Your first trip on a plane and your most recent one?

Nandalot

I think I beat most of you with my first. It was 1949 when I was three months old coming home from India. My DM had a cutting from a daily newspaper showing my dad coming down the steps with me in his arms. I don’t know why, as although he was a business man I don’t think he was that important. Sadly he died when I was very young, I would have loved that cutting but after her death we couldn’t find it.
Apparently I was horribly sick on the flight and I blame my fear of flying on that.
Our last flight was three years ago, with the grandchildren, to Lanzarote.

I think you might be the winner of the earliest flight Nandalot! Mine was 1952 aged 2 years so you've beaten me.

I was 10 in 1954. Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, straight off a troopship with my family. Last trip nearly 3 years ago, business class Sydney to London.

Nandalot and chestnut ?
My first flight aged 8 months was in February 1949 when I flew to the uk with my mum and I was also very sick. I may have pipped you to the post of earliest first flight but happy to share the accolade.

My first flight was to Pula Yugoslavia to go backpacking with a boyfriend when I was 20. He was supposed to have booked tickets for Greece but found these cheaper. Holiday was scary as Yugoslavia in a hostile state at that time.
Last flight yesterday back from Belfast after visiting a friend on the North coast of Ireland.
Sign of aging when it seems an endless walk to get through Gatwick airport !

silverlining48

Nandalot and chestnut ?
My first flight aged 8 months was in February 1949 when I flew to the uk with my mum and I was also very sick. I may have pipped you to the post of earliest first flight but happy to share the accolade.

Ha ha! You probably take the prize if it was February 1949 unless Nandalot travelled in January. I probably get the bronze medal for 1952 unless someone knows differently.

First flight was in a twin-prop Vickers Viscount from Manston Airport in Kent to Maastricht in the Netherlands. It was incredibly noisy with the propellers going full pelt, and the seats were wooden benches with no backs. Much later I was offered a trip on an RAF cargo flight to Canada for £7, but the former experience but me right off! Most recent was an Easyjet from Glasgow to Stansted in a blimmin' thunderstorm - hairy, but the pilot got a round of applause.

First to America 30yrs ago. My DD was finishing a year at an American university so we went to collect her and then spent 3 weeks driving across the country.

Last was to Skye with DH, DS, DD in L and the DGs. About 5 yeasts ago.

My first plane trip was from Australia to New Guinea with the plane unable to land due to fog in the mountains/hills sitting next to a chap who kept telling me we were circling. Finally staying the night in a hotel in the middle of nowhere and carrying on next day.
Terrifying but exciting at the same time.

First flight in about 1957 from Leeds/Bradford to Londonderry. Last flight from Hoi Chi Minh to Manchester as Covid kicked in.

1971 was about 6 or 7.... to visit my aunt and uncle who were civil servants working out on Malta...2 blissful weeks spent with cousins ....my last flights were to and in Canada

Thanks Chestnut, I don’t think I have ever won a prize.

For silverlining48 for being the earliest airplane traveller on Gransnet in February 1949. ? ? ? ?

My earliest was 1973, aged 16 - Gatwick to Le Havre to visit my penfriend for a month. Small plane lots of turbulence and an elderly lady sitting next to me said 'Ive done this journey many times, it's not crashed yet'....I was terrified, I didn't fly again until I was 40 had a panic attack as I was getting on the plane. Last time I flew was almost 15 years ago returning from Crete following my husband's death at the airport, I have no desire to fly again.

Chestnut, I am overwhelmed, thank you so much. .

Joking apart, we, like so many Ukrainians now, were not holiday makers but refugees. My mum was one of millions who had to leave her home and flee the Russian army in 1945 as they bombed her little town, and she was never able to return.

Sorry to hear that silverlining48. It makes your award even more significant. My 1952 journey was because we were emigrating from England to California. I don't think any of those earlier flights were holiday trips, no-one went on holiday by plane in those days.

Yes that’s true. Freddie Laker opened it up for us ‘everyday’ folk to enjoy holidays in the sun ? too.

Are you still in USA Chestnut?

No, we came back to good old England.

My first flight was in an RAF Nimrod to Gibraltar and Portugal in 1978. My last flight was to Australia in January 2020.

Silverlining48, you are definitely the winner. My flight was late summer 1949.
I was very sorry to read about the reason for your flight and even sorrier to think that things never seem to change.
? for you.

Thank you Nandalot, that means a lot. My very first Cup. Yes sadly things don’t change do they.