Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2020 17:37:58 GMT 1
Mention of the old aviation societies (MGAE MSAE etc.,) reminded me of some of the trips we did, so here are some more b&w images from the deepest corner of the shoebox. As ever, I have no notes for these, so feel free to correct or comment as appropriate:
We begin the journey at Farnborough where entry was achieved into at least part of the Empire Test Pilot's School (ETPS) as it was then known. I think this would have been 1962:
I imagine that TG 512 must have been used as some sort of trainer. It was well known at the time that there was all sorts of odd stuff hidden away and we by no means saw all of it.
No mystery about this Meteor NF14 though, or who it belonged to at the time.
This photo is on the same strip as the others, so presumably taken at Farnborough, but no other information, other than it is an Avro Lincoln. Is that the wing propped up behind it?
Of course, the visit coincided with the Air Show, in the days when you could get really close to the aircraft! Not only that, but the RAE put the reg on twice, so there was no doubt which a/c it was. I think that's an early ice cram van in the centre of the picture as well!
On to Culdrose (or possibly Yeovilton), where the Navy open days always had excellent flying displays - and interesting aircraft!
Most areas, including the hangars, were open to the public, so we made the most of it! Note the target-towing kit on both aircraft. The one in the hangar is WW 154. The other one is WD 585.
What's the serial on that Sea Fury lads? I haven't got my glasses on!
The GN code on this one might fox a few people. It's actually Eglinton, aka HMS Gannet, which is now Derry/Londonderry Airport. the aircraft itself of course now lives at Duxford, 60 years on.
Hurn was always a regular stop on visits to the area, because there there was always something unusual there, even in those days. They don't come much more unusual than a couple of Mossies carrying Canadian civil registrations. Needless to say, CF-IME and CF-IMO never made it across the Atlantic.
A mystery photo to finish the section. I have no recollection of this whatsoever, except a note which says its code was DW-A.
Added in by Viscount No mystery Garstonboy - although admittedly without the DW:A code clue I'd be floundering too! It is TD248 at RAF Sealand. It was first a gate guard at RAF Hooton Park as DW:A October 1955 to 1957 when Hooton closed, so the aircraft stored. Moved to RAF Sealand 1959 and was on the gate there for many years, mostly on a 'pole'. Now she is once again a 'flier'.
Time for a trip abroad. As I mentioned on a previous thread, I was lucky enough to win a round-the-world trip with Japan Air Lines in 1967. I have posted the colour images previously, but not the b&w ones, so here goes:
If you think the Thai Airways scheme on this Caravelle looks awfully like an early SAS one, it's because it is. Thai leased several Caravelles from SAS, although they never actually ordered the type.
As you will have gathered the old Haneda airport had an excellent viewing balcony, so I took full advantage!
Any aircraft carrying the colours of the People's Republic of China were a rare sight in those days, so I was delighted to see this example. Looking at the images all these years later, I've been trying to work out what was going on here. There doesn't appear to be any efflux from the engines, so presumably they're not running and there's no equipment nearby. My first thoughts were, that I hope no-one at the back of the aircraft opened the ventral door, otherwise that guy's going to have a hell of a headache! Answers on a postcard please...
OK, so finally back to good old Speke, with not even a twinge of jet lag. Here we are outside hangar 50 appropriately enough, where the guy, I suspect, is entering for the Darwin prize:
Now I know the chocks are in position, but I was taught many years ago that there should be someone in the cockpit when you hand-crank the propeller to start up the aircraft, to make sure the brakes are applied, just in case it jumps the chocks. He clearly wasn't about to ask a spotty youth like me to do it, so I took these photos instead. The Hawk Trainer lived at Speke between 1961 and 1963.
Now a random selection of visitors:
Following the closure of Burtonwood, there was a USAF C-47 0-315204 almost based at Speke from 30th April to 4th June 1959. Others would stay for several days, other times just for the day or a few hours. We were always pleased to see them though and the crews were very friendly. 0-48083 a Douglas C-47A was operated by the 47th BTW at Sculthorpe and is noted as calling at Speke 14th and 17th July 1959, 27th October 1960 and 24th and 28th February 1961. Not sure when the 47th relinquished their North American B-45 Tornado aircraft, but they had been maintained at Burtonwood, so after closure at the end of April 1959 there must have been spares still held there that needed to be collected.
From the earliest days (for me at least) on the balcony, this is a rather bleak view of the airfield. Note the triangular black and white runway markers.
This slightly blurred image (I blame the brisk northerly wind!) of the Dan-Air Dove G-ALVF is another example of just what a mixed fleet Dan operated in its lifetime. I can't remember whether this was on a scheduled service, or just a visitor. Dan operated the aircraft between 1960 and 1965.
G-AMOB was a rare sight during the days of BEA Viscount operation, which is probably why I took the photo. Many of the series were transferred to Cambrian, but this one escaped to Brazil and became PP-SRI with VASP in 1962. BEA used G-AMOB through Speke during 1960, 1961 and 1962.
A few random visitors now, caught at a time when I had both a) a camera and b) film inside:
Avro C.19 VM332 called only once in the period 1959-1962, on 1st August 1961, flying from and to Booker
D-ILSA a Beech 65 Queen Air of Travel-Air GmbH called on 31st July 1961, arriving direct from Munich and departing to Cologne. A modern aircraft at the time, indeed the first Queen Air to call at Liverpool was G-ARFF the year before.
OO-SID an Aero Commander 500 of Sotromat was the first of the type to visit Speke, on 25th March 1961, routing through from Dublin to Brussels.
Last, but by no means least, the story of G-APIN. Starways bought the aircraft from Trans Ocean Airlines in the US as N2750A and took delivery of it in early 1958.They had a contract to supply aircraft to support the United Nations operation in the Congo and India November was allocated to the task. Here it is at Speke ca 1960, wearing its ONU titles.
However, fate was to deal that aircraft a fatal blow. On the night of 20th October 1961, The base at Katanga where India November was based, was attacked by rebel forces, including a Fouga Magister, and India November was destroyed. An old friend of mine, Bernie McKenzie, was an engineer with Starways at the time and was based at Katanga with the aircraft. He told me of his shock on arriving at the airfield the next morning and seeing the wreckage. He immediately grabbed his camera and took some photos, not least with a view to supporting the ensuing claim to the UN. He passed on the photos below to me shortly before he died a few years ago. RIP Bernie.
We begin the journey at Farnborough where entry was achieved into at least part of the Empire Test Pilot's School (ETPS) as it was then known. I think this would have been 1962:
I imagine that TG 512 must have been used as some sort of trainer. It was well known at the time that there was all sorts of odd stuff hidden away and we by no means saw all of it.
No mystery about this Meteor NF14 though, or who it belonged to at the time.
This photo is on the same strip as the others, so presumably taken at Farnborough, but no other information, other than it is an Avro Lincoln. Is that the wing propped up behind it?
Of course, the visit coincided with the Air Show, in the days when you could get really close to the aircraft! Not only that, but the RAE put the reg on twice, so there was no doubt which a/c it was. I think that's an early ice cram van in the centre of the picture as well!
On to Culdrose (or possibly Yeovilton), where the Navy open days always had excellent flying displays - and interesting aircraft!
Most areas, including the hangars, were open to the public, so we made the most of it! Note the target-towing kit on both aircraft. The one in the hangar is WW 154. The other one is WD 585.
What's the serial on that Sea Fury lads? I haven't got my glasses on!
The GN code on this one might fox a few people. It's actually Eglinton, aka HMS Gannet, which is now Derry/Londonderry Airport. the aircraft itself of course now lives at Duxford, 60 years on.
Hurn was always a regular stop on visits to the area, because there there was always something unusual there, even in those days. They don't come much more unusual than a couple of Mossies carrying Canadian civil registrations. Needless to say, CF-IME and CF-IMO never made it across the Atlantic.
A mystery photo to finish the section. I have no recollection of this whatsoever, except a note which says its code was DW-A.
Added in by Viscount No mystery Garstonboy - although admittedly without the DW:A code clue I'd be floundering too! It is TD248 at RAF Sealand. It was first a gate guard at RAF Hooton Park as DW:A October 1955 to 1957 when Hooton closed, so the aircraft stored. Moved to RAF Sealand 1959 and was on the gate there for many years, mostly on a 'pole'. Now she is once again a 'flier'.
Time for a trip abroad. As I mentioned on a previous thread, I was lucky enough to win a round-the-world trip with Japan Air Lines in 1967. I have posted the colour images previously, but not the b&w ones, so here goes:
If you think the Thai Airways scheme on this Caravelle looks awfully like an early SAS one, it's because it is. Thai leased several Caravelles from SAS, although they never actually ordered the type.
As you will have gathered the old Haneda airport had an excellent viewing balcony, so I took full advantage!
Any aircraft carrying the colours of the People's Republic of China were a rare sight in those days, so I was delighted to see this example. Looking at the images all these years later, I've been trying to work out what was going on here. There doesn't appear to be any efflux from the engines, so presumably they're not running and there's no equipment nearby. My first thoughts were, that I hope no-one at the back of the aircraft opened the ventral door, otherwise that guy's going to have a hell of a headache! Answers on a postcard please...
OK, so finally back to good old Speke, with not even a twinge of jet lag. Here we are outside hangar 50 appropriately enough, where the guy, I suspect, is entering for the Darwin prize:
Now I know the chocks are in position, but I was taught many years ago that there should be someone in the cockpit when you hand-crank the propeller to start up the aircraft, to make sure the brakes are applied, just in case it jumps the chocks. He clearly wasn't about to ask a spotty youth like me to do it, so I took these photos instead. The Hawk Trainer lived at Speke between 1961 and 1963.
Now a random selection of visitors:
Following the closure of Burtonwood, there was a USAF C-47 0-315204 almost based at Speke from 30th April to 4th June 1959. Others would stay for several days, other times just for the day or a few hours. We were always pleased to see them though and the crews were very friendly. 0-48083 a Douglas C-47A was operated by the 47th BTW at Sculthorpe and is noted as calling at Speke 14th and 17th July 1959, 27th October 1960 and 24th and 28th February 1961. Not sure when the 47th relinquished their North American B-45 Tornado aircraft, but they had been maintained at Burtonwood, so after closure at the end of April 1959 there must have been spares still held there that needed to be collected.
From the earliest days (for me at least) on the balcony, this is a rather bleak view of the airfield. Note the triangular black and white runway markers.
This slightly blurred image (I blame the brisk northerly wind!) of the Dan-Air Dove G-ALVF is another example of just what a mixed fleet Dan operated in its lifetime. I can't remember whether this was on a scheduled service, or just a visitor. Dan operated the aircraft between 1960 and 1965.
G-AMOB was a rare sight during the days of BEA Viscount operation, which is probably why I took the photo. Many of the series were transferred to Cambrian, but this one escaped to Brazil and became PP-SRI with VASP in 1962. BEA used G-AMOB through Speke during 1960, 1961 and 1962.
A few random visitors now, caught at a time when I had both a) a camera and b) film inside:
Avro C.19 VM332 called only once in the period 1959-1962, on 1st August 1961, flying from and to Booker
D-ILSA a Beech 65 Queen Air of Travel-Air GmbH called on 31st July 1961, arriving direct from Munich and departing to Cologne. A modern aircraft at the time, indeed the first Queen Air to call at Liverpool was G-ARFF the year before.
OO-SID an Aero Commander 500 of Sotromat was the first of the type to visit Speke, on 25th March 1961, routing through from Dublin to Brussels.
Last, but by no means least, the story of G-APIN. Starways bought the aircraft from Trans Ocean Airlines in the US as N2750A and took delivery of it in early 1958.They had a contract to supply aircraft to support the United Nations operation in the Congo and India November was allocated to the task. Here it is at Speke ca 1960, wearing its ONU titles.
However, fate was to deal that aircraft a fatal blow. On the night of 20th October 1961, The base at Katanga where India November was based, was attacked by rebel forces, including a Fouga Magister, and India November was destroyed. An old friend of mine, Bernie McKenzie, was an engineer with Starways at the time and was based at Katanga with the aircraft. He told me of his shock on arriving at the airfield the next morning and seeing the wreckage. He immediately grabbed his camera and took some photos, not least with a view to supporting the ensuing claim to the UN. He passed on the photos below to me shortly before he died a few years ago. RIP Bernie.
