Experience history with the British Airways Centenary Archive Collection

You would be hard pressed not to know that British Airways is celebrating 100 years in 2019. There have been lots of communications around it, but my favourite part is the Centenary Archive Collection.

The back room boffins in England have put together an astonishing array of material on a dedicated web site for everyone to see. Containing images and video from the airline’s long history, it’s a feast for the eyes.

Centenary Archive Collection Highlights

At the top of this post, you can see First Class on the BOAC Boeing 747-136, introduced in 1971. Elegance is the word that springs to mind, and flying at the pointy end in that area must have been something else. Another cool picture features these BEA timetables from 1958.

Certain members of the Royal Family are pictured on various flights, such as the Queen Mother taking a de Havilland Comet 1 on a trip. Naturally Her Majesty The Queen features too, such as one time she flew Concorde. There are one or two current pictures in the line up, such as the one below. This shows The White Company bedding in one of the current Club World seats. The real joy of the Centenary Archive Collection are the films and videos. These cover a multitude of events, such as the introduction of various aircraft, new uniforms, the promotion of various services and more. You really have to see it to believe it!

Overall Thoughts

Looking at the content, you can see the British Airways Centenary Archive Collection is a real labour of love. It sets the bar for other airlines soon celebrating their centenaries, such as KLM and Qantas.

While it is not arranged in any kind of order, it is well worth checking out. I would be very surprised if you couldn’t find something interesting worth checking out. You can see the whole online collection here.

What do you think of the Centenary Archive Collection? Did anything stand out for you as particularly interesting? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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All images via British Airways.