What were the first jet aircraft to land at LPL Airport ?

[danairamb]

Can anyone recall whether there were any jet airliners to land at LPL prior to the opening of the new runway in 1966? I dont believe the older runways could have accommodated any, but I did see a Dan Air Comet 4 take off (albeit empty) from one of the older runways in the early 70s (and what a spectacular site that was, how those beauties could lift).
I know that in 66 after the opening of the new runway British Eagle 1-11s were regulars, and an Aer Lingus 707 visited not to long afterwards. Any other recollections?

[thetexpat]

BRITISH EAGLE definitely used RWY 26! I remember one occasion when they used 08! That was when one of the 1-11s, on a training detail, stopped at Speke en-route to Prestwick to collect Capt. Barney Potts.

After Barney boarded the aircraft I went back into the Ops Office and listened for the 'signature screaming' departure! I heard an abbreviated scream followed by silence! This was promptly followed by a call from a very frazzled controller in the tower making his displeasure known, in no uncertain terms, about being advised when we (BRITISH EAGLE) intended to practice aborted take-offs again especially when he was on duty!

I wonder if anybody else has recollections of 'revenue' departures using RWY 08 (even 17 for that matter; 35 would have been suicidal!)

[rock37]

I think you will find the answer to your question under the classic airliners at Liverpool airport section under SE .210 Caravelle .

[richardheywood]

I recall many occasions, when I was in the Tower in 67/68, that British Eagle BAC 1-11 flight number EG661 (if my old memory serves me right) screamed off 26 with its light load en route to MAN to pick up pax for Frankfurt. It was airborne long before the 17/35 intersection and in a steep turn to the right. Always very exciting.

Not a jet, but I also recall an RAF Hercules asking me permission to do a tactical take off from 26. If I'm honest, I wasn't sure at that time what it entailed, but there was no other traffic, so I gave the OK. Full power at the 26 end and then brakes off - wheels off in I would say about 1,000ft and then what appeared to be a near 75 degree angle of climb. Over the 08 numbers he was at 2,700ft ! Very impressive.

[viscount]

THE FIRST JETS AND FIRST JET AIRLINERS AT LIVERPOOL AIRPORT

THE FIRST AIRLINERS

In general terms, it was the new runway 10/28 (now 09/27) at around 7,500ft that permitted regular jet airliner operations at Liverpool. Within a year of the runway being opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on 7th May 1966, the majority of Western jet airliner types of the period had used the facilities at Liverpool: Boeing 707 7.66, Douglas DC-8 12.66, DC-9 1.67, Trident 1.67, VC-10 1.67, Comet 2.67. Second generation airliners followed Boeing 737 5.69, Fellowship 4.70, DC-10 11.72 etc. (Appendix 5 in Phil Butler's "Liverpool John Lennon Airport - An Illustrated History" Tempus 2008 has an extensive list of first visits by type, right from the very earliest of days).

Two first-generation jet airliner types omitted from the above list are the BAC.1-11 and SE.210 Caravelle, as both types first visited when only the shorter runways of the original airfield were the only ones available. The Caravelle was the first jet airliner - calling early morning 26th November 1964, when Sabena brought OO-SRC across from Manchester to collect a football team who had played LFC in a European competition the night before, then departed for Brussels. It was the only time I ever witnessed an airliner pop a drag-chute on landing. The BAC.1-11 first visited on 28th September 1965 when Aer Lingus brought in EI-ANH on Manchester weather diversion and routed Dublin to Dusseldorf. Further Manchester weather diverts brought in EI-ANG on 15th November routing Frankfurt to Dublin and EI-ANF on 7th December Dublin to Brussels. On a charter EI-ANE 1st March '66 Dublin-Frankfurt and return 2nd March, while EI-ANG on 1st May on a Dublin scheduled service, before the new runway 7th May 1966 with British Eagle's G-ATTP 'Swift' being the first jet airliner to land on it.

As others have stated in posts above on this thread, despite the long 'new' runway being available, when conditions where right, or the runway closed for inspection, jet aircraft would operate from 08/26. I have many fond memories of watching Aer Lingus, Cambrian/BA and British Eagle BAC.1-11s and later BMA DC-9s using 08/26, observed from the balcony. TonySpeke recounts the day an RAF VC-10 came and did circuits on 08!! The final Dan Air Comet pax departure was G-BDIU from 26 was in 1980, full of passengers, but little luggage for Paris on a charter (I know, I was onboard). Not all jet movements were on 08/26 either. I recall being at work and watching a F-28 Fellowship of Martinair whistle past the window landing on 17 (circa 1973)! George Jones recounts a BAC.1-11 landing on the short runway too, in strong southerly winds. The shorter cross-runway 17 landed over Bryant & Mays factory towards Speke Hall. It was not until March 1983 that the North Airfields two remaining runways 08/26 and 36/18 (formerly 17/35) were finally shut down for landings and departures.

EARLIEST MILITARY JETS

However jets visited Liverpool long before the first airliner. Undoubtedly the Meteors of 610 & 611 Sqdns R.Aux.A.F. called from their Hooton Park base between 1951 and 1957. Earliest traced Liverpool Meteor visit 11.52, earliest Canberra 10.53, first Sabre 2 10.53, earliest Vampire 3.54 and first T-33 4.55. More on these early military jet visits on a recent thread on this section. There were incidents too. A Canberra burst a tyre on landing, while one of the Sabres ended up through the fence beyond the runway end.

The topic of early jet visits was covered before on the now deceased xsorbit hosted nwan forum. After much debate and input by Phil Butler, 'Coaxingtin' trumped all efforts at deciding which RAF jet type was the first at Liverpool by declaring that in 1944? the Americans imported a Bell P-59A Airacomet for demonstration/trials and that it most likely arrived by sea via Liverpool, was towed to Lockheeds facility, made airworthy and flown out to Burtonwood. He did promise to produce a date, but then we lost the xsorbit forum, but see below. Never heard of an Airacomet? - look it up on www.wikipedia.org

So, those are some of the facts, lets have a few more balcony memories and nostalgia. It is thanks to the records kept and researched by Phil Butler that such an authorative answer to the question is possible.

Added a little later 'Coaxingtin' has been in contact by PM, casting doubt on his earlier claims! The third Bell YP-59A RJ362/42-108773 was crated to Gloster's at Moreton Valence, where it was flown by a Bell test pilot 28.9.43. Gloster's in return shipped an early Meteor to the USA. RJ362/G went to Farnborough, then was shipped back to the USA 9.44. The other possibility, a Bell YP-80 operated from Burtonwood and gave a demonstration to Lockheed employees at Speke '44/early '45. It did not land, certainly at that stage the nearest suppliers of fuel would have been the chandlers in Garston! What route this aircraft took to get to the UK from the US is not known. Interesting stuff, thank you Dave for the update.

[danairamb]

Thanks Viscount. I do recall an early visit of an Aer LIngus BAC 1-11. The sound was so unique that I dashed into our back garden (which was on the flight path) and saw it on approach. That could well have been in Sept 65, because I remember my father saying when the BAC 1-11 was introduced that the new STOL jets could make the "new" runway a white elephant. His family were a little sensitive about that subject because his uncle lost a beautiful bungalow on Dungeon Lane in Hale to its development. Following the opening, and all the previous promises of a new expanded airport coming to nothing, the family were a little ticked off. Were they alive today they would have been delighted at how far Speke has finally come.

Talking of BAC 1-11 sounds, do any listers recall the testing of the 1-11 when Cambrian received its first aircraft? Lots of noise late into the evening. Everyone in our neighbourhood was complaining, except me.

Ironically all these jets were advertised as being "quiet", in-flight perhaps but not to those of us on the outside. If you sat in the rear it wasn't so quiet either.

[viscount]

This interesting thread has been quiet recently.

FIRST JET-PROP/TURBOPROP POWERED AIRCRAFT VISITS

The debate on the earliest visits by jet aircraft, never touched on the topic of the earliest turbo-prop powered aircraft. I've just been looking through Phil Butler's book for other details and find that he recorded the following first visits:

26th May 1953 G-AMDB a Dart engine converted Dakota visited Liverpool on demonstration flights. Noted to be the first visit by a turbo-prop aircraft.

25th March 1955 G-AMOC Vickers V.701 Viscount called at Liverpool on diversion. The next was not until December 1956 when an Aer Lingus aircraft diverted in. Other Viscounts called from January 1957 with 13 visits recorded that year in our logs by Aer Lingus, BEA, Fred Olsen and Hunting Clan, so the type were still far from regular visitors. It was not until 1960 that they became frequently seen at Liverpool, when BEA commenced using them on their scheduled Irish Sea routes.

5th December 1958 EI-AKB Fokker F-27 Friendship of Aer Lingus on demonstration flights, then by the end of March '59 on all their Dublin-Liverpool scheduled services.

1963 brought in first visit of type by the Argosy, Gulfstream 1 and Dart Herald.

1964 brought in first visit of type by the Britannia, HS.748, Short Skyvan and Vanguard

1965 brought in first visits by Hercules, with the Electra in 1966.

[danairamb]

Thanks for this. Once again Brian you anticipated another of my questions re. the first visit of the Viscount. I would never have imagined that the visits by turboprops were so sparse - particularly in the late 50s and early 60s. Hard to believe that the Britannia's first visit was not until 1964 - with the advent of British Eagle at Liverpool I would imagine.

This poses another question. This lack of variety of visits by turboprops seems to indicate to me that LPL was not used as a diversionary airport until the 1960s - following LPLs new ability to take jets. However there must have been airport closures due to weather and strikes prior to then, and except for the big jets LPL had the capacity to take short and medium range piston and turboprops. I remember recently reading that in the late 50s when MAN was undergoing runway work some flights were diverted to Burtonwood, but no mention of LPL.

David in Ottawa

[viscount]

Interesting questions to which I have no easy single answer. I'll try and pull different threads of thoughts into a coherent reply.

A dive into Phil Butler's book helps put some dates to an historical perspective. For the period 18th May 1948 through to removal wef 31st December 1950 Speke had a GCA (Ground Controlled Approach) radar on 26. This clearly permitted low visibility landings including diversions during that period, and brought in aircraft for training on the procedures too. Liverpool's Decca 424 Primary radar was installed late 1955 and amazingly served until 1986.

The hard runways had been laid down in wartime, in a hurry, without proper foundations. This was common fault on many airfields. The main runway 08/26 was relaid and drainage improved during 1956 and 1957. A parallel grass runway being used for several months. Although the likes of DC-4, Constellation and Viscount had visited before then, it was only after the improvement that DC-4 and Viscount movements would be permitted on a regular basis. In the years leading up to the rebuild, I imagine a situation rather like that with Jumbo Jets at Liverpool in the period 2002-2006, with larger aircraft discouraged through fear of damage that could be caused. The main 08/26 runway was extended by westwards by 500 ft in 1962 with other runways, taxiways and apron re-surfaced.

Even into the early 60s Manchester was fairly quiet traffic-wise, so when closed by fog, there was not a great deal of traffic around to divert. Burtonwood, although military, with its long runway would make greater sense as a diversion airfield, and was closer to Manchester, although I was unaware of it ever being used for that purpose. Liverpool though did take Manchester diversions, look at the Convair 340 et seq type review for evidence of KLM diverted flights. Added later: Actually there was a period in the mid '50s when BOAC Boeing Stratocruisers used Burtonwood while Manchester's war-time laid runway was being rebuilt and resurfaced to handle heavier weights safely.

Our enthusiast visiting aircraft records, compiled by Phil Butler, only start in the mid 50s. Although he has found some periods from before that too, there will be use of Liverpool prior to the mid 50s that there is no longer record or memory of. What does strike me though looking through the logs for the 60s and into the 70s are the number of ad hoc charters with freight or ship's crews eg Fred Olsen, Braathens SAFE, Martin's Air Charter/Martinair etc. This sort of traffic has long died out, although the modern equivalent would be European and domestic football charters I suppose.

Finally, yes the Britannia first visited on 1st January 1964, the first day of British Eagle operations from Liverpool. Postwar airliners like the Argonaut, Hermes, Ambassador, Comet, Viscount, Vanguard, Britannia and even Friendship were all sold first to the National airlines, it took 10 years or more for these types to enter onto the second hand market and become available for the charter airlines. With a plentiful supply of Dakotas, Vikings, Yorks, DC-4s and even Bristol 170s in service with charter carriers, it does not surprise me that it was not until the early 60s that turbine powered aircraft were not numerous at Liverpool. Although the RR Dart had been around for a while in the Viscount, many aircraft that used the engine only entered full-scale production in the early 60s eg HS.748, Dart Herald, Argosy even the Friendship (Aer Lingus was the launch customer getting their first right at the end of 1958, with most production in the 60s & 70s).

[danairamb]

Thanks Brian. Your explanation regarding the limitations of the LPL runways makes perfect sense. This would certainly have limited diversions. The reference to Burtonwood was with regard to BOAC Stratocruiser movements there in the late 50s.

I well recall the many movements related to movements of shipping crews which seemed to diminish synonymous with the slow demise of the port of LIverpool, certainly with regard to passenger ships. My greatest memory of these flights is a Sterling DC-6 in July of 1964. After the mid 60s these flights seemed to be limited to smaller aircraft. I remember that a British United DC-3 carried out a regular service to Rotterdam, this wasn't scheduled.

[viscount]

THE FIRST PASSENGER JET AIRLINERS TO CALL AT LIVERPOOL AIRPORT

A long while since this thread was first posted. Located it to replace any images spoilt by Photobucket watermarks, only to discover discover that the thread was text only, with no illustrations. As I now have clearly dated images of 3 of the first 8 visits to Liverpool by jet airliners and cover all 3 of the operators involved and both aircraft types, it is time to wake up this 'zombie' with some images.



The first passenger jet to land at Liverpool was this Sabena SE.210 Caravelle III, OO-SRC, on 26th November 1964 to collect Anderlecht the morning after a European game at Anfield. A Bob O'Brien Collection photo.



EI-ANG BAC-111-208, Aer Lingus, Speke 15.11.65. The arrival from Frankfurt was on weather diversion due fog at Ringway. A BEA Vanguard also diverted in. This is one of only a handful of passenger jet arrivals before the new runway was opened in May 1966, indeed only the second BAC-111 to land at Speke



First jet airliner, indeed the first official landing on the 'new' runway 28/10 (now 27/09) was by British Eagle's G-ATTP "Swift" bringing Harold Bamburg to the opening ceremony. Look carefully and you can see the limousines transporting the official party, including the Duke of Edinburgh, across to the southern airfield for the cutting of the ribbon to declare the runway open for use on 7th May 1966.



The first 4-egine jet to operate into Liverpool Airport was an Aer Lingus Irish International Boeing 707 EI-ANV on 5th July 1966 which positioned in from Dublin and departed for Shannon en route to New York as flight 'Shamrock 5899' with charter passengers.



While the first widebody airliner was a Douglas DC-10-10, G-AZZC of Laker on a tour demonstrating the new mode of travel to travel agents on 20th November 1972.


At the time of being resuscitated, this thread had been viewed 1,590 times between June 2011 and October 2021.

[ronturner]

... and here is a photo of the limousines for the masses at the tape cutting ceremony. I was on the first one, taking this photo,. as we turned to leave.

1966 may 7th Speke 1 1024 by Ron Turner, on Flickr