Leeds Bradford: Aviation Nostalgia Thread

[Aviador]

I only ever saw the air transat B757s at LBA, think it the later days it was a Friday service, never managed to catch the L1011s.

I think I saw all of the above mentioned apart from the #Wardair DC10 and the #Worldways Tristar or DC8. In fact was that the only DC8 visit? Didn't we get a Wardair DC8 on one occasion? I never saw it in any case if we did.

Looking back the #DC8 I think is the only aircraft type that visited that I never got chance to see. The only #DC10 I ever got chance to see was the one that visited for Euro96.

And for now, the only type I don't think we've ever seen at Leeds is the #A340 and I suspect we never will.

 

[White Heather]

I think I saw all of the above mentioned apart from the #Wardair DC10 and the #Worldways Tristar or DC8. In fact was that the only DC8 visit? Didn't we get a Wardair DC8 on one occasion? I never saw it in any case if we did.

Looking back the #DC8 I think is the only aircraft type that visited that I never got chance to see. The only #DC10 I ever got chance to see was the one that visited for Euro96.

And for now, the only type I don't think we've ever seen at Leeds is the #A340 and I suspect we never will.

We've never seen the A350, A380, nor Boeing 777 at Leeds.
We had other DC8s besides the Nationair. Rich International brought one although I missed it due to work. I did see the Wardair DC10, and Airtours DC10 too. Another I always missed was the Coronado - we had a couple of Spanish ones in many moons ago. Spantax being one.

 

[Aviador]

We've never seen the A350, A380, nor Boeing 777 at Leeds.

I was thinking out of the older types but yes.

 

[DH106]

Older jet types:- I don't think we ever saw any Dan Dare Comet 4B/4Cs did we?
Possible diversions from Manchetser perhaps in the 1970's ?

 

[White Heather]

Older jet types:- I don't think we ever saw any Dan Dare Comet 4B/4Cs did we?
Possible diversions from Manchetser perhaps in the 1970's ?

No Comets at LBA but we did have it's military cousin the Nimrod putting in the odd appearance. Not sure how many were in service still by November 1984 when the runway extension opened. They were way too big to get in on our pre 1984 runway.

 

[oldendays]

We did have Caravelles pre-extension from Sterling and Transavia. That aeroplane was very much a two-engined Comet.

 

[White Heather]

We did have Caravelles pre-extension from Sterling and Transavia. That aeroplane was very much a two-engined Comet.

But smaller. Same Avon engines though. I recall seeing one land at LBA that had a parachute on the back to help slow it down, in the absence of reverse thrust. Might have been the Sterling . Lovely looking aircraft though though a somewhat dubious safety record. Not alone though back then.

 

[LBA4EVER]

We did have Caravelles pre-extension from Sterling and Transavia. That aeroplane was very much a two-engined Comet.

We had a caravelle into LBA during euro96

 

[DH106]

No Comets at LBA but we did have it's military cousin the Nimrod putting in the odd appearance. Not sure how many were in service still by November 1984 when the runway extension opened. They were way too big to get in on our pre 1984 runway.

The Comet 4 was actually quite spritely with quite a high power to weight ratio for its day.
I remember once standing at the end of the domestic pier at MAN around 1980, watching a Comet 4c departing R24. It was presumably empty & positioning somewhere local (Lasham?), but it lifted off well before abeam where I was standing and climbed steeply away like a rocket! Very impressive - ground roll must have been less that 3000ft.
I suspect that given aircraft such as 1-11's made the odd diversion from Manchester into pre-extension LBA then a Comet 4 wouldn't have had much problem. The fact that we never saw one was probably more down to logisitcs (easier/better diversions for Dan Air) that performance issues.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

The Comet 4 was actually quite spritely with quite a high power to weight ratio for its day.
I remember once standing at the end of the domestic pier at MAN around 1980, watching a Comet 4c departing R24. It was presumably empty & positioning somewhere local (Lasham?), but it lifted off well before abeam where I was standing and climbed steeply away like a rocket! Very impressive - ground roll must have been less that 3000ft.
I suspect that given aircraft such as 1-11's made the odd diversion from Manchester into pre-extension LBA then a Comet 4 wouldn't have had much problem. The fact that we never saw one was probably more down to logisitcs (easier/better diversions for Dan Air) that performance issues.

We had regular 1-11 services from the old runway. Im sure loaded a Comet wouldnt have had enough with only 1646 meters.

 

[White Heather]

We had regular 1-11 services from the old runway. Im sure loaded a Comet wouldnt have had enough with only 1646 meters.

And even more regular 737 200 flights which were better suited to the short runway than the 1-11 with it's relatively tiny wing area .
I've no doubt an empty Comet could have operated in and out of LBA as did a Boeing 720 and even a Monarch 757, but not with a load.

 

[lbaspotter]

Am sat here in the window seat at the Clothiers on Yeadon Town street having a few pints and watching departures with @Bigman whilst we having a discussion about Boeing 737-600 series aircraft.

Now We’ve had plenty of 700 & 800’s and a few 900’s but we aren’t entirely sure if the 600 has ever graced our concrete runway?

 

[White Heather]

Am sat here in the window seat at the Clothiers on Yeadon Town street having a few pints and watching departures with @Bigman whilst we having a discussion about Boeing 737-600 series aircraft.

Now We’ve had plenty of 700 & 800’s and a few 900’s but we aren’t entirely sure if the 600 has ever graced our concrete runway?

If we have it's news to me. Not sure I've ever seen one at any airport.

 

[mdobuk21]

Possibly a SAS diversion from Man? Deffo saw them there.

 

[Seasider]

The only European airline that flew the 600srs (to my knowledge) were SAS, so it would have to be a diversion from MAN. They were used on the MAN- ARN rote in 2012 as I flew on 2 (one each way) and I stopped at the "Jumbo Hostel".

 

[lbaspotter]

The only European airline that flew the 600srs (to my knowledge) were SAS, so it would have to be a diversion from MAN.

Fly Globespan had them in service. they did do some work with Jet2/channel Exoress in the early days.

 

[Bigman]

As I said to lbaspotter in the pub earlier I was close to diverting in while on a SAS 737/600 many years ago

 

[Len Fish]

Only 69 constructed and 13 left flying so a rare bird.

 

[oldendays]

Reading a copy of I-Spy At The Airport, published in 1970. Here is a selection of annual passenger numbers from, I can only guess, 1969.

Leeds Bradford 311,000
East Midlands 290,000
Newcastle 356,000
Bristol 130,000
Cardiff 156,000
Blackpool 149,000
Liverpool 454,000
Birmingham 572,000
Manchester 1,500,000
Glasgow 1,500,000
Edinburgh 627,000

 

[oldendays]

A lot can change in 54 years. Bristol now streets ahead of Cardiff, Manchester and Glasgow once equal. However, the relationship between Newcastle, Liverpool , Leeds Bradford and East Midlands is much the same.