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Post by graham on Nov 29, 2018 9:22:15 GMT
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Post by keefyboy on Nov 29, 2018 10:08:59 GMT
Fantastic clips there Graham. Good to see the Mercure again. IIRC, Air Inter used to operate a Sunday service into LHR using Mercures - this was probably in the 70's.
Keith
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Post by graham on Nov 29, 2018 12:39:57 GMT
Cheers Keith, I'd pretty much forgotten about the Mercure, according to PlaneBase, they only ever made eleven production frames plus one prototype of which half are preserved.
Type : Dassault Mercure
F-BTTA Mercure 100 1 Air Inter Broken up
F-BTTB Mercure 100 2 Air Inter Preserved EDRY
F-BTTC Mercure 100 3 Air Inter Withdrawn
F-BTTD Mercure 100 4 Air Inter Preserved LFPB
F-BTTE Mercure 100 5 Air Inter Withdrawn LFMT
F-BTTF Mercure 100 6 Air Inter Preserved LFBD
F-BTTG Mercure 100 7 Air Inter Preserved
F-BTTH Mercure 100 8 Air Inter Withdrawn LFML
F-BTTI Mercure 100 9 Air Inter Preserved LFBD
F-WTCC Mercure Prototype 01 Avions Marcel Dassault Broken up
F-BTTJ Mercure 100 10 Air Inter Preserved
F-BTMD Mercure 100 11 Air Inter Withdrawn
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Post by keefyboy on Nov 29, 2018 14:19:35 GMT
That's an incredibly high survival rate given the number produced!
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Post by davebasing on Nov 29, 2018 15:02:51 GMT
I fortunately managed to see every Mercure built thanks mainly to frequent work visits to the ICAO offices in Paris back in the 70s. Took this one sitting rather forlorn at Marseilles in June 2010. Four months later I was at Le Bourget and laying outside a building on the internal road parallel to that running past the hangars (and thus not normally used) I stumbled upon the fuselage of the prototype F-WTCC which was long thought to have been broken up. Sadly no camera on that day and when next I visited it had gone. Anyone know where to? F-BTTJ sat for many years in the collection next to Orly before it was cut up but fortunately the forward fuselage survives in Holland. F-BTTG is also now also just a forward fuselage. Good aeroplane at just the wrong time.  bears 093 by dave tompkins, on Flickr |
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Post by graham on Nov 30, 2018 13:26:24 GMT
Indeed Dave, Planebase tells me that F-WTCC was broken up in 1980 so that is obviously incorrect.
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Post by davebasing on Nov 30, 2018 17:19:41 GMT
Indeed Dave, Planebase tells me that F-WTCC was broken up in 1980 so that is obviously incorrect. Thanks Graham, that's what I had always been led to believe. It was in its original Avions Marcel Dassault scheme which, judging by the lack of fading etc, had probably been kept inside somewhere over the intervening 20 years. I only saw it courtesy of a former Belgian Air Force pilot friend now in the biz jet community who had given me a lift from a meeting we had both attended in downtown Paris back to CDG via Le Bourget (he is a fellow spotter) and who knew it had arrived there. He didn't tell me what we were going to see so it came as a bit of a surprise. Driving on the internal road from the roundhouse back towards the Musee instead of following the road as it curved right to join the road behind the bizjet hangars he went straight on down the Rue de Madrid and there it was in all its glory sitting outside where Flight Safety International are now (and may have been then). I wonder if its somehow inside their building even now and where had it been since 1980? In my time in Somalia with the aid flight programme we landed our Cessna 208 on a remote dirt strip after doing the usual fly-by to check for loitering bad guys, wandering camels and other things that could spoil your whole day. From overhead I noticed what looked like an aircraft sitting in the bush a short way off the strip so after landing I went for a walk followed by half the kids from the local village. It was this Somali AL Dornier 228 which had obviously come to grief and been abandoned there some years before but all the books had it as withdrawn at Mogadishu. So you can't believe all you read. Anyone seen Elvis lately?  00-ub by dave tompkins, on Flickr |
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Post by graham on Nov 30, 2018 17:26:34 GMT
I have yes Dave, he went riding past me on Red Rum this afternoon!
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Post by davebasing on Nov 30, 2018 17:44:03 GMT
I have yes Dave, he went riding past me on Red Rum this afternoon! You sure it wasn't Shergar he was on?? |
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Post by billsamuels on Dec 1, 2018 13:50:55 GMT
I fortunately managed to see every Mercure built thanks mainly to frequent work visits to the ICAO offices in Paris back in the 70s. Took this one sitting rather forlorn at Marseilles in June 2010. Four months later I was at Le Bourget and laying outside a building on the internal road parallel to that running past the hangars (and thus not normally used) I stumbled upon the fuselage of the prototype F-WTCC which was long thought to have been broken up. Sadly no camera on that day and when next I visited it had gone. Anyone know where to? F-BTTJ sat for many years in the collection next to Orly before it was cut up but fortunately the forward fuselage survives in Holland. F-BTTG is also now also just a forward fuselage. Good aeroplane at just the wrong time. bears 093 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Hi Dave, your knowledge and attention to detail never ceases to amaze me... You can clearly see where the ‘Airbus’ A320 get their design, shape and curves from... Bill |
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Post by billsamuels on Dec 1, 2018 14:09:14 GMT
Love those clips Graham, some really great memories....
That air-to-air footage (Northwest B747) was shot by the Late, Great Arthur Gibson. He used to run our advertising agency in London (Davis Gibson Advertising) and was a colleague, and very good and kind friend. He often used his Aztec for aerial shots and when we did our shooting, in the States, he’d always take the Aztec’s door with shoot through opening or, in the case of high speed shots, we’d rent a Lear Jet for him....
Lovely bloke.
Bill
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Post by keefyboy on Dec 1, 2018 15:06:23 GMT
I have a hardback book on the Red Arrows circa 73/74 when they were flying the Gnat - probably the first big glossy on the Reds. Almost all the amazing air to air shots were taken by Arthur Gibson.
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Post by gtf4j2m on Dec 3, 2018 20:46:16 GMT
As I am now recovering at home I can show a few 707, DC-8, Mercure all taken at Heathrow, Gatwick & Manchester in 1979 on a Pentax ME super. I hope you enjoy them, I will be out spotting and taking photo's again soon 
4R-ALA B707-312B LGW 2.9.79 by Graham Taylor, on Flickr 4R-ALA at Gatwick on the first Airlanka service 
5B-DAL B707-123B MAN 5.5.79 by Graham Taylor, on Flickr 
EC-BQQ CV-990A MAN 29.7.79 by Graham Taylor, on Flickr 
F-BTTI Mercure LHR 16.9.79 by Graham Taylor, on Flickr F-BTTI at Heathrow on the regular saturday morning service 
G-BDHA DC8-54F LTN 16.9.79 by Graham Taylor, on Flickr An airline that did not last long 
G-BFBZ B707-351B MAN 5.5.79 by Graham Taylor, on Flickr Graham GTF4J2M |
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Post by graham on Dec 4, 2018 9:40:50 GMT
Fabulous Graham, many thanks for sharing these shots and best of wishes for your convalescence.
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Post by Jeff on Dec 6, 2018 16:40:18 GMT
Just got round to watching this, great memories there 😊, couple of things i noticed, wildlife (or dogs) running around the grass as the AZA DC9 landed at the beginning and a fuselage air brake on the Balkan 134 at 1.50! Was that normal for the 134? One thing I couldn’t see was a Mercure, 🤔 there is an Air Inter A300 at 0.44 though
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Post by keefyboy on Dec 6, 2018 17:19:30 GMT
Oh bugger. I'll put my hand up to that one Jeff. I only watched the clip once and thought I was looking at a Mercure. Still, it did generate a bit of interesting conversation. I've sent myself to naughty corner in the spotting class!
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Post by Jeff on Dec 6, 2018 17:28:59 GMT
Lol, watched it twice to see the Mecure 😂😂
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