This original print
from the archives
of The Aeroplane
magazine carries
the caption “7.2.52:
Queen Elizabeth,
who last week left
London Airport as
the Princess, today
arrived back at the
same place following
the dramatic all-night
f light from Entebbe."eager to experience the results of their labours.
During the three-day stop in Hong Kong Ajax was put through
its paces, undertaking an arduous series of take-offs and landings
at Kai Tak Airport testing the aircraft at varying weights.
The Argonaut could take off in 1,463 metres (4,800ft)
of runway at sea level with zero gradient and wind, but a
temperature rise of 20C – quite common on the routes flown –
would increase this to 1,798 metres (5,900ft).
The aircraft performed almost flawlessly, the only delay
occurring at Basra, where scorching temperatures prompted
the fuel flow meters to ‘give up the ghost’. Altogether almost
3,000 hours were flown in training crews before the Argonaut
entered service.
The 22 Argonauts formed the basis of BOAC’s No.1 Line,
divided into two ‘flights’, one operating the ‘Eastern’ routes to
the Middle East and beyond and the other (using many former
BSAA crew following the merger of the two corporations)
operating across the South Atlantic and down the eastern
coast of South America. BOAC emphasised “high utilisation
and absolute economy in operation”, with a minimum of time
and manpower spent on maintenance down route.
Into Service
BOAC’s inaugural scheduled Argonaut service departed
on August 23, 1949 when G-ALHJ Arcturus commenced
a weekly frequency to Hong Kong via Rome, Cairo, Basra,
Karachi, Calcutta (Kolkata), Rangoon (Yangon) and Bangkok
- the airline’s first all-land plane service to the Far East. The
Argonauts were quickly pressed in to service: three days later
G-ALHK Atalanta commenced a weekly service to Tokyo,
followed the next day by the twice-weekly Singapore-Hong
Kong route, and in November of the same year Argonauts began
serving points throughout the Middle East, India, Pakistan and
Ceylon (Sri Lanka), with Kuwait, Damascus, Abadan, Bahrain,
Lydda, (Lod, near Tel Aviv), Baghdad, Bombay (Mumbai),
Delhi and Colombo all coming on stream in an array of multi-
stop routings, many transiting through Rome. Tehran joined the
list of Argonaut destinations in June 1950.
Argonauts replaced Plymouth flying boat services to the Far
East as well as York, Skymaster and Lancastrian landplanes, and
immediately shortened journey times: by two hours to Cairo,
four hours to Abadan and by 18 hours to Colombo. The
multi-stage nature of Argonaut routes like London–Tokyo, and
BOAC’s policy of basing crews in London and ‘slipping’ them at
points down route, meant that aircraft could be away from base
for seven days, and crews for up to three weeks, but the aircraft
proved a reliable workhorse and in its annual report
for 1949/50 BOAC revealed that the Argonauts had turnedT • Queen Elizabeth
was a regular
passenger on the
Argonaut f leet and is
seen here shortly after
disembarking from
Argonaut G-ALHL at
London Airport.
KEY C http://www.airlinerworld.com 43