Owned by the Air Ministry but provided to BOAC initially for use on the South Africa route. Scrapped at Poole in 1956. Photo from: Imperial War Museums

Official BOAC photo 25433. Original caption reads "B.O.A.C.'s NEW SILHOUETTE IN THE SKY. B.O.A.C.'s VC-10, the latest in high-speed jetliners, provides a new silhouette in the sky with its "clean" aerodynamic design, rear mounted engines and space age tail unit..." First flew 8 November 1962, delivered 8 December 1964. Nigeria Airways 29 September 1969, crashed 20 November 1969 on approach to Lagos.

Seen preserved at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune near Edinburgh, Scotland. To BOAC new as G-APFJ on 22 Sep 1960. Leased to Malaysia-Singapore Airlines, later Malaysian Airlines from 04 Nov 1971 to Apr 1975. Returned to British Airways. To British Airtours on 03 Feb 1977. PWFU 30 May 1984. Preserved at Cosford. Broken up in Spring 2006. The cockpit section coming to the museum.

Flying near the Isle of Wight. The Hermes 4 looked good but it was tail-heavy and the rear end of the cabin could barely be loaded. Photo from: BOAC / Northwestern University Libraries, Illinois

Possibly photographed at Kano. Aircraft sold to Lancashire Aircraft Corporation in 1951. Withdrawn at Stansted in 1960. Photo by: Edward Duckworth / Northwestern University Libraries, Illinois

Built in 1945. TS792 not taken up. Seen at some early postwar event apparenty. The aircraft wears wartime BOAC markings and the Speedbird logo. Name Manton not yet applied. This York was used for training at RAF Ossington in 1945 and 1946.

Another rare photograph of a BOAC Hermes in Lagos. In the background is a Bristol Freighter of West African Airways Corporation. Photo by: Edward Duckworth / Northwestern University Libraries, Illinois

Ex 42-23546, FD862. To BOAC as G-AGHP in August 1943. Reported ferried to Tripoli, Libya on 11 October 1943. Listed as based at Bristol - Whitchurch at the end of 1945. The logo with the word Speedbird is thought to be postwar. Dakotas carried out the UK - Lagos route, via Lisbon and Bathurst, until July 1947. G-AGHP was seriously damaged at Croydon in August 1947, which thwarted a transfer to Hong Kong Airways - VR-HDO not taken up. To BEA in December 1948. Converted to Leopard class freighter in 1953. Crashed in France in 1958 carrying a Formula 1 car engine for the Vanwall team to Nice for the Monaco Grand Prix. Photo by: Edward Duckworth / Northwestern University Libraries, Illinois

The Hermes 4 entered BOAC service in 1950 and proving flights on the West Africa route to Kano, Lagos and Accra began in June. The type was already replaced two years later by the Canadair C-4 Argonaut, although it made a brief comeback with BOAC in 1954 after the grounding of the DH Comet. We made a different crop of the same original photo for the West African Airways Corporation Dove, VR-NIB. Photo by: Edward Duckworth / Northwestern University Libraries, Illinois

'Flying over Cairo before landing at Heliopolis.' Built in 1940 as NC33617 for Catalina Air Transport of Long Beach, California. Impressed in July 1941 as a C-56C, serial 42-53503. Transferred to UK as a Lodestar Mk I, AX759, in September 1941, and to BOAC as G-AGCM that same month. To RAF as VR955 in August 1946. Withdrawn from use in April 1947. Photo by: N S Clark / Imperial War Museums

Delivered to BOAC in September 1960. To Malaysia Singapore Airlines in November 1971. To Malaysia Airlines in September 1972. To British Airways in April 1975 and British Airtours in February 1977. To the RAF Museum in Cosford in June 1981. Broken up at Cosford with the nose section preserved at the National Museum of Flight, East Fortune, Scotland

Supposedly named Lake Nyasa, this Lodestar of BOAC is seen 'taxying at Ankara, Turkey, before taking off on the thrice-weekly service to Cairo.' The Ankara airport would have been Güvercinlik. G-AGIL registered 14 September 1943. BOAC had 19 L-18s, all based in Cairo, at the end of 1945. AGIL reported damaged at Istanbul in a list dated 9 October 1946. No further listings until 'returned to RAF' in November 1947. Photo by: L H Baker / Imperial War Museums

The date is a guess.

The Whispering Giant arrives at then Salisbury, Rhodesia from London

BOAC Britannia G-ANBN departs Lusaka's former air gateway in this splendid colour photo. Photo by: Sheila Slaney (via John Slaney)

Forced landed in the Sahara in Mauritania after becoming lost and low on fuel. Copilot died of exhaustion but the other 17 on board were rescued. Photo from: Abilene Christian University / University of South California

from my collection, photo most probably by S.Ryle