.

That was at the time that the Comets kept falling out of the sky.
Whilst I wasn't on one of those, communication also wasn't what it is today.

This overnighter was necessary because the "trudge" from Bahrain to
Karachi was nine hours and the worst stage of the trip. I know it
well, I did it four times at least. It was deemed that the two-odd
days that it took to get to Karachi from London was as much as the
traveller could bear.

It wasn't the longest in kilometres but it far surpassed what we do
nowadays in time, especially if you take into account the rattly,
drony, vibrating planes of that era. Most especially those vibrations.
If you've never been in a traditional piston engined aircraft you've
no idea (and are lucky for it).

Then again, when I see our local Lockheed Super Constellation (which
was my flying platform in those days), whether on the apron or in the
air, I exult and there are at least a couple of people on this list
who've seen that.

I gotta get myself organised for another flight aboard that thing.
Just for the sheer HISTORY of it.

Cheers,

Christian