Airliner World’s first editor, Tony Dixon, recounts some of the more interesting trips made on behalf of the magazine during his time in charge.
I arrived at ‘Key Towers’ following a career as a navigator in the RAF, latterly flying the Tornado F3 and also the Lancaster and Dakota on the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Curiously, my first trip abroad was on behalf of sister magazine FlyPast, accompanying a prize-winner to Cape Town as he had won a flight in the Thunder City English Electric Lightning. After talking to owner Mike Beachy Head (and him finding out about my past RAF career) he asked if I wanted a trip too. A formation flight was planned and he needed experienced aircrew to be in the Lightning with BAe test pilot Craig Penrice, so we formatted with a Buccaneer, a Hunter and a Strikemaster for 20 minutes until the fuel ran out. A couple of days later, I also jumped on a Douglas DC-6 for a flight to Johannesburg. Not bad for the start of a career in commercial aviation journalism. However, Airliner World did not miss out on my first trip, as I returned with articles on Cape Town and Johannesburg airports plus the DC-6 story and a full article on South African Airways.
Over the following …
