British Airways’ last jumbo jets bade farewell to London on Thursday but cloud and driving rain prevented a rare synchronised dual take off for the “Queen of the Skies” they head onto St Athan in South Wales and Cotswold Airport.

50 years of aviation history came to what was a damp end today as the last British Airways jumbo jets left London Heathrow Airport, with two 747-400 aircraft taking off on a foggy morning before heading to scrapyards. 

The G-CIVB and G-CIVY 747-400 models had been due to perform a synchronised dual take-off on parallel runways, but instead departed from the same runway separately due to the poor weather conditions. 

Photo Rob Vogelaar