Monday 22nd February 1965 | Travel Day

On Monday 22nd February 1965, The Beatles departed London Airport (Heathrow) on a chartered flight to the Bahamas to begin filming their second feature film, Help!.

The group's Boeing 707 was seen off by approximately 1,400 fans, reflecting the intense public interest that followed them at every stage of their mid-1965s schedule.

Transatlantic Flight – London to Nassau

The charter flight made a scheduled refuelling stop in New York. Although US Customs and Immigration officials requested that The Beatles' party pass through formalities, the group and their entourage remained on board the aircraft.

The Bahamas location had been chosen for the opening phase of Help!'s principal photography, marking The Beatles' first feature film shot in colour and their first extended Caribbean production block.

George Harrison on the Flight

In later years, George Harrison recalled an episode from the journey in Anthology:

"Brandon De Wilde was an actor, a James Dean type. He liked The Beatles' music and he heard we were going to film in the Bahamas, so he came over from the States with a big bag of reefer. We smoked on the plane, all the way to the Bahamas. It was a charter flight, with all the film people – the actors and the crew – and we thought, 'No, nobody will notice.' We had Mal smoking cigars to drown out the smell."

The anecdote reflects the increasingly relaxed and experimental atmosphere surrounding the band in early 1965.

Arrival in Nassau

Upon landing in the Bahamas:

• A swiftly organised press conference was held at the airport.
• The group checked into suites at the Balmoral Club near Cable Beach, Nassau.
• Later that evening, they reportedly enjoyed a midnight swim in the ocean.

Although 22nd February had originally been intended primarily as a travel day, filming would begin the following afternoon on 23rd February 1965.

Historical Context

The departure to the Bahamas marked:

• The beginning of a two-week Caribbean filming schedule (23rd February–9th March 1965).
• A stylistic shift from the black-and-white realism of A Hard Day's Night to a more vibrant, international adventure aesthetic.
• Another example of The Beatles' increasingly global footprint during the height of Beatlemania.

Within days, the Nassau shoot would settle into a strict 8:30am–5:30pm filming routine across beaches, roads, docks and airport locations.

Next: Day 1: The Beatles Begin Filming Help! - 23rd February 1965

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