Speke in the ´60s - Keith Barke's Photo Collection

[viscount]

KEITH BARKE'S COLLECTION OF 1960´s SPEKE AIRPORT PHOTOGRAPHS.

At his own not inconsiderable expense, Keith Barke, an MSAE member in the early 60s has sent from British Columbia to Brian Jones in Spain his collection of photo prints, negatives, old MSAE 'Flypast' magazines and other period memorabilia. The Speke photos have been sorted, scanned, cleaned and cropped (to take out empty sky or bare apron but leaving the width background) by Brian Jones to share on NWAN Forum. A mix of 3" square b&w and colour Kodak 120 prints and negatives and 3 x 5" b&w prints, mostly his own work but some purchased from the MSAE monthly Photo List, which is I why I term it a 'collection' in the title line. An eclectic mix of residents, scheduled operators and visiting aircraft. Tantalizingly just couple of shots at the 1962 and 1963 air displays of which I have very few images. In the early 1960s affordable cameras had little (if any) focus, aperture or shutter speed control and those would be entered manually (no auto mode) and film stock was mainly 25 ASA, so rather slow. The result is, by comparison with today's digital images, focus is frequently slightly soft, lacking contrast, with mild shake a spoiler. While some shots may be somewhat 'weak', I have included them as this I feel this is a delightful collection of some 47 images, bringing back great memories and nostalgia for those times when enthusiasts could safely get very close to aircraft and airports were wide open spaces.

Scroll through and enjoy, then come back again and again to relive the ´60s at Speke. A very big thank you to Keith Barke for permitting the sharing these images having realised that while they have little monetary value, they are an absolutely priceless window into activity at 'our' airport some 60 years ago.

PART 1 - AIRLINERS & MILITARY

Starting with a familiar image, a Douglas C-54 of Starways outside their hangar, viewed from Speke Boulevard.



G-AMON V.701 Viscount - early morning of Air Display day, 31/5/63 with just a few 'early bird' spectators scattered around (note the Shackleton MR.3 parked way down by the River).



G-AMOP V.701 Viscount, Cambrian, anytime 1.63 to 8.71; but with no C-54 dumped by the firing butts this shot has to be prior to 1.66.



G-AMON V.701 Viscount. Anytime 3.63 until painted into BOAC colours 6.73, although is before No.2 hangar became the 'International Terminal' in June 1971.



G-AMAE AS.57 Ambassador Srs 2, Dan Air. Anytime July 1965 to end of October 1970 (ie the period DA used Ambassadors on Liverpool scheduled flights). Certainly after early 1966 as the C-54 and Hunter are over in the fire training area.



Far from sharp and a tad bit grainy, but an atmospheric view of a Dan Air Ambassador squeaking, wailing and smoking its way across the apron to park on the instruction of 'bats' at the left hand end.



G-AMSU Douglas C-47B Dakota, Dan Air. Prior to 1.66 (no C-54 on fire dump area by the gun-butts).



G-ALVF DH.104 Dove of Dan Air. First assumed to be during 1968 with Fox Moth G-AOJH on the grass - but is much earlier as there is no 'finger apron', constructed Winter 1965/66 to the right of the signals square. So 1958 to sometime 1961 while the Fox Moth when first resident '. I'd forgotten that it used a grass strip just to the right of 26 while pleasure flying. This cross checks with visits by G-ALVF in noted in the logs. Dove G-ALVF served with Dan Air on Liverpool services 1.60 to 2.65. Photo therefore 1960 or 1961.



G-ATDU V.739 Viscount, British Eagle, "City of Liverpool" 5/65-11/68



G-ATFN V.739 Viscount, British Eagle "City of Truro". Between 9/65 and 8/68 but narrowed down to late Winter '65/66 as foundations for the finger aprons are being dug out.



Classic Speke apron shot of G-AOVK 'Concord', B.175 Britannia 312, British Eagle, sometime in the period 5/65 to 11/68.



Another 'classic' early '60s Speke Airport apron shot. Aer Lingus operated their Fokker F-27 Friendship fleet in the period late 1959-mid 1966. The time-frame for this shot certainly narrowed down to prior to the end of 12/63 due to the Starways steps.



G-AMLP "Vanguard", Bristol 170 Super Freighter 32 of British United Air Ferries. After January '66, as the C-54 is over on the fire pit area, so not the 25/11/64 visit by this aircraft. Likely either 20/2/67 for fuel Cambridge to Dublin or 18/1/68, Southend to Lydd - the bare Speke Hall trees are no help as dating evidence! Also shows the problems created for a Kodak fixed focal length camera when aircraft parked tight-in to the terminal, but the ability to almost touch the aircraft was one of the excitements about the balcony.



On a somewhat wet day, Britannia G-ATMA "County of Midlothian" of Caledonian. Visited in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970



On another wet day, G-AOVJ Britannia 312 of Caledonian. Visited rarely but certainly in 1967, 1968 and 1970. Could be on a Lourdes charter (return leg) on 10th September 1967, or maybe 31st May 1968 inbound with a full load of charter passengers from Toronto, but there is no evidence to support which of around 7 visits this is.




Malev IL-14 HA-MAD which was at Liverpool between the 5th and 9th March 1966. The IL-14 was a rare visitor to British airports and being Hungarian, so from behind the 'Iron Curtain', considered somewhat 'exotic'. So perhaps it is little surprise to find a shot of it in every 1960s collection of photos that I have!





F-BGSL Douglas DC-6B of Aeromaritime on 11th August 1967, plus a close-up of the tail logo.





Braathens SAFE DC-6B LN-SUM appears only to have visited once, 15/8/66, routing Kristiansand to Rotterdam, clearly with passengers inbound.



A regular visitor, XS789 Andover CC.2 Queen's Flight, with G-ANBM Treffield's sole Britannia 102 parked out on the finger. Almost certainly 13/5 or 14/5/67, but just maybe 25/5/67 although on that occasion G-ANBM was crew training rather than night stopping on the apron.



XL703/Z SA Pioneer CC.1 Air Show 'At Home 26/5/62 outside No.1 hangar side door as it had arrived the day before.



WL801/B Shackleton MR.2, 42 Sqdn, Speke 'At Home' air display 26/5/62, although this shot is likely the day before.



XF700/A Shackleton MR.3, 120 Sqdn, Speke 'At Home' air display 1/6/63. A RAF Valley Avro T.21 behind. A well spotted shot on arrivals day, as the aircraft is just commencing a left turn, framed by the Constable on the right, the Airport terminal below the tail and the ATC cadets or a ground grew sat on the grass beside the taxiway.



Not the best developed and printed b&w ever, this is XL575/80 H.Hunter T.7 of 234 Sqdn/229 OCU, Speke 'At Home' 26/5/62, again likely that the shot is the day before the air display.



WJ343 Hastings C.2 - parked too close for a Kodak 120 fixed focal length camera's field of vision! Almost certainly for the Battle of the Atlantic commemoration, 6/5/67. Don´t look at this one too long, as if you do, you will start to wonder why the 4-engined Hastings apparently has only one engine and nacelle on the port wing. As the inner engine has the undercarriage housing, where is the port outer engine? The b&w print originates long, long before MS Photoshop - indeed a photoshop then was where you took your film to be developed and a few days later collected your prints! A bit of a puzzler! Answers anyone?

I have a rather shaky colour slide of WJ343 parked on the Western apron on 7/5/67 having night stopped, as the photo is from behind clearly all 4 engines are quite correctly there. Must just be an optical illusion with the outer nacelle very precisely hiding the inner one, with only the undercarriage doors showing, although even so the inner props should show, even if the inner engine was running. The aircraft would have been moved off the main apron shortly after dropping VIP passengers, the para-drop inward opening fuselage door being left open for the crew to descend by ladder once remote parked on the western apron.

[viscount]

PART 2 - GENERAL AND BUSINESS AVIATION

G-APVE is a Piaggio P.166 and this shot could be at either the 1962 or just maybe the 1963 Air Show - note crowd barrier beyond the nose. An aircraft associated with Liverpool and based here 8/59 to 14/6/63 while owned by the Earl of Derby, although also flew from his strip at Knowsley Hall. Is this shot at Liverpool though? IF the building beyond the nose is Bryant & May's factory (before the trees grew) and hangar 4 (later LFS/Keenair) above the Piper Comanche behind, then it is Liverpool - if the building beyond the nose is an aircraft hangar, then the building layout is wrong to be at Speke.



G-ASKG Grumman G-21 Goose, while fitted with the original radial engines and visited regularly, often to clear Customs in the period March 1965 to late 1967 while operated by Grosvenor Estates for the Duke of Westminster and based at Hawarden. In late 1967 it was fitted with turbo-props and continued to visit for a while. I'm informed that the car is a Ford Consul Corsair (or simply a Ford Corsair), so likely not the grandest in his garage; I wonder if the guy getting the lady's bag out of the boot is the Duke's chauffeur?



G-AMLZ Percival Prince 6E, Grand National Day 27/3/65. At that time operated by Stewart Smith & Co Ltd. On a busy day, the airport permitted it to park center spot on the main apron so the passengers had direct access to and from the terminal. Today such privileges might be granted to passengers on visiting Gulfstreams or other large executive jets, so the Prince could be considered as a top executive aircraft of its time. Many reading this caption will have already made the connection that this very aircraft G-AMLZ sits today not that far from the very same spot as in the photograph, as it is now kept at Liverpool outside the Crowne Plaza with the Speke Airport Heritage Group.





A leading executive, company aircraft at the time was the DH.104 Dove. An extremely regular visitor to Liverpool at that time was BICC´s G-ARYM, a Dove 8. British Insulated Callender's Cables used this this aircraft for a little over 10 years 1962 to 1973. The upper, rather poor print, is outside the side door of No.1 hangar, which dates that print back to before early 1967 and the extension built for use by British Eagle.



Another Dove that served as a corporate transport for around 10 years, in this case 1961 to 1970 is DH.104 Dove 6 G-ARMT operating by Clarke, Chapman & Co Ltd of Gateshead.





Mosquito TT.35 TA634/G-AWJV being repainted in Hangar No.2 in a gloss paint camouflage scheme and RAF markings during May/June 1968 prior to appearance (in matt paint) in the filming of 'Mosquito Squadron'. When magnified the 3x3" colour print taken inside No.2 hangar is beginning to break-down with a myriad of tiny blue pin marks.



G-AEML a DH.89 Dragon Rapide likely seen May/June 1968 but could have been taken anytime 12/67 to 11/69 while owned by Jim Keen and kept at Liverpool. The print is beginning to break-down with a myriad of blue pin marks.



Auster EI-AMK/19 of the Irish Aero Club at Speke, either on 23/7/67 or 5/8/67. This shot is scanned from a square negative.



D-EDIH/65, a genuine Messerschmidt Bf.108 Taifun (as distinct from a post War Nord 1002 French built aircraft), at Speke on 19/5/67 when routing from Lympne to Jurby to attend the Manx Air Rally there. The wet conditions could explain why the pilot needed to call-in at Speke en route.





Beech P35 Bonanza G-ASFJ was owned by Park, Hacking and Leigh between February 1965 and December 1969 and through contacts, Keith Barke flew several times in this aircraft, so had a 'soft spot' for it, which explains why it is one of few aircraft with one than more picture in the collection.



This shot is digitised from a negative rather than a print and shows G-AOST Chipmunk 22 outside No.2 hangar. This aircraft was based at Liverpool for periods over much of the '60s decade owned by Frank Potts and Simone Kerr.



G-ARUW PA-24 Comanche 250. Maybe prior to an airshow. but are they tents or small trees over on the river horizon? Certainly G-ARUW was at the the 29/5/62 'At Home' and was based in the London region with several different owners during the '60s decade.



G-ARKN PA-22 Colt 108, Livepool Aero Club, and active at Speke with Jim Keen's Liverpool Aero Club during the period 3/64 to 11/70. The Gregory Air Taxis Aztec in the hangar likely restricts the time span to between May 1965 and the 2nd half 1966.



G-AOJH DH.83C Fox Moth, likely May/June 1968 or maybe 1969 during the second period it was based at Speke operating pleasure flights. This colour print is beginning to break-down with a myriad of tiny blue pin marks when enlarged, but on a standard PC wide screen has been rescued just in time.



One of 4 ex 'Blue Max' DH.82 Tiger Moths that arrived with Jim Keen 12/65. G-AIRK overhauled, then re-flown and departed 1/67. Brave attempt at a shot in a dim Hangar No.39 using a camera with little in the way of aperture or speed settings.



This Tiger Moth fuselage, NL775 lived in the Keenair Hangar for a while having earlier been at Squires Gate. It does not show up in the annual resident's lists as it never flew from Liverpool, but was owned by Bill Moorland during 1968. NL775 had been registered G-ASET in 2/63 with the Blackpool & Fylde Aero Club, and from Liverpool was sold to an owner in Essex before onward sale to Canada (where it became CF-FDQ), with the UK registration cancelled March 1972.



Cessna 182F G-ASNN in hangar 2. Today with a camera phone we take it for granted that no matter how bright or weak the light, we can just simply point and press. Back in the mid '60s the only affordable cameras had no aperture control, or at best just sun or cloud settings. Slightly more expensive cameras had shutter speed control, but result of shooting in a dim hangar with slow ASA film stock, was generally camera shake, as demonstrated here. A 'throw away' print at the time, this is recovered from a negative - now around 60 years old it is worth scanning, if only to show the inside of No.2 hangar.



Like the previous shot, this one of Musketeer G-ATBI is suffering from camera shake due to long exposure, but is a record of inside No.2 hangar before it became the 'International Terminal' in Spring 1971. Keith will probably cringe that I have even considered showing these two, left alone sharing with everyone!

[Samba]

I used to be friends with Keith back in the 60s, lovely images, thanks for sharing and best wishes to Keith if he see's this.
Bob.

[vanguard]

It just shows how many different types,large and small, aircraft there was back then,thanks for showing us them 😎

[northbynorthwest]

What a treasure trove, thank you Keith. It is wonderful to see collections like this preserved to allow the younger generation(s) to experience, as well as for us old geezers to view and reminisce about. Brings back load of memories from the hours spent on the balcony around that era. I would often cycle to the airport in the evening and watch the flow of airliners. The Dan Air Dakotas that flew from Bristol - Cardiff -Liverpool - Newcastle and vice versa twice daily Monday-Friday were my favorites. They would often arrive within minutes of each other before continuing onwards northbound or southbound. Also, the Cambrian and British Eagle Viscounts, the Aer Lingus Friendships, Viscounts and Carvairs, the British Eagle Britannias and eventual BAC 1-11's. The view from the balcony was simply amazing as these pictures show.

With regard to the light aircraft, I actually saw the Tiger Moths inbound Liverpool. I was sitting in class at school and saw them fly in line abreast on a very grey and overcast day, it was a very surreal experience, certainly woke me up. It was quite a long time afterwards when I saw them in hangar 39. I believe there was a Stampe in the formation too (GATIR???) I didn't realize that Bill Morland owned that Tiger Moth fuselage. I remember he owned an Auster a few years later (G-APCB). Did he instruct at Liverpool Aero Club?

[davecalveley]

Brilliant set of photos very kind of Keith to send them in for the benefit of all.and Brians expertise in cropping and enhancing them ..some of the shots are similar to mine from the start of my interest 60 years ago in our hobby and bring back great memories ....can almost smell thoseà empty beer barrels on the stairs up to the balcony .,.pop and crisps from the shop at the base of the tower and then walking round to the fence in Banks Road to see if any of the hangar doors were open and what was on the Keenair apron.... stopping to pick up a bag of chips from the chippy over the road from the fire station on the way....great times

[ronturner]

Brilliant and fond, fond memories. I flew several of those machines including G-ARKN, G-ATBI and G-AOST which I had for best part of a day, one time, when FranK Potts borrowed my AJS and me his aeroplane. I imagine all of us flew in G-AOJH at some time or other.

[viscount]

Although Keith´s photos could be considered somewhat ordinary when the b&w prints are flicked through, once digitised, tidied up and presented as a collection, they become a great record of fondly remembered times past, as the enthusiastic comments of praise above show.

I'm sure there are a number of NWAN followers reading this who are thinking, I´ve got an envelope of curling old aircraft prints in the loft, but no one would be interested. Well we most certainly are, and I´d be delighted if you would get in touch with me by PM, or better still if you simply scan and post them yourself.

There will be more great Liverpool nostalgia threads to come, as I have two boxes of photos waiting in the UK for me to collect once the pandemic is over sufficiently to enable travel from and to Spain without testing and isolation restrictions. Even when I had my May 2020 trip cancelled, I thought that the trip would only be a matter of weeks away! Maybe Autumn 2021, have to wait and see what transpires beyond the mid-July EU and UK rule relaxations. Wonder what Spanish Customs will make of me arriving with 15kg of photo albums in my luggage?

[Beemer]

The Tiger Moth,

G-ASET Tiger Moth became
CF-FDQ then
C-FFDQ then
N775NL current with Gregory H Ross, Perry, Shiawassee, USA.

[Deleted]

First of all, I'd like to endorse the comments above and add a few of my own. By 'eck, they bring back a few memories. The Starways DC-4. How many times did I walk past that hangar and see a very similar sight when I was walking the dogs down to the roundabout?

The views from the balcony need no comment - it must have been one of the best spotting points anywhere, though little did we realise it at the time!

Who can forget the clouds of smoke when the Ambassador started up, prior to its flight to Amsterdam?

I would put the Dan-Air Dove/Foxmoth photo about 1961. Yours truly 'worked' for Harry Patterson collecting the money for him at the balcony entrance in those days, and yes, he used a grass area parallel to 08/26.

A twin-engined Hastings? OMG! Speak to anyone who was ever involved with that aircraft and the mere thought of it is a cause for apoplexy! The beast had trouble flying on four, apparently! It's definitely just a case of the angle and the camera equipment available at the time. Great photo though!

There is stuff on here which I never saw - the Irish Aero Club Auster (the tarmac around it looks a bit rough!).

The others are beyond my timescale at Speke, so I cannot comment, but always interesting to see of course.

Many thanks Viscount, for taking the time and trouble to upload and annotate these wonderful photos and thanks to Keith Barke for preserving some very important memories.

I believe I have a video clip of the Braathens DC-6, but it is rather grainy. I'll get around to posting it - eventually! - along with some other movements from those days.

[planemike]

May I echo others enthusiasm for this wonderful collection of images. Thanks to those who have ensured they arrived on screen. They just drip/ooze nostalgia. I managed a couple of visits to Speke in the 60s, so remember the airport as it was. During 62 - 64 I was a "spotter" at Eastleigh. Some of the a/c shown were Eastleigh (aka Southampton Airport) visitors.... Wonderful to have participated in that bygone era....!! Thank you again!!

[viscount]

Looking through the Keith Barke's pictures has sent two members to search their files as they too had linked memories.

Gerry Manning reckons he must have been stood beside Keith, as he has a near identical shot of the Irish Auster, complete with the same figure rummaging around inside the cockpit. The only difference being that Gerry has caught one of the Liverpool Aero Club Colts passing by (and a superior camera).




Bob O'Brien recalls trips in Bonanza G-ASFJ with Keith to Blackpool as guests of Jim Hacking and his wife who regularly went there to visit family. In return for the flights Keith and Bob would 'guard' 'Fox Juliet' while parked at Blackpool.

[storeton]

Too much of a coincidence not to be the same Keith that I was at school with in Birkenhead in the sixties. The deciding factor being the connection with the Bonanza trips to Blackpool. On several occasions I was left explaining to his mum why he was going to be late home after we had spent the day together at the airport before being abandoned by my 'friend' at the end of the afternoon. Keith was responsible for turning my interest in aviation into a life-long hobby. Cheers Keith. I hope you are keeping well.

Paul Devine