Aviation Nostalgia Thread

[wawkrk]

Re: Leeds Bradford Airport - Photo Thread



I don't know if this has been posted before but a stunning photo from 30 years ago taken by Colin Addison. 737-200 G-BGYK R.J.Mitchell.

Notice that the aircraft is landing on the flat part of runway 33.

I am preparing a few more.

 

[White Heather]

Re: Leeds Bradford Airport - Photo Thread

Thanks for that wawkrk, brings back a few memories, especially as I flew on that aircraft from LBA to IBZ. If ever I dig out my old photos, find the time to scan them and find a way to post them, I am sure there would be a lot of interest - one day hopefully. Everything from the likes of this 737, to Caravelles, to IL18's - in fact its only when looking back through all the photos that you realise how diverse the range of aircraft was in those days compared to now.

I look forward to seeing some more photos at LBA taken a few years ago before the airport was quite so dominated by Jet2 and Ryanair

 

[White Heather]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

I wish too Bob, but we would need another Captain Mike Webster I think, who was a Leeds guy, coming from Roundhay. When the Landor livery 747 came to LBA I was absolutely gutted as I had arranged to play in a golf tournament at Roundhay, so after seeing it make its first approach I had to leave and missed all the fun. Fortunately, half way through the golf the 747 turned up at Roundhay. I couldn't believe it when I looked towards Shadwell Lane and it was flying low directly towards us. Capt Webster then proceeded to fly the 747 in a steep right hand bank in circles directly overhead Roundhay Park, apparently showing off to his Mum. Great day. I believe though that the filming was originally due to be done at Prestwick, but the weather wasn't suitable so they headed down to LBA instead. Some of us older members will remember the uproar amonsgst the locals who were anti airport - with headlines suggesting pure terror and 'we thought it was going to crash' and 'it was making repeated missed approaches but couldn't land'. It was all quite funny really. LACAN were really upset about it and thought that such stunts shouldn't be allowed.

Captain Webster also brought other 747's into LBA - including (I believe) the United Arab Emirates 747SP.

 

[ls27]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Was it Captain Webster who did a low pass with an Air Hong Kong 747 freighter?

 

[wawkrk]

Re: Leeds Bradford Airport - Photo Thread





These were taken from Aircraft Illustrated 1981 so the could have been taken in the years before.
All by Colin Addison.

 

[White Heather]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

When I flew to Ibiza from LBA in 1980, the flight only operated every 10 days. I flew out on an aircraft carrying the old livery and back on one carrying the new livery, although it was really just new titles with 'airways' dropped and Britannia much larger. So I suspect that photo was probably taken around that year. Air UK came on the scene around the time BA left, so that picture is probably also around that time - prior to 1980 they were known as Air Anglia although I am not sure of the exact date they were transformed into Air UK.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Many thanks wawkrk - looking forward to seeing some more.

When our kids were growing up in the late 70s/80s we used Britannia a lot from our local airport for holidays. The Boeing 737-200s were near state-of-the-art then for a charter airline.

I've never been a spotter (though I enjoy seeing aircraft in their natural environment) nor collected registrations but I do remember that the Britannia 732s bore names of famous Britons, many with aviation connections.

Your picture shows Sir Frederick Handley Page and Sir Frank Whittle. I can remember flying on the former but not the latter.

Others I recall being carried on include, Ernest Shackleton, Sir John Alcock, Sir Henry Royce, Viscount Trenchard, Florence Nightingale (I also flew on a KLM MD-11 named after her), Jean Batten (not strictly a Briton, a New Zealander), Amy Johnson, Lord Brabazon of Tara (resonates in Bristol with the Bristol Brabazon behemoth that was obsolete before it ever took off, though the Bristol Britannia benefited from its development and also led to the Britannia Airways name superseding the original Euravia London when the airline re-eqipped with Britannia aircraft), George Stephenson, Hon CS Rolls and Sir Thomas Sopwith.

Perhaps the strangest name was The O'Neill, Hereditary Ruler of Ulster.

Does anyone remember Orion Airways, part of the Birmingham based Horizon Holidays company? The airline and Horizon were bought by the Thomson Group in the mid 1980s and the Boeing 737 aircraft merged into Britannia Airways.

In 1985 I had my first Boeing 737-300 journey. It was with Orion from Bristol to Faro. We returned on a 200 series but it bore a logo by the door saying it was the 737th Boeing 737.

It may be the rose-coloured spectacles thing of yesteryear always being better but my recollection of the 70s and 80s and even the 90s is that flying was more civilised for the passenger and even the charter aircraft meals weren't too bad, and they were always part of the basic package so everyone on the flight got one.

 

[ChurchFenton]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

TheLocalYokel

I also flew on the Orion 737-200 you described, with the notice as you entered the aircraft stating that it was the 737th B737 built. I was on a flight PMI-LBA in August 1984 when that occurred.

I have very fond memories of Orion, they were regular users of LBA in the early 1980's, and together with Britannia appeared to be very happy with their operations from the airport, which was more notable prior to the runway extension being opened in 1984 when charters were less numerous. I remember as a child in the early 1980's feeling it was quite an event when a B737 arrived!

Perhaps because air travel was less commonplace back then, there always seemed to be a special atmosphere when boarding a flight to Spain from LBA!

 

[The Pole]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

I flew on the 'Amy Johnson' named Britannia 737-200 in the early eighties! Think I will have to raid my mums photo albums for some aircraft photos!

 

[wawkrk]

Re: Nostalgia Thread




Some interesting information about Britannia in those days, they had the biggest 737 fleet in Europe.
Now Jet2 are bigger and still growing. Britannia applied to sell seat only flights at the time because originally it was not allowed.You had to have somewhere to stay by law so cheap accomodation addresses were were issued to get around the law. Britannia were forward thinking and market leaders then but the new management were not interested. Just look what they could have done at Leeds for example. Jet2 have wiped the floor with them.

I will be back in the UK on Tuesday so I will sort some more out although going to Spain on Friday for a short break.

wawkrk

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Many thanks for your responses, ChurchFenton, The Pole and wawkrk.

Welcome to Forums4Airports, ChurchFenton - hope to read more posts from you.

 

[White Heather]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Local Yokel, I well remember Orion too and also flew with them from LBA to Faro in 1985. The thing I remember most about the airline is that they had a superb livery - very colourful and very different from the usual blues and reds most airlines in this country pick. It was a shame that they disappeared into Britannia when Horizon became part of Thomson.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Hello White Heather.

A pic of an Orion 737-200 at this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Orion ... l_1984.jpg

It seems the airline was associated with East Midlands, not Birmingham, and it and Horizon had been bought by Bass the brewers in the mid 1980s before being sold to Thomson in 1989 (I thought this sale had been two or three years earlier - age plays strange tricks with the memory at times).

 

[The Pole]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

http://www.flickr.com/photos/copmanthor ... /lightbox/

There are a few old LBA pics on the attached thread

 

[White Heather]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Thanks Local Yokel, a great photo that, and I really do like that livery. Very classy in my view.
Thanks too The Pole - lots of happy memories for me there, particularly the JAT 707 and DC9. If my memory serves me correct, the 707 ususally did the LBA to Pula route for Jugotours on a Sunday whilst the DC9 did the Ljublana on a Monday. We also had Dubrovnik (re introduced now by Jet2) which changed a few times but was usually an Aviogenex Boeing 737-200 and Split was the 4th destination, and I think that the equipment varied on that route too. At long last we are getting Split back too next summer, again by Jet2.

The Tristar incident doesn't qualify as a happy memory, but certainly the regular appearance of Tristars at LBA in the 80's was. I do wish sometime we could turn the clock back to those days. Aircraft movements were not as frequent as today, but they were so interesting, especially bearing in mind that for years we had been limited to Viscounts, HS748 and the occasional 737 and 1-11 before the runway extension. To see the likes of the 707,727, 747, Tristar, DC10, Concorde was a dream come true. I think that perhaps now we tend to take it all for granted. For me though, just like buses, they were more exciting in those days and so many more aircraft types. And if you liked the sound of jet engines, well it was magic to hear 4 Pratt and Whitney JT8D's powering a 707 down 14 from the cemetary.

 

[ChurchFenton]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Re flights to the former Yugoslavia:

The Pole - your photo's of the JAT B707 are superb, I can clearly remember when this used to operate the Pula flight each Summer Sunday during the mid-1980's. Even then, B707's were becoming something of a rarity in passenger service, so was quite a sight! I seem to remember that the JAT DC-9 on the Ljubljana service was upgraded to a B727 for a couple of years and operated a combined Ljubljana/Dubrovnik flight each Monday for some time. As WhiteHeather mentioned, Aviogenex B737-200's operated the Dubrovnik service and this continued until the early 90's when the civil war broke out (they had replaced JAT on the services for the final few years). Adria were also regular visitors at that time, with MD-80's, and later A320's operating to Split, and I think Ljubljana too (though can't be 100% sure on the latter destination). In fact, I remember reading many years ago that Adria were the first airline to bring the A320 to LBA, introducing it here in 1990.

So we now have Dubrovik doing well again from LBA, with Split on it's way back next year. Would be fantastic if Pula would return (which always seemed to have the most flights prior to the war from the UK). Ljubljana, and Slovenia generally are supposedly very scenic though I don't imagine the demand is now there to warrant weekly flights again (though would be nice to be proven wrong!).

 

[Aviador]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Welcome to Forums4airports ChurchFenton!

It's taken far too long to get flights back to the former Yugoslavia. It used to be such a popular place before the troubles there. As a kid I seem to remember seeing two 707 aircraft on the deck at the same time and I'm sure they came in one after the other only a few minutes apart.

 

[BradfordExPat]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Hi,

Apologies if these are already available but does anyone have any photos of BA Viscounts or DanAir HS748's at LBA in the 70's.

I have many memories of Saturday afternoon's spent at the airport waiting (what seemed hours) for a plane to land or take off but sadly my photos are long gone!

 

[White Heather]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Hi Bradford Ex Pat, welcome to the forum.

I have photos of a BA (and Northeast) Viscount at LBA but they are poor quality, taken on a Kodak Instamatic,and currently somewhere in a box in the loft. However, I have just looked on google and having entered 'Dan Air HS748 at Leeds' and ' BA Viscount at Leeds' I quickly found photos of HS748 G-~ARAY (which for a long time was almost resident at LBA) and Viscount G-AOYO, which was also based at LBA for the most part, being an ex BKS/Northeast aircraft.

No doubt if someone has photos that are of decent quality they will post them, but at least they are available on the internet

 

[BradfordExPat]

Re: Nostalgia Thread

Thanks White Heather,

I got carried away looking at the photos and links on this forum and didn't think of Google! :fool:

Great forum!