I know what you mean. I used to see these magnificent aircraft fly overhead every day when I was a kid, my school was about 30 miles from Heathrow, under one of the main outbound flight paths. It's still hard to believe they were designed in the late 60's and early 70's. A classic case of being too far ahead of their times. If they had come along a little later, and had the benefit of the much advanced engine technology, they wouldn't have had the noise issues that essentially killed the more profitable US routes, and hence relegated them to a rich mans London / Paris / New York toy.

-- hugh