Despite having a fleet of military and private jets as well as helicopters at her disposal, the Queen sometimes traveled commercial.
As the British nation, and indeed the world, mourn the loss of the second-longest serving monarch in history, we wanted to take a look back at the ways in which Queen Elizabeth II traveled on various aircraft throughout her life.
Holding the highest office in the UK for a total of 70 years, 7 months and one day, Queen Elizabeth was frequently required to travel internationally. Some of these trips involved private aircraft or helicopter transport, but it wasn’t unheard of for her to fly with a regular commercial airplane too.
On January 31st, 1952, Princess Elizabeth (as she was then) boarded a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Argonaut, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip. She was standing in on a tour of Kenya for King George VI, who was at Sandringham, too ill to travel on the long-planned trip.
The decision to use the Argonaut, an upgraded Douglas DC-4 produced by Canadair, drew criticisms from some sectors. At the time, BOAC usually flew its British-built Handley Page Hermes aircraft on routes to Kenya, so replacing this with a Canadian built propliner for the royal visit was seen as something of a snub.
But Key Aero reports that it was Her Royal Highness’s own requirements that instrumented the change of plane. She wished to make a stop on the flight from London to Nairobi at El Adem in Libya, a routing that was too much for the Hermes to make. And so, one of BOAC’s 22 Argonauts was tasked to carry the future Queen on her trip to Africa.
The aircraft in question carried the registration G-ALHK and was nicknamed 'Atalanta.' It was mildly modified for the trip, including fitting lightweight armchairs and two beds on board. Having landed safely in Nairobi on the morning of February 1st, the plane repositioned to Mombasa, as it was not required to bring the couple back again. The plan was for the pair to carry on their trip to Australia and New Zealand, on board the SS Gothic. Sadly, that never happened.
On the morning of February 6th, while Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were relaxing at the Treetops Hotel in Nyeri, around 100 miles from Nairobi, news broke that King George VI had passed away in his sleep. The royal couple had to return to the UK immediately, and an East African Airways DC-3 was flown into Nanyuki, not far from Nyeri, to take her to Uganda and meet up with her Argonaut.
Atlanta safely conveyed her back to the UK, and a Princess became a Queen. G-ALHK was withdrawn from use with BOAC in 1959 and sold on to Overseas Air Transport. Later, it would be leased and eventually sold to Flying Enterprises in Denmark, reregistered as OY-AFB. Finally, it was broken up at Copenhagen in 1965.
The idea of having aircraft at the disposal of the Royal Family long before Elizabeth became the reining monarch. When Edward VIII became king in 1936, The King’s Flight was formed as the world’s first head of state aircraft unit. Back then, the aircraft used by the unit was the King’s own de Havilland DH.89 Dragon.
But the unit evolved, and in 1937, an AS.6J Envoy II replaced the Rapide. When war broke out in 1939, that aircraft was replaced by an armed Lockheed Hudson, and a second aircraft, a de Havilland Flamingo, was added to the fleet in 1940. By 1946, the King’s Flight consisted of one de Havilland Dominie and four Vickers Viking C.2.
When Elizabeth ascended to the throne, the King’s Flight became the Queen’s Flight. Over the years, it operated a variety of aircraft for transportation of the Queen and members of the royal family. These included Avro York, Vickers Viking, de Havilland Heron, de Havilland Devon, Hawker Siddeley Andover and a DHC-1 Chipmunk.
In 1961, the Queen visited Nepal for the first time. For this trip, two Douglas Dakotas briefly joined the Queen’s Flight – KN645 and KN452. Although now long gone, Key Aero reports that KN452 briefly had a moment of media attention in 1968, when it was transported by road to take its place in a vast static line-up at Abingdon in Oxfordshire, in celebration of 50 years of the RAF. KN645 had a happier ending, having ended up at the museum at RAF Cosford in the Cold War Hall.
Today, the Queen’s Flight is made up of two Sikorsky S-76C++, an AgustaWestland AW109SP, the Airbus A330 MRTT, an Airbus A321-200neo and a Dassault Falcon 900LX.
The Queen’s first visit to the USA in 1957 began in Jamestown, Virginia, after which she headed to Washington. The flight to Washington was undertaken not by one of her own Queen’s Flight planes, but by President Eisenhower’s own Columbine III, the only Lockheed VC-121E ever built.
Replacing Columbine II, the first aircraft ever to carry the ‘Air Force One’ callsign and a Lockheed C-121 Constellation, Columbine III served as Eisenhower’s personal airplane from 1954 until he left office in 1961. It was a military version of the L-1049 Super Constellation, stretched a mighty 18 feet longer than previous versions.
As aviation technology moved on, so did the Queen. She flew onboard the Concorde for the first time in 1977. The aircraft, registered G-BOAE, was flown by British Airways, and marked not only the Queen’s first supersonic flight, but also the first time Concorde landed in Barbados.
Concorde became quite the favorite of the Queen after this, as she travelled to Kuwait in 1979, to Barbados in 1987 and 2003, to the Middle East in 1984 and USA in 1991, all onboard the supersonic jet.
In the 1950s, Australian flag carrier Qantas first hosted Queen Elizabeth II when she flew to Australia for her royal tour of the country in 1954. Back then, the Queen flew on the airline's Boeing 707 and enjoyed a special regal menu, and a curtain with Crown insignia separated the “Royal Suite” from the rest of the cabin. The Queen would frequently fly with Qantas for her royal trips to Australia.
As Qantas continued evolving its fleet, the airline introduced the Boeing 747-200s in 1971 to strengthen its long-haul fleet. Once the Boeing 707s were retired in 1979, Qantas became the world's only all-Boeing 747 operator, and in 1989, the Australian carrier's long-haul fleet was upgraded with its first Boeing 747-400 arriving.
As a frequent flyer with Qantas, the Queen regularly flew on the airline's Boeing 747s to Australia. One special visit was on February 18th, 1992, when the Queen returned Down Under for the 150th anniversary of the incorporation of the city of Sydney. For this return, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived at Sydney's Kingsford-Smith Airport on the Qantas 747 aircraft.
In 1995, the Queen again broke with tradition by taking a regular commercial flight to New Zealand for an official 10-day visit. She flew from London via Los Angeles to Auckland on NZ1, the flagship route for Air New Zealand at the time, utilizing its own Queen, the Boeing 747-400.
For the flight, the airline reportedly blocked out the entire first class cabin and allocated three cabin crew to look after her during the trip. There were a total of 26 royal staff in business class, while 384 regular fare-paying passengers were traveling in economy. Passengers were subjected to tighter than normal security but were given a special commemorative pen to celebrate the flight.
On March 12th, 2006, the Queen flew on a British Airways Boeing 777-200ER, registered as G-YMMO. The modern aircraft ferried the Queen to Canberra after a stopover in Singapore before transporting her again to Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games. Five days later, on March 17th, the same aircraft flew the Queen back to London.
Interestingly for one of the Queen's last royal trips in October 2011, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh flew on another British Airways Boeing 777-200ER registered as G-YMMP. The aircraft was the sister aircraft of G-YMMO, and while this trip marked the last Australian tour for the Queen, it coincidentally marked the national carrier's first non-stop flight from Perth to London. Both of these aircraft are almost 21 years old, and in stark contrast to the rest of the aircraft mentioned above, both are still in active service today as British Airways utilizes them for international flights to Africa and India.
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Sources: Key Aero (1), Key Aero (2), The Points Guy
Managing Editor – Joanna has worked in publishing for more than a decade and is fast becoming a go-to source for commercial aviation analysis. Providing commentary for outlets including the BBC, CNBC, Reuters Thomson and others, she works closely with IATA, AviaDev and various airlines and suppliers to get the inside track on the global marketplace.
Journalist – Charlotte is currently pursuing a full-time undergraduate degree majoring in Aviation Business Administration and minoring in Air Traffic Management. Charlotte previously wrote for AirlineGeeks. Based in Singapore.