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Post by radiostationx on Nov 17, 2017 11:32:48 GMT 1
Hi acklington , yes I used a variant of that technique you mention to add border padding before cleaning, and then removing it. There was heavy damage/marks on the right of the frame especially so at first I tried a straight crop to cheat aka cribbing but this left very little room towards the nose of the aircraft and spoiled the composition. I elected to do the time consuming task of cleaning up Ron's original frame. Nice technique acklington thanks for sharing this. Mike
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Post by vanguard on Nov 17, 2017 12:04:25 GMT 1
Anyway, thanks mainly to more sterling work by Mike, my 1-11 photo, in a previous post, has been replaced with a more perfect version. I hope you like it. I particularly liked this photo because it included a marshaller ( or engineer) on the tarmac and people viewing on the balcony. The proximity was excellent, wasn't it? The one-eleven photo is now looking very good, well done! My next suggestion is not a 'must do', but answers another point about cropping not leaving enough to work with. Using the crop tool on your photo programme, it is usually possible to extend the crop to create a new blank (white) border to one or more sides of the image. As shown thus; [on this white page the extended white space doesn't show, but it is there! Just click the image to see it.] 24605761598_a47a4f6707_h c by Philip Pain, on Flickr This image then easily lends itself to using the clone tool to extend the background detail into the new blank space. I've cropped a bit off the left side of the image to improve the balance; thus 24605761598_a47a4f6707_h c r by Philip Pain, on Flickr Who says that the camera never lies! The person standing to the rear of the 1-11 is an aircraft marshaller (a bat man) waiting for an arr. aircraft,a second marshaller is in the cabin probably making the tea, i know this as i did it for two and half years,loved it
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Post by ronturner on Nov 17, 2017 20:19:08 GMT 1
Hi Aklington, this is truly amazing. Ron
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Post by ronturner on Nov 18, 2017 7:28:48 GMT 1
First, let me announce that the following are not my photos. I lifted them from the old NWAN before it lost a lot of its content. I cannot remember by whom they were posted, but I did acquire the consent of the owner at the time. If you are the owner, and if you wish to reveal yourself, please do so, and if you want me to remove them, I will also comply. I think these are wonderful photos and deserve a wide audience. From comments in earlier posts, I think there are a lot of guys, and gals, out there who just had no idea of what we had going for us in those, sometimes boring, but wonderful days. The existence of MSAE and our group of friends passed the time very well though. As you can see, it was a particularly busy day in the summer. People did come out for a few hours in the afternoon and pay their threepence to come on the balcony. Notice the ice cream shop open on the mid level. The Fox Moth G-AOJH, giving pleasure, was probably the machine that many of us had our first flight in. It usually got airborne on the grass on the far side of the apron. Ron busybalcony by Ron Edwards, on Flickr balcony2 by Ron Edwards, on Flickr balcony1 by Ron Edwards, on Flickr
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Post by Samba on Nov 18, 2017 9:27:46 GMT 1
One from me today, a classic shot of Channel Airways Viscount G-ATVR taken from the balcony. One of my favourite Viscount shots because it still shows signs of it's former operator in the States which was Continental Airways. Bob. 365 G-ATVR(2) Channel Awys. Lpl. by Bob O, on Flickr
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Post by jetdragon on Nov 18, 2017 9:43:10 GMT 1
Super image of a beautiful aeroplane - when airliners had character....
Was lucky enough to have my first commercial flight on a Viscount from LPL to IOM in 1974 for the TT races - took days to get the smile off my face!!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2017 12:21:14 GMT 1
First, let me announce that the following are not my photos. I lifted them from the old NWAN before it lost a lot of its content. I cannot remember by whom they were posted, but I did acquire the consent of the owner at the time. If you are the owner, and if you wish to reveal yourself, please do so, and if you want me to remove them, I will also comply. I think these are wonderful photos and deserve a wide audience. From comments in earlier posts, I think there are a lot of guys, and gals, out there who just had no idea of what we had going for us in those, sometimes boring, but wonderful days. The existence of MSAE and our group of friends passed the time very well though. As you can see, it was a particularly busy day in the summer. People did come out for a few hours in the afternoon and pay their threepence to come on the balcony. Notice the ice cream shop open on the mid level. The Fox Moth G-AOJH, giving pleasure, was probably the machine that many of us had our first flight in. It usually got airborne on the grass on the far side of the apron. Ron busybalcony by Ron Edwards, on Flickr balcony2 by Ron Edwards, on Flickr balcony1 by Ron Edwards, on Flickr Those pictures, more than any other I have seen, encapsulate perfectly the atmosphere at the time. I can look at them and immediately I am transported back to those days. You could pursue your hobby without interference from anyone - maybe the odd strange look, but if you had your Shorrock radio on, people would come up and ask what programme you were listening to! It wasn't all wine and roses though. If it started to rain, there was almost nowhere to hide and you had to bring your own food if you were going to be there for the day. If the little cafe was flogging ice creams,or soft drinks, it was a bonus. Most of the regulars came on the bus, but those fortunate ones like myself who lived a little closer could just walk. When it was quiet, we'd speculate when the next edition of JWR Taylor's 'Civil Aircraft Markings' would be released and whether it would include the regs of foreign airlines like KLM and Air France. (They weren't originally, despite that fact that they already flew into Heathrow and Manchester and diverted into Speke . There were days too, when little or nothing happened, apart maybe from 'Golf Oscar' (G-ARGO) doing endless circuits and touch-and-gos. Without that, my life would definitely have been different and I am grateful that what started out as an interest and developed into a hobby eventually became a career.
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Post by vanguard on Nov 18, 2017 16:39:29 GMT 1
Looking at the three photo's of the old ramp(apron)it looks as if they were taken before the apron was relayed and strengthened as there is no new eastern taxiway as the narrow old one is in use.If my memory serves me right a Starways DC3/C-47 was the first aircraft to use it,the job was done in two harves to allow aircraft to use the apron while the work was being done,aswell the runway was still marked with black and white markers.The difference in the concrete can be seen in the Laker 1-11 Photo and the Channel Viscount photo they are long stips of concrete while the others are squares,its nice to see the old ones with a variety of types.
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Post by radiostationx on Nov 18, 2017 22:35:05 GMT 1
I was wondering about the layout of the old airport site and trying to get my head around the old airport plan. Other members have recently put up some great nostalgic images and injected new interest here so,for the benefit of younger members who are wondering where all this was going on, Where were the runways/taxiways etc ? (this included me). Heres a recent overhead view of the current liverpool airport site, the orange arrow showing the old terminal building which is now a Crown Plaza Hotel. And the same overhead but with the addition of a Pooleys map overlay with some features of the old liverpool airport site layout shown. Credit to Pooleys Flight Equipment for use of their map, and also Microsoft /Bing for their satellite image.
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Post by viscount on Nov 18, 2017 23:04:08 GMT 1
I've been looking at those three rather charming images of the balcony loaded with people - and the apron with aircraft to see too! Agree with the comments by Ron Turner, 'Garstonboy' and 'Vanguard'.
The BEA 'red square' scheme was introduced in 1960 with the delivery of the Comet 4Bs, and Vanguards as far as I am aware. It quickly spread across the rest of the fleet, although some Viscount 701s were not repainted before sale in the early 60s as Vanguards replaced them. So 1960 or later. BEA left Speke end of March 1963, when Cambrian took-over their Irish Sea routes. Aer Lingus Dakotas were withdrawn from the Dublin-Liverpool schedule during 1959, although they were still used on extra and charter flights for a number of years. G-AMSN C-47B Dakota of Starways is of little help in dating as she was in use 1952 though to December 1963. Fox Moth G-AOJH was at Speke 8.58 to sometime 1961 and again 1968-70. So the photo is most likely summer 1960, or possibly 1961 - certainly not earlier or later.
What is interesting to me is the markers on 08/26 - tall black and white 'posts' along the runway line. From datable photos that I've worked on they are there through 1959, 1960 and 1961, but gone by June 1962. As 08/26 was relaid in 1958 (the markers are not there in 1956), that could be when they were erected. But what are they? Painted distance markers, did they have the lighting inside, where they runway edge, or set back? I don't know. They look like a hazard, but were presumably 'frangable'.
As observed the apron was relaid 1961-1962, concrete strips laid over the former squares laid down around 1947/48. It was also widened and the eastern exit modified (hangar No.2 end of the apron) and a new taxiway towards 26 laid.
Although I just dated the above photos as most likely 1960 or maybe 1962, I do not recall in the early 60s (my first visit to the Airport was in March 1961) ever having seen the upper balcony open, except for the Beatles arrival, Air Displays and much later by request on football charter days. The day pictured I feel was an exception - although the lower balcony did get pretty full on good summer Sundays. Looking back, you wonder where the all those people came from. The car park was minimal (many families did not have access to a car anyhow), the only bus into the terminal area was a restricted stop, premium fare 'passengers' service. There was no retail park across the road, just railway sidings. I suppose many walked (as alien as that sounds today) some distance from Speke, Garston and Allerton, or used service buses - cycles on the balcony seemed to be mostly ridden by 'spotters'.
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Post by philglt on Nov 18, 2017 23:05:20 GMT 1
A few more from Speke.The quality is not as good as others shown here, but the first two are from some rather "yellow" Perutz slides, older than many members on the forum....that's my excuse LN-SUG F-27 Friendship, Braathens SAFE, Speke 1964 by Philip Gaulton, on Flickr LN-SUP Douglas C-54 Skymaster, Braathens SAFE, Speke 1964 by Philip Gaulton, on Flickr G-ANRS V732 Viscount, British Eagle, Speke 1967 by Philip Gaulton, on Flickr Phil
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Post by ian531 on Nov 18, 2017 23:50:08 GMT 1
One from me today, a classic shot of Channel Airways Viscount G-ATVR taken from the balcony. One of my favourite Viscount shots because it still shows signs of it's former operator in the States which was Continental Airways. Bob. 365 G-ATVR(2) Channel Awys. Lpl. by Bob O, on Flickr Brilliant Great plane and one of my favourite colour schemes Thanks for posting this Ian
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2017 23:57:49 GMT 1
I was wondering about the layout of the old airport site and trying to get my head around the old airport plan. Other members have recently put up some great nostalgic images and injected new interest here so,for the benefit of younger members who are wondering where all this was going on, Where were the runways/taxiways etc ? (this included me). Heres a recent overhead view of the current liverpool airport site, the orange arrow showing the old terminal building which is now a Crown Plaza Hotel. And the same overhead but with the addition of a Pooleys map overlay with some features of the old liverpool airport site layout shown. Credit to Pooleys Flight Equipment for use of their map, and also Microsoft /Bing for their satellite image.OK, so the runway running at a slight angle to Speke Hall Road was 08/26, the longest of the three runways. The one running at an angle from Speke Road to the river was 22/04. This runway was never used a lot (presumably because of it close orientation to 08/26) and was slightly shorter - about 4,200 feet from memory. I think they stopped using it in the late 50s. I once remember walking the dogs along there when an Aer Lingus DC-3 landed literally over my head. The 'approach' was marked by red and white coloured discs fixed to the fence. The third runway, roughly following the line of the river was 17/35. Obviously it was only used when there was a strong northerly, or the extremely rare occasion when there was a strong southerly! It was never used by anything bigger than a DC-3 because it was only about 3,500 ft long, and I can tell you that the 17 approach over Garston and a functioning matchworks was quite scary and it was a long backtrack to the apron! It was used to connect to the link taxiway. If you were taking off from 35, it was a long taxi to the end! Hangar No 1 (now the David Lloyd gym) was to the left of the terminal on the plan. Hangar No 2, (now Littlewoods) to the right. Hope this helps.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2017 0:32:56 GMT 1
What is interesting to me is the markers on 08/26 - tall black and white 'posts' along the runway line. From datable photos that I've worked on they are there through 1959, 1960 and 1961, but gone by June 1962. As 08/26 was relaid in 1958 (the markers are not there in 1956), that could be when they were erected. But what are they? Painted distance markers, did they have the lighting inside, where they runway edge, or set back? I don't know. They look like a hazard, but were presumably 'frangable'. I remember the markers very well. They were frangible* and likely to blown around during a gale and any which did were removed and replaced later. I remember going down 26/08 one day checking them with the guy in the runway caravan. They weren't lit inside and probably set back about six feet from the runway edge. I can't remember why they were put there - I assume some regulation by the Ministry of Aviation at the time. *Their frangibility was tested when a Starways DC-4 returning from service in the Congo, (can't remember which one atm), had an undercarriage collapse on landing on 26 and slid off the runway. I would date the picture as 1960. I was working for Harry Patterson (the owner of the Fox Moth) at about that time from a little kiosk near the entrance to the balcony. The upper balcony was only ever open on high days and holidays and this was clearly one of them. Possibly the August Bank Holiday. Joe Egg (as we used to call him) the guy who took the money, was always reluctant to open the upper balcony because it mean more work for him, so I assume that sheer weight of numbers (warm day, no football, nothing on TV,) tempted people from far and wide. There were three major bus routes - the 80 which went from Speke to the Pierhead - eventually! the 82 also went from Speke to the Pierhead but by a shorter route and the 85 Speke-Dingle. Crosville also ran the 120 route from Warrington via Widnes. All those services stopped at the airport of course. The 89 from St Helens stopped at the Speke Hall Road roundabout and as Viscount says, people were happy to walk the remaining distance. All that said, it did amaze me (even as a kid) just how many people used to turn up there.
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Post by Samba on Nov 19, 2017 8:44:47 GMT 1
Oscar Echo as seen from the balcony, no date on the slide but mid sixties i'd guess img408 by Bob O, on Flickr
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