Colours in the Sky—Court Line Book

[Tim_Capps 474]

My wife gave me this book for Christmas. It’s packed with behind-the-scenes anecdotes from Court Line Aviation, which was colorful in more ways than one. There are funny poems and cartoons about various misadventures (and hating passengers) from the company newsletter. Like the time a TriStar missed the turn-off and was stuck at the end of the runway without enough space to turn around. Ever hear of an L1011 doing a three-point turn with reverse thrust? Great reading about the 60s & early 70s in airline history. Pretty wild.

There is an interesting account of a flight to Moscow (see B&W photo) with Lockheed reps to sell TriStars to the Russians. Afterwards the joke was if a part was missing, all they had to do was ask and it would be returned “freshly milled.” Someone appears to be taking some measurements of his own in the picture! Highly recommended. (Has operational and technical details, too, of the L1011 and BAC One-Eleven.)

[scianoir 610]

Court Line was contracted to fly many flights for our student union when I was at university and I flew on their One-Elevens quite a bit. Fares were amazingly cheap undoubtedly helped by the fact that they managed to squeeze the absolute maximum number of passengers into their aircraft and the seat pitch was tight. As I was tall, anything other than a short flight was a challenge! Oh to be young and flexible again!

Bill

[jonesrob 97]

Just ordered it. The best airline I ever worked for. Thanks for posting.

Rob

[Tim_Capps 474]

7 hours ago, jonesrob said:

Just ordered it. The best airline I ever worked for. Thanks for posting.

Rob

No problem. But I expect you to dish 🙂