Joining the JET SET

BA100 JET AGE REMEMBERED

He could have made a career as a racing driver in which world he was no stranger to turbine power. But Hugh Dibley was having too good a time fl ying for BOAC and British Airways, spanning the eras from DC-7C to 747. He recalls this memorable period

BRITISH AIRWAYS
Hugh Dibley in the Howmet TX following its trans-Atlantic fl ight aboard a BOAC Cargo Boeing 707, with the Continental turbine-powered car’s other driver, Dr Dick Thompson, standing alongside. The rest of the 707’s load, a consignment of gold bullion, is not pictured…
ALAMY

In the early 1960s, former Grand Prix winner Tony Brooks was interviewing the victorious driver in a Formula Junior race at Goodwood. “Would you like to go on to Formula One?”, he asked. “No, not really”, replied Hugh Dibley. Even then, with his motor racing activities in the ascendant, the day job with the British Overseas Airways Corporation still took priority. Progressing to sports car racing, even with a busy programme of national and international meetings at home and abroad, that never changed.

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