Hove - Fulham - London Heathrow - Johannesburg: 8.8.1998 & 8.8.2000

#SameDayAndMonth #SameTerminal #SameCarrier #BritishAirways #SameOrigin #Heathrow #SameDestination #Johannesburg #SameRoute London Heathrow/LHR🇬🇧 to Johannesburg/JNB🇿🇦✈: 8.8.1998 & 8.8.2000

#NextGen transformed flying✈️ in just 2 yrs - same feeling boarding at different gates on B747-436 (G-BNLZ) and (G-CIVI) - with delivery of BA’s 59th and last B747-436, and retirement of its first Jumbo B747-136 in 1998, so much had changed in 2000*

From the controversial ethnic livery introduced in 1997 (famously scorned by former PM Margaret Thatcher and almost everyone else in the UK), to the original Landor livery retained by G-CIVI*

From old seats in World Traveller/Economy past their prime, 'Big Screen’ in-flight entertainment system at the front of each cabin, impossible to see depending from where you sat, one movie at a time🙈🙈 to new seats offering more legroom, back-of-the-seat personal LCD screen providing next generation IFE experience of 1200 channels and the world’s first fully flat bed in Club World*

1. London Heathrow/LHR🇬🇧 to Johannesburg/JNB🇿🇦✈: 8.8.1998Return to Putney by rail from the seaside resort of Hove on the English Channel, adjoining Brighton/East Sussex, take Bus #414 across Putney Bridge to Fulham High Street, check out at Burlington Place SW6 and head to Heathrow*✈

#speedbird #BA57 B747-436 (G-BNLZ) boarding @ Gate 19 Terminal 4*
No frills IFE system showing 'Titanic' on the ‘Big Screen’ above the aisle. No wi-fi, USB or power ports, otherwise, service excellent, efficient and friendly as always*💕

Touch down on Rwy 3R at Jan Smuts Airport /JNB and witness the power of x4 Rolls Royce RB 211-524G as the aircraft runs on APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) disembarking on the tarmac*

#queenoftheskies G-BNLZ sporting Botswana 'Animals and Trees’ ethnic tail livery image that PM Margaret Thatcher in 1997 famously covered with a handkerchief on a model #B747 declaring: "We fly the British flag, not these awful things" - later restored to Chatham Dockyard/Union Flag livery until she was withdrawn from service and scrapped in 2011 at Cotswold Airport boneyard, Kemble, Gloucestershire, where she now lies broken up and desolate*😭😭

2. London Heathrow/LHR🇬🇧 to Johannesburg/JNB🇿🇦✈: 8.8.2000Check out at Burlington Place, Fulham SW6, as early traffic builds up on the ever busy #M4 to Heathrow*🚕#Speedbird #BA57 B747-436 (G-CIVI) previously named “City of Gloucester” boarding @ Gate 6 Terminal 4*

#queenoftheskies sporting 'Waves and Cranes’ Japan ethnic tail livery. Good to see Concorde✈️ #BA003 taxing past, bound for New York/JFK👌

Push-back, engine start, taxi to Rwy 27R for take-off and soon over steady traffic on #M25 motorway🚗 and once the cabin lights were switched on and dinner served settled on “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, whose 1989-era picture quality suited the IFE screen perfectly*

Club World #UpperDeck - excellent service from an amazing cabin crew*💕 followed by that goosebumps feeling you get each time you touch down on Rwy 3R at Johannesburg Intnl' and you know you are on home soil🇿🇦 in time for National Women's Day celebrations*💕🙏

G-CIVI 'Victor India' delivered to British Airways in 1990, withdrawn from service and stored at LHR from 6 Apr - 9 Sept 2020. Took off on her farewell flight on 8.9.2020 in #Oneworld Chatham Dockyard/Union Flag livery from Heathrow to St Athan/DGX, Wales, for storage & scrapping*😭😭