Right then - here is my story and bit of nostalgia -
My first memories of the airport are when i was about 12 i was taken by my late father to Elmdon and we used to stand on the footbridge over the Cov Rd and watch the planes, i was amazed and Hooked for life, my dad did not want to take me by the terminal as he thought we would get in the way.
About 3 years later and i eventually talked my father round to dropping me off at the old terminal and pick me up later, this was on the weekend and normally a Saturday, i soon made friends and we started a small spotter group called - The Junior Jet Club, we made our own little imitation passport type id cards, and soon started to hassle the terminal staff(in a nice way) 😆 into trying to get air side and look over the apron and planes, we had a moderate amount of success with BA and we had a few look overs of a Bac 1-11 on stand and got some safeties etc.
We started to try to congregate and spot from the front circular restaurant, but we always being chased out by the staff, so we had to make use - in all weathers of the spiral stairs.
This was about 1976-77 so i guess i probably bumped into a few on here :friends:, one of the saviors was the staff canteen that allowed most people as log as you brought food/a drink, i remember they had a rather convenient pool table and a few of those gaming tables - Pac Man i think :good: the best aviation shop by miles was also on site - anyone remember Swinburns on Hanger Road? run by a couple with Ron at the helm, i think they had a daughter and she went out with/married a chap who later on ran the aviation shop and compiled the movements sheets, in the new terminal visitor center.
A year or later the local flying clubs moved there aircraft from outside hanger 2, down to the bottom(Cov Rd end) of the apron, and a flying club was built for them, this also had a good pick nick area and again as long as you purchased stuff you could sit inside and spot.
Warwickshire Aero Club was one using this facility and i remember spotters using this area a lot - not to mention when we had Concorde etc.
Anyway that is part one for now, i will continue a trip down memory lane soon, will give you all a chance to stock up with popcorn ready for part two 😉
76/77 would have been the years we were coming down from Meriden on the bus so probably saw you there. Sounds like you talked to more people than us quiet country boys, we would never have dreamt we could blag ourselves air side. Did manage to speak to the girls on the information desk from time to time if there were any diversions in the offing, I can remember them seeming quite old when they were probably only in their late twenties! The shop on hangar road is still a complete mystery to me, can only think it must have opened right at the end of the seventies/early eighties.
