You have to hand it to the Brits. Especially their sense of humor. I’ve always had a soft spot myself for that British wit. I always enjoy a good go-round with my British friends — their view of the world is just so civilized, yet so irresistibly cheeky.

Speaking of cheeky — while kudos continue to roll in for the excellent job the British Airways’ flight crew did in bringing their mysteriously disabled 777 flight  to what proved to be a very successful completion — the British tabloid press has given us the real scoop —  on Captain Peter Burkill’s rowdy early days. Before the crash, and before he worked for British Airways.

Thanks to one of our American Airlines’ pilot friends, who sent us the latest from the U.K’s News of the World, which today proudly posted photographs of then British Caledonian Airways pilot Peter Burkill, enjoying what someone who was at the festivities called a “total sex-fest.”

The subheadline? “Hero pilot likes crew girls licking chocolate off his naked body.”

Yeah baby. Now we’re talking.

I especially like the pic of him on his stomach with licorice sticking out of his bum.

For some reason all of this British sex tittering reminds me of the fact that Henry Harteveldt (he of Forrester Research) alerted us this weekend that a revival of the 1960s British sex farce  “Boeing-Boeing,” which has been a hit on London’s West End, is coming to Broadway this spring.

As Playbill describes it, “The romp (whose punny title refers to the aircraft manufacturer Boeing and evokes the bouncy onomatopoeic word “boing”) evokes the good old/bad old days when “air hostesses” and “stewardesses” were playthings rather than “flight attendants.”

Have to admit, there’s a sweet retro quality to all of this that seems to be sadly lacking in these days of high load factors, high fuel prices, and management/employee pay fights.