Two Leg UEFA Final against Club Brugge, 1976.
Jun 27, 2018 22:05:47 GMT 1
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Post by viscount on Jun 27, 2018 22:05:47 GMT 1
THE TWO-LEG UEFA CUP FINAL, LIVERPOOL AND BRUGGE, MAY 1976
Coverage here of the aircraft involved in this UEFA cup-final is entirely due to Liverpool Airport management requesting that Liverpool City Engineers Department provide a professional photographer to record the first occasion that two wide-bodied aircraft visited Liverpool Airport together. Indeed it was also the first visit by type to Liverpool Airport of the European Airbus A.300 design. The photographer used both colour and black & white film stock for some creative shots. Where there are two very similar shots, I have usually selected just the colour one. I do realise that many of these shots are alike and in some sections of the forum that could lead to negative comment, here though with 40+ year old photos I feel the number of shots adds to the nostalgia for the occasion rather than repetition of image.
In 1976 the UEFA Cup Final was still played over two legs, just as in the knock-out stages, with a home and an away leg matches, rather than a single game at a neutral location fixed in advance. The opponents in 1976 were Club Brugge of Belgium. I’m having some difficulty here with the correct form of spelling as sources use, Bruges, Brugge or Brugges. The first leg was home at Anfield on 28th April 1976. The away supporters arrived at Liverpool on four flights using three TEA aircraft. First in was A.300B4 OO-TEG as HE 1417/1418 f&t Ostend, this was followed by Boeing 707 OO-TEC as HE 1415/707 from Ostend and shortly after positioning back there empty. Later, in the afternoon Airbus A.300B4 OO-TEF operating HE 1419/1420 arrived, operating f&t Brussels and Boeing 707 OO-TEC returned as HE 1424/1416 again f&t Ostend. After sitting at Liverpool for the whole evening all three aircraft departed prior to midnight after the game, which was a good showing by the Liverpool ground staff to despatch three large aircraft quickly. Later on, during Thursday Boeing 707 OO-TEC returned as HE 1415 from Ostend, but then developed a fault. Boeing 707 OO-TED was dispatched from Brussels as HE 707 to take the final supporters home to Ostend as HE 1435. Later OO-TEC positioned out as HE 707 to Brussels.
These were not the only aircraft involved as 4 general aviation aircraft also brought in supporters for the match. OO-KAL Cessna 337 was the first of these to arrive, f&t Ostend, departing 29th; OO-JPR Cherokee f&t Grimbergen; OO-WIY Cessna 172 f&t Ghent, departing 29th and finally OO-PTF PA-30 Twin Comanche f&t Ostend. The first leg ended with a 3-2 score-line in favour of home team LFC, not the biggest margin to take to the away leg.
With an exciting finale to the season in prospect, many fans vied for the limited number of tickets and made their way to Belgium by road, rail and channel ferry crossing. Some fans elected for an easy journey by flying on charter day-return flights. The day prior to the match LFC team and staff flew out Aer Lingus charter on Boeing 737 EI-ASB to Ostend, the aircraft positioning in from Dublin. LFC fans all flew out on the Wednesday of the match, May 19th:
G-BDIX DH.104 Comet 4C Dan Air DA 991X/8520 Tenerife arr evening 18th-Ostend 19th
G-AVBW BAC-111-320 Laker Airways GK 218/3057 Barcelona-Ostend
G-AWWZ BAC-111-509 Monarch OM 2502 Luton-Ostend
G-APFO Boeing 707-436 British Airtours KT 200 Gatwick-Brussels
G-AVZZ Boeing 707-138B Laker Airways GK 3021 Gatwick-Ostend
The Laker Boeing 707 managed to get back to Liverpool before midnight Wednesday, the rest of the fans followed during Thursday 20th.
G-AVZZ Boeing 707-138B Laker Airways GK 3022 Ostend arr.near midnight 19th-Gatwick 20th
G-AWWZ BAC-111-509 Monarch OM 503 Ostend-Luton in the early hours
G-AVBW BAC-111-320 Laker Airways GK 3058 Ostend-Manchester in the early hours
EI-ASB Boeing 737-248 Aer Lingus EI 963 Ostend-Dublin with team, a little later in the day
G-BDIX DH.106 Comet 4C Dan Air DA 8521/991X Ostend-Glasgow likely early afternoon
G-APFO Boeing 707-436 British Airtours KT 201 Brussels-Gatwick in the afternoon.
A 1-1 draw at the Olympic Stadium ensured that Liverpool were victorious, with an aggregated score of 4-3. Kennedy, Case and Keegan (penalty) scored in the first leg, Keegan in the second leg. LFC’s manager at the time was Bob Paisley.
Quite a number of photos in both my own slide boxes, but especially the NWAN Collection prints. Even though considerably reduced in number, I am using a fair number of those showing the three Belgian aircraft bringing in the Club Brugge fans. Remember that this was a remarkable day for the Airport, handling two wide-body flights on the same day – through a terminal building built at a time when Douglas DC-3s with 36 passengers were the largest passenger aircraft around! Photographic coverage is skewed, as I only have photos of the Belgians arriving for the first leg, I have no shots of LFC fans departing for the second leg – do you?
The photographer had a privileged position, southside of the 27 end, within the airport boundary and calculated the touch-down point of the second arriving Airbus A.300 OO-TEF well.
The location of this shot taken from a ‘chase’ ground vehicle is from somewhere just out of the curve of the ‘link taxiway’ near the threshold of the 35 cross runway, looking north down the length of the taxiway/runway to the 17 end and Bryant & May factory.
Charming apron shot of the Airbus contrasting in size with ‘normal’ traffic in the form of a BAC-111.
Airbus OO-TEG unloading
A further shot showing just how large the Airbus A.300 was in comparison to both the terminal building and more usual traffic in the form of a BAC-111-400.
Close to an 'iconic' 70s shot of Boeing 707 OO-TEC posed with the terminal and tower as a very recognisable back-drop.
With freedom to wander, albeit with a ‘minder’, then multiple interesting angle shots combining the Airbus's and Boeing 707 in the shot are possible.
By now the second Airbus A.300 OO-TEF had arrived, leading to further composition posibilities
Clearly the City Engineers Dept photographer was a dedicated man, as he returned later in the day for some night shots, but this is the only one still in the collection.
Just two of mine, digitalized from a transparency showing one of the light aircraft, Cessna 172 OO-WIY along with an Aer Lingus Boeing 737-248QC EI-ASC . While the tail of the Boeing 707 and one of the A.300s can be just seen looming above, but beyond the terminal building. My shots of the A.300s are no longer in my collection.
