Nostalgia Thread

[TheLocalYokel]

Part of the problem is that when the council serves notice the 'offending' car park owners appeal and can continue trading until the appeal is decided.

Not all off-site parks are illegal with some associated with hotels, guest houses, pubs etc.

 

[andrewgreen]

Earlier today superking posted the below comment in response to a picture of the old BRS terminal featured with a current news media story about the airport.



If he or anyone else wants to remember life in the old terminal please feel free to do so here.

I've been using BRS as a passenger for nigh on 40 years from the time when the annual passenger throughput was no more than 250,000 a year. Flying was much more relaxed in those days, free of much of the red tape and security issues that now bedevil travelling by air.

The old terminal had an outside first floor balcony next to the waiting room that overlooked the apron where people used to gather in largish numbers, particularly at weekends, to shout their farewells to friends or relatives walking out to the aircraft, or be the first to welcome those returning from exotic trips abroad (well, Palma was so regarded by most people then).

It's perhaps hard for some people now to believe that the majority of British people had never flown in the 70s and into the 80s. Even at a tiny airport that Bristol was then there was a magic about it and those who weren't flying, and probably never had at the time, wanted a sort of vicarious piece of the action.

I used to think that pre-war Croydon Airport must have been a bit like the BRS of the 70s and early 80s with people shouting and waving to the passengers joining the afternoon flight to ............wherever it was going: probably a Costa because there weren't many flights at all.

Sometime in the early 80s BRS was able to boast the George Maggs lounge, named after the councillor who was a one-time chairman of the airport committee. It was really little more than a cafe.

The old terminal building and old control tower are still in situ. The terminal is now an admin block and I've had the privilege and pleasure to have been inside in recent years. It's much the same as it aways was with the stairs leading to first floor passageways looking down onto the open ground floor where we passengers used to check in.

When the final phase of the huge airport expansion plans finally become reality the old terminal block will be demolished to make way for more aircraft stands and walkways.

I've many pleasant memories of the place...............................

Reading that brought back many happy memories for me as well , standing on the balcony watching British Airways Viscounts , Dan Air HS 748s , Aer lingus BAC 1-11s ,Aviaco DC-9s and even an Air Bridge Carvair ! Although the highlight of the day was always a Dan Air comet usually late evening , myself and a friend were even allowed to sit in the cockpit of one which was overnighting ...as Yokel has said no chance of that happening now !
I also remember meeting Les at an open day/airshow that the airport had either late 70s or early 80s ? im sure someone can enlighten me when that was ?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I'm afraid I can't help with the date of that open day/airshow. Neither did I meet Les Wilson. I would love to have done so.

When he was appointed as airport MD around 1980 the airport was losing money for the Bristol City rate payers and there were serious calls from some councillors and others to close it. The same calls were made in respect of the loss-making council-owned Port of Bristol Authority. Fortunately, as with BRS, that facility has become a success story since the council turned it over to the private sector, on a long lease in the case of the docks (125 years?).

I could never make up my mind whether the appointment of Les Wilson was a stroke of genius on the part of the council (genius and the city council in tandem is usually an oxymoron) or an extremely fortunate fluke. Whatever the reason Les began to transform the place. I always thought of him as 'Mr Bristol Airport' because he took every opportunity to push the airport's cause locally, nationally and even internationally. He was the master of the sound bite before that expression was coined.

When he was killed in a motor accident in 1995 the airport lost its founding father in the sense of it becoming an important regional airport. Mind you, I doubt that even Les, ever the optimist when it came to his airport, could have imagined that BRS would be handling 8 million passengers a year in 2017.

 

[andrewgreen]

I totally agree with your thoughts on Les i dont think the airport would be where it was today without him , i just met him briefely when he shook my hand and asked me if i was enjoying the day ( im going to have to try and find out what year that was now , its bugging me ! )
I remember walking accros the apron then and the only thing that was there was the fire station about where the Eastern end of the new terminal is now , except for a lot of long grass and loads of rabbits !

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I've checked a couple of Net sources and it was in 1980 that Les Wilson came to BRS from Luton Airport so at least you can tie your date down to the 1980s. When Les was killed there was a lengthy obituary on the Net but I can't find it now. My recollection is that he was in the RAF at some point in his life and also spent time working in Africa; he was an air traffic controller originally.

I hope I've got the details about Les Wilson's career correct. if not perhaps someone will kindly put me right.

Having lived at Redhill in the 1950s and early 1960s I'm well acquainted with the lanes and combes around there. I attended the Redhill junior school (sadly, long since closed) and we used to go for nature walks up Winters Lane to the top end of Goblin Combe (used to sledge down the side of this combe in winter). In those days the lane had gates across it at either end of the top of the combe.

Beyond the top of the combe this part of the lane is Cooks Bridle Path (although it's a metalled road of course) and it used to go in a straight line to join Downside Road instead of taking the current lengthy diversion around the western end of the runway. The diversion was built when the runway was extended in the mid 1960s.

Although I've lived on the south-eastern edge of Bristol for many years I still spend a lot of time walking the combes and woodland paths around the airport.

I enjoy the sight and sound of aircraft overhead but that's not a view held by some people I encounter when on my walks.

 

[vickersviscount]

Think this might be the obituary you were referring to T.L.Y. Printed in the Independent.

Les Wilson lived and breathed airports, airliners and air travel. One of civil aviation's most colourful and popular characters, he died in a car accident just two weeks before being invested as OBE in honour of an outstanding career culminating as managing director of Bristol Airport.

When he took over the reins of the city's bankrupt municipal airport in 1980, it handled fewer than 200,000 passengers annually, mostly on charter flights. Today the figure is 1.4 million. Half are carried on scheduled business flights, many linking Bristol with Europe.

This dramatic change of fortunes - pre-tax profits for 1994 were pounds 3.5m - was achieved largely through Wilson's dynamism, contacts in civil aviation, skill in developing a team and flair in exploiting the media to further his airport's cause.
Think this might be the obituary you were referring to T.
Les Wilson was born in Berwick-on-Tweed in 1933 and educated at the local grammar school. His failure to pass mathematics meant that he left without qualifications. He chose football and played for Berwick Rangers until a broken leg ended his sporting career.

His next choice - to join the Royal Air Force for national service - was more fruitful. He fell in love with aviation and trained as a wireless operator and air traffic controller. After national service he became an air traffic controller at Newcastle.

He married and in 1958 emigrated to Kenya with his young family and worked at Nairobi airport. His swift intervention prevented a disaster when an approaching BOAC Comet began to descend dangerously low. Wilson's urgent warning allowed the pilot just enough altitude to land safely. An inquiry revealed that one of the Comet's altitude instruments had been incorrectly set by 3,000ft.

Wilson loved Kenya, learnt Swahili, climbed Kilimanjaro and was in his element until his world fell apart with the death of his wife in 1966. Left with three young children, he returned to Britain. He worked at East Midlands airport, where he met his second wife, Pat, an assistant air traffic controller. In 1967 they moved to Zambia, where he was manager of Lusaka airport until the political situation in Zambia deteriorated.

He was assistant director in charge of marketing and development at Luton Airport during the hectic Seventies in which passenger figures rose to 3 million a year. His heart was not in the job. He was a perfectionist and felt Luton had expanded far too quickly for the facilities it then offered. He believed passengers deserved the best.

He needed a challenge and a chance to put into practice his ideas on how an efficient regional airport should be run. He found it at Bristol. His enthusiasm and confident prediction that passenger figures could rise by an annual 10 per cent convinced Bristol's Airport Committee and in 1980 he was appointed manager. He first courted contacts in tour operators including Thomson and Horizon and, with the holiday trade secure and growing, turned his attention to contacts in business aviation to improve Bristol's international links.

Bristol Airport's performance quickly outstripped even his most optimistic forecasts. Within four years passenger numbers had almost doubled. The 1 million figure was passed by the early 1990s and 1.5 million will soon be achieved.

Les Wilson loved playing the part of the jovial "Mr Bristol Airport". He and his Bristol success were a source of local pride and people liked and admired him for it.

There were frustrations. The airport's runway cannot accommodate larger international aircraft and attempts to increase its length have failed. Now comes a possible threat from BAE's nearby Filton airport with its huge runway and a campaign to set up as a rival business airport. Wilson handled them all with equanimity and a sure-footedness which was a hallmark of his career.

Away from work he found enormous pleasure in his family and in simple country pursuits like helping his wife with her horses or in pottering around in the garden. He once told me: "I'm a workaholic. I never had time to develop hobbies . . . I've been too busy."

He never lost his love for aircraft and aviation but, curiously, never took his pilot's licence. It was one of his few regrets. He did take lessons on a Tiger Moth in the early 1950s but he ran out of money. "I was a fool," he confessed. "I should have begged, borrowed or stolen the money."

James Belsey

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I think that's the one. Many thanks.

I'd forgotten that his original desire was to be a professional footballer. Had he not broken his leg and his football career had prospered who knows what state BRS would be in now? if it was still open.

Given its loss-making status at the end of the 1970s it's easy to argue that only someone of Les Wilson's calibre could have turned it around. Without him the losses might have continued and the city council really might have closed it.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

i was chatting with Mrs TLY this week after she'd been watching the local tv coverage of the airport's 60th birthday celebrations and she reminded me that until the current terminal was opened in 2000 the main restaurant was landside (not that she used that term as she's not 'into' aviation).

After checking in on the ground floor at the old terminal (currently the admin block) most travellers would climb the stairs to the restaurant/bar from which there was an open air viewing platform.

But not only that; the restaurant was a popular evening out for local people not flying at all. In the 1980s you could park in the car park in front of the terminal for about fifty pence (not that expensive even then) which enabled non-flying diners to enjoy a meal and perhaps a drink or two.

For those flying when it was time to go airside the journey down the stairs was retraced to the side of the check-in desks and then through security into the departure lounge which was one quite large room.

There were a few 'gates' leading from the departure lounge right out onto the apron where passengers usually walked to their aircraft.

 

[kraktoa]

My first flight out of Bristol was to Belfast in 1995. I presume i did just as TLY suggested above but i cant remember the layout.

Pretty sure it stopped at isle of Mann on both legs. Poss easyjet but cant be sure.

 

[Jono577]

My first flight out of Bristol was to Ostend in 1968 on a Cambrian Viscount.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

My first flight out of Bristol was to Belfast in 1995. I presume i did just as TLY suggested above but i cant remember the layout.

Pretty sure it stopped at isle of Mann on both legs. Poss easyjet but cant be sure.

It wouldn't have been easyJet. Go began flying from BRS in 2001and were bought by easyJet the following year.

In the mid 1990s Jersey European (now Flybe of course) flew from BRS to Belfast City and one of the daily rotations routed via Isle of Man. The usual aircraft type was the Dash 8-300.

 

[andrewgreen]

i was chatting with Mrs TLY this week after she'd been watching the local tv coverage of the airport's 60th birthday celebrations and she reminded me that until the current terminal was opened in 2000 the main restaurant was landside (not that she used that term as she's not 'into' aviation).

After checking in on the ground floor at the old terminal (currently the admin block) most travellers would climb the stairs to the restaurant/bar from which there was an open air viewing platform.

But not only that; the restaurant was a popular evening out for local people not flying at all. In the 1980s you could park in the car park in front of the terminal for about fifty pence (not that expensive even then) which enabled non-flying diners to enjoy a meal and perhaps a drink or two.

For those flying when it was time to go airside the journey down the stairs was retraced to the side of the check-in desks and then through security into the departure lounge which was one quite large room.

There were a few 'gates' leading from the departure lounge right out onto the apron where passengers usually walked to their aircraft.

 

[andrewgreen]

I remember it well , there was a Resturant, snack bar and bar all landside , as things got busier the outside viewing area was brought inside and everything went open plan the snack bar was moved and a new bar area built .

 

[andrewgreen]

My first flight from Bristol was a Britannia Airways B.737 to Palma

 

[TheLocalYokel]

My first flight from Bristol was a Britannia Airways B.737 to Palma

In the early 1980s when our youngsters were young we used Britannia from BRS many times, including to Palma. The aircraft then were all B737-200s. I think the first Britannia B757 I flew on from BRS was around 1989

 

[superking]

It wouldn't have been easyJet. Go began flying from BRS in 2001and were bought by easyJet the following year.

In the mid 1990s Jersey European (now Flybe of course) flew from BRS to Belfast City and one of the daily rotations routed via Isle of Man. The usual aircraft type was the Dash 8-300.

Before jersey European operated the route,it was dan air which did a double airport in brs and cwl to Belfast.Im not sure if they did I O M on this flight. Also not sure if the aircraft came in from jersey. The plane was a hs748.

 

[superking]

Thinking about what I put in last post. I'm sure now that dan air did a jersey route split between brs and cwl. Also dan air on a Saturday did a jersey charter with a 146 air craft. Mind kicks in when thinks about things.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/history/how-time-flies-bristol-airport-43390

Excellent piece in the Bristol Post commemorating the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Lulsgate site (see above link).

There are some wonderful old photographs illustrating the article, some I haven't previously seen. There is one showing a motor racing scene when the airfield was the site of motor race meetings a few years after WW2.

Another depicts the RAF buildings in 1955 including the (then) existing control tower which was used until 1962 when it was replaced by a new one (now the 'old' one). An aerial apron scene from 1968 shows a Britannia Boeing 737-200 (must have been one of their first because a bit of research shows that 1968 was the year that Britannia first took delivery of 737-200s), a Channel Airways Trident, a DC3 (Cambrian?) and another T-tail jet which might be Dan Air.

There are other pictures showing the airport and its infrastructure down the years.

The writer reckons that the city council was in discussion with the Ministry as early as 1944 regarding the purchase of the Lulsgate site as by then they realised that their existing Whitchurch Airport would be too small for the new generation of aircraft bigger aircraft (sounds a familiar theme). It was to take another eleven years before the sale was finalised and two more years before the airport opened.

Moving to Filton was a serious consideration and there was talk of purchasing the Filton site for £1 and allowing the Bristol Aeroplane Company (BAC) to have full use of it at the council's expense. I hadn't heard that before. The usual tale is that the BAC was willing to let the city council use the Filton site for a peppercorn rent.

In the end it was decided on safety grounds that it would not be a good idea having experimental aircraft on test flights mingling with civil airliners at the same site. Perhaps the health and safety brigade is not a modern phenomenon after all.

Les Wilson deservedly merits a paragraph or two with the writer describing him perfectly:

Wilson remains a legendary figure about whom people still tell stories. He was an extrovert, larger-than-life figure fondly remembered by everyone who knew him or worked for him. He was not only a shrewd businessman, but he was a born showman who shamelessly turned every development or announcement, no matter how small, into a photo opportunity. Journalists loved him.

He turned around a £130,000 pa loss into a £1.3 million profit within six years of his arrival as managing director in 1980. With modern senior airport people nearly always grey, corporate figures with the the appropriate cautious phraseology, someone like Les Wilson today would be a delight. He used sound bites before the term was coined.

I'm not aware of anything in the public area of BRS that recognises the work of Les Wilson. Had he not arrived who is to say that Lulsgate Airport (as it was usually known then - still is by some) would not have been closed? There were some powerful voices in the city council and elsewhere within the city advocating such a move for what had become a serious drain on rate payers' pockets. How about one of the airport roads being named Les Wilson Way or something like that? The 60th birthday would have been an appropriate time for such recognition.

I can certainly recommend a click on the link at the top of this post to anyone interested in the history of BRS. There is plenty more in the article that I haven't mentioned.

 

[Aviador]

The passengers on-board the Vickers Viscount were very lucky!

 

[Jerry]

I'm not aware of anything in the public area of BRS that recognises the work of Les Wilson.

Maybe the airport to put up a plaque for in honor of him at the entrance? Or name one of the executive lounges after him? Might be an idea to suggest to them.