I hope you enjoyed these pages on the naming of BCal's fleet
Any thoughts and ideas I would always be pleased to hear from you.
Please drop me a line anytime email
Any thoughts and ideas I would always be pleased to hear from you.
Please drop me a line anytime email
As the wide body fleet arrived a new naming theme came to the fore, these new aircraft would be named after notable and famous Scottish people from ancient and recent history. Below is a small piece on each of those people and, of course, the registration of the aircraft too.
The Scottish People named on BCal's Aircraft
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Mungo Park was a Scottish doctor who was the first European to reach the Niger River in West Africa. He went on two expeditions, and on the return from his first journey, he published a widely read book detailing his adventures. After settling back in Scotland for four years he resolved to return to Africa and embarked on a second journey. This one ended in disaster, and nothing was heard from him after a communication in late 1805.
At the time of Mungo's first journey, the interior of the continent of Africa was entirely unknown, due to very difficult traveling conditions and the lack of navigable rivers. According to the natives, it was said that a great river, called the Niger flowed between the Gulf of Guinea and the Sahara, but it was not known whether it flowed east or west, or whether it joined with any other rivers. The mouth of the Niger, in modern Nigeria, formed a delta so broad and marshy that it was not recognized as the mouth of a great river. The natives claimed that the Niger was a major trading route and there were stories of wealthy and mysterious cities on it, such as Timbuktu, that no white man had ever seen. The idea of exploring the region was very intriguing, but the climate was so deadly and the traveling conditions so difficult, no white man had succeeded in penetrating the area.
After four years in Scotland; Mungo consented to return to Africa. The second journey proved to be a disaster and many of the party became sick and provisions were more difficult to come by. Within a year a large number of the party had died, and Mungo's last communication was dated near the end of 1805.
At the time of Mungo's first journey, the interior of the continent of Africa was entirely unknown, due to very difficult traveling conditions and the lack of navigable rivers. According to the natives, it was said that a great river, called the Niger flowed between the Gulf of Guinea and the Sahara, but it was not known whether it flowed east or west, or whether it joined with any other rivers. The mouth of the Niger, in modern Nigeria, formed a delta so broad and marshy that it was not recognized as the mouth of a great river. The natives claimed that the Niger was a major trading route and there were stories of wealthy and mysterious cities on it, such as Timbuktu, that no white man had ever seen. The idea of exploring the region was very intriguing, but the climate was so deadly and the traveling conditions so difficult, no white man had succeeded in penetrating the area.
After four years in Scotland; Mungo consented to return to Africa. The second journey proved to be a disaster and many of the party became sick and provisions were more difficult to come by. Within a year a large number of the party had died, and Mungo's last communication was dated near the end of 1805.
Mungo Park - The Scottish Explorer (B747 G-BJXN)
Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, on 25th November, 1835. The economic depression of 1848 convinced the Carnegie family to emigrate to the United States where they joined a Scottish colony at Allegheny near Pittsburgh. Andrew began work at 12 in a local cotton factory but continued his education by attending night school.
Carnegie shrewdly invested in several promising ventures including several small iron mills and factories. In 1870 Carnegie erected his first blast furnace where he used the ideas being developed by Bessemer in England. In June, 1889, the North American Review published an article by Carnegie on what he called the "Gospel of Wealth". In the article Carnegie argued that it was the duty of rich men and women to use their wealth to benefit the welfare of the community. He wrote that a "man who dies rich dies disgraced".
The Carnegie Steel Company continued to expand and in 1901 was sold for $500,000,000. Carnegie himself now had a personal fortune of $225,000,000. Carnegie set up a trust fund "for the improvement of mankind." This included the building of 3,000 public libraries (380 in Britain), the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Institution of Washington for research into the natural and physical sciences. Carnegie also established the Endowment for International Peace in an effort to prevent future wars.
By the time Andrew Carnegie died in August, 1919, and true to his belief "man who dies rich dies disgraced", he had given away $350,000,000. A further $125 million was placed with the Carnegie Corporation to carry on his good works.
Carnegie shrewdly invested in several promising ventures including several small iron mills and factories. In 1870 Carnegie erected his first blast furnace where he used the ideas being developed by Bessemer in England. In June, 1889, the North American Review published an article by Carnegie on what he called the "Gospel of Wealth". In the article Carnegie argued that it was the duty of rich men and women to use their wealth to benefit the welfare of the community. He wrote that a "man who dies rich dies disgraced".
The Carnegie Steel Company continued to expand and in 1901 was sold for $500,000,000. Carnegie himself now had a personal fortune of $225,000,000. Carnegie set up a trust fund "for the improvement of mankind." This included the building of 3,000 public libraries (380 in Britain), the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Institution of Washington for research into the natural and physical sciences. Carnegie also established the Endowment for International Peace in an effort to prevent future wars.
By the time Andrew Carnegie died in August, 1919, and true to his belief "man who dies rich dies disgraced", he had given away $350,000,000. A further $125 million was placed with the Carnegie Corporation to carry on his good works.
Andrew Carnegie - The Scottish American Philanthropist (B747 G-HUGE)
John Logie Baird was born on 14 August 1888 in Helensburgh on the west coast of Scotland, the son of a clergyman. Dogged by ill health for most of his life, he nonetheless showed early signs of ingenuity, rigging up a telephone exchange to connect his bedroom to those of his friends across the street. His studies at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College were interrupted by the outbreak of World War One. Rejected as unfit for the forces, he served as superintendent engineer of the Clyde Valley Electrical Power Company
Baird moved to the south coast of England and applied himself to creating a television, a dream of many scientists for decades. His first crude apparatus was made of odds and ends, but by 1924 he managed to transmit a flickering image across a few feet. On 26 January 1926 he gave the world's first demonstration of true television before 50 scientists in an attic room in central London. In 1927, his television was demonstrated over 438 miles of telephone line between London and Glasgow, and he formed the Baird Television Development Company. (BTDC). In 1928, the BTDC achieved the first transatlantic television transmission between London and New York and the first transmission to a ship in mid-Atlantic. He also gave the first demonstration of both colour and stereoscopic television.
A BBC committee of inquiry in 1935 prompted a side-by-side trial between the rival Marconi's all-electronic television system, which worked on 405 lines to Baird's 240 line system. Marconi won, and in 1937 Baird's system was dropped. Baird died on 14 June 1946 in Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex aged 58.
John Logie Baird - The Scottish Television Engineer (A310 G-BKWT)
Sir Robert Watson Watt - The Scottish Radar Pioneer (A310 G-BKWU)
Robert Watson-Watt was born in April 1892 in Brechin, Scotland. In 1912, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from University College, Dundee. After Dundee, Watson-Watt worked with Professor William Peddie and as a result of this work, he developed a fascination with radio waves and what they could do.
In 1915, during World War One, Watson-Watt worked as a meteorologist at the Royal Aircraft Factory trying to use radio waves to locate the whereabouts of severe weather (primarily thunder) so that pilots could be forewarned of the potential danger.
In February 1935, Watson-Watt produced a report entitled "The Detection of Aircraft by Radio Methods". In February 1935, Watson-Watt took part in a successful trial in which short wave radio was used to detect a bomber. As a result of this success, Watson-Watt was appointed superintendent of a newly formed establishment controlled by the Air Ministry - Bawdsey Research Station near Felixstowe in Suffolk. The work done by Watson-Watt and his team at Bawdsey led to the creation of a chain of radar stations throughout the east and south coast of England. This system, known as Chain Home and Chain Home Low, was a vital part of the defence of Great Britain during the Battle of Britain. Fighter Command was given an early warning of an incoming attack by the Luftwaffe and could react accordingly.
For his outstanding work for this country, Robert Watson-Watt was knighted in 1942. America awarded him the US Medal of Merit in recognition of the work he had done during World War Two. Sir Robert Watson-Watt died on December 5th, 1973.
In 1915, during World War One, Watson-Watt worked as a meteorologist at the Royal Aircraft Factory trying to use radio waves to locate the whereabouts of severe weather (primarily thunder) so that pilots could be forewarned of the potential danger.
In February 1935, Watson-Watt produced a report entitled "The Detection of Aircraft by Radio Methods". In February 1935, Watson-Watt took part in a successful trial in which short wave radio was used to detect a bomber. As a result of this success, Watson-Watt was appointed superintendent of a newly formed establishment controlled by the Air Ministry - Bawdsey Research Station near Felixstowe in Suffolk. The work done by Watson-Watt and his team at Bawdsey led to the creation of a chain of radar stations throughout the east and south coast of England. This system, known as Chain Home and Chain Home Low, was a vital part of the defence of Great Britain during the Battle of Britain. Fighter Command was given an early warning of an incoming attack by the Luftwaffe and could react accordingly.
For his outstanding work for this country, Robert Watson-Watt was knighted in 1942. America awarded him the US Medal of Merit in recognition of the work he had done during World War Two. Sir Robert Watson-Watt died on December 5th, 1973.
Note - B747's G-CITB, G-GLYN and G-NIGB were never named
