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Post by davebasing on May 15, 2020 8:32:50 GMT
I’ve started on a lockdown task of digitilising my black & white negatives from the sixties. Still getting to grips with the subtle differences compared with digitilising slides and also only found my photo cleaner liquid after I’d finished the first lot so may need to re-do them as 50 plus years of dust, scratches and storage have taken uneven tolls on the negatives. But with those provisos, here’s a quick first sample of just some that I took at Gatwick in the 60s – warts, dust, scratches and all. Propliners dominated the Gatwick scene in those days. Surprise visitor was however the Botswana National Airways DC4 VQ-ZEC which pitched up on 1 October 1966. The Nepalese Twin Otter was on delivery but perished in Nepal some 2 years after I graphed her in June 68. Ariana Afghan had a scheduled service using DC6s YA-DAN & DAO until replaced by B727 YA-FAR. That 727 was a regular until it came to a sad end some one and a half miles out from Gatwick’s runway 27 in fog in the early hours of 5 January 1969, killing 48 of the 62 on board plus two on the ground where it had struck houses. Iberia were more fortunate as their Super Connie EC-AMQ ploughed through treetops on Russ Hill on a RW 09 approach in 1963 but landed with a selection of the hill’s vegetation dangling from its gear and flaps. THY had lost Viscount TC-SEV in a fatal crash on a 09 approach 4 years earlier.  bw30 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw99 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw23 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw76 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw63 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw60 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw65 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw70 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw110 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Military wise, the US Army were regular visitors to Gatwick with Otters, Beavers and H34s in the main. The Otter below I took in October 1962 and it subsequently served with the Cambodian Air Force. The Canadian AF were also regulars with Bristol 170s, Comets and Hercs plus the occasional Buffalo. Back in May 1965 we took Dove G-ANUU down to Gatwick from Stansted and parked next to Israeli DF Noratlas 4X-FAJ.  bw32 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Gatwick was then welcoming of general aviation and the 60s were also the early days of bizjets, including Coca Cola’s JetStar aptly named “The Wind Ship”. Down the road was the ‘Beehive’, the original 1936 Gatwick terminal building which remained in use for helicopter traffic, where I took BEAs S61 G-ASNM which sank in the North Sea in 1970.  bw108 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw93 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw22 by dave tompkins, on Flickr So back to the photo cleaner and my scanner. Could be more from Gatwick and elsewhere if anyone is interested. |
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Post by davidallum on May 15, 2020 8:37:12 GMT
Fantastic set Dave and yes more please,Gatwick was certainly more interesting in those days wasn't it?
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Post by Jeff on May 15, 2020 17:30:05 GMT
Keep them coming mate
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Post by davebasing on May 31, 2020 12:13:03 GMT
Another selection from Gatwick in the 60s which I’ve been digitilsing. As you will see from the quality (or lack of it), some negatives have fared better than others over the last 50 plus years. Example of one below which is almost beyond saving, except for bringing back a distant memory, is of an Air France L1649 Starliner at Heathrow. It was a foggy morning at LHR that day in September 1961 (I was then a mere 13) in pre CAT3 days and airlines were putting on larger aircraft to handle the backlog from earlier cancelled flights. It was the only time I ever saw an AF Starliner at LHR (though their Super Connies were regulars) but did manage to catch the rest of the AF fleet retired and lined up at Orly when I went for the Paris show in June 1967 and which were scrapped there a couple of months later. Starliners were never seen in large numbers in the UK, Lufthansa used them occasionally; Air Venturers and Luxair into Gatwick with LX-LGY taken at Gatwick in 1967 shown below; and TWA had an evening Starliner freight flight into Heathrow which enabled me to see a dozen of theirs while living at the time under the approach in Chiswick. Last 1649 I made was back in 1996, ZS-DVJ preserved in Jo’burg.  bw324 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw68 by dave tompkins, on Flickr In part 1 I mentioned the loss of Ariana’s YA-FAR on approach to Gatwick. I did manage to graph her there in better times.  bwc8 by dave tompkins, on Flickr DC7 N90804 (which I took at Gatwick in August 1964 two months after Saturn acquired her) was a bird with a bit of history. Previously Heathrow based with BOAC as G-AOIF where I saw her many times, she later became a US travel club aircraft and then a fire sprayer (with removable belly dispersant tank) but was also involved in locust spraying in Africa. In December 1988 she was positioning in formation with sister ship N284 from Senegal to Morocco to spray locust swarms when they were fired on with surface to air missiles over Western Sahara by soldiers of the Polisario Front who seemingly mistook them for Moroccan Air Force Hercs. N284 was shot down (killing all 5 on board) while 90804 was severely damaged but survived. I photographed her again at Chandler, Arizona in 1992 carrying the name African Queen after her many adventures on that continent. She was finally broken up aged 50 at Chandler in 2006 but her forward fuselage was saved and is preserved at Falcon Field in Phoenix still with her African Queen markings.  bw105 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  92-by by dave tompkins, on Flickr US supplemental carriers were regulars with DC8s.  bw231 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw228 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw227 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Though taken at Gatwick, Viscount G-APEX took me from Heathrow to Jersey for the 1966 Air Rally. Came back in sister ship G-APOX, so can say that I caught POX in the Channel Islands!  bw11jpg by dave tompkins, on Flickr SAM DC6 I-DIMA was at Gatwick on another foggy day in 1961. Did get to fly on I-DIMD and DIMP to and from Ciampino in 1964. Also there on that foggy 1961 day was the Trans Canada North Star, one of 11 stored there by Overseas Aviation who went bust before getting them into service. Islander 9M-APD was there on delivery in 1968.  bw316 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  68-an by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw315 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw314 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw254 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw74 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw29 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw64 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw67 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw11 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw97 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Clearly not at Gatwick but a 1963 scene at Palma where I had however arrived from Gatwick on Dan Air Ambassador G-ALZX.  bw20 by dave tompkins, on Flickr If you can stand the lack of modern day quality, the next lot will be a mixed bag of US and other military from the 60s plus some from Heathrow (LAP as was then) and a few other places as digitalising continues. |
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Post by graham on May 31, 2020 16:06:36 GMT
Fantastic Dave, looking forward to the next batch.
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Post by davidallum on May 31, 2020 16:23:56 GMT
Great set again Dave,more of the same please.
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Post by christoff on May 31, 2020 16:57:06 GMT
Superb, more,more,more..
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Post by keithh on Jun 1, 2020 8:17:43 GMT
So many memories. Dave Allum and I flew G-APEX LHR to Guernsey in 1973. It had acquired Northeast colours by then.
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Post by chrisj on Jun 1, 2020 20:48:30 GMT
Dave , thank you for a very memorable set . I have been scanning my negatives , B/W & colour and slides for the past few years on a winter's day task . Now done just over thirteen thousand . I started by trying to clean the negs by way of a soaking in a wetting agent solution . This was slow and meant that the bathroom had several lines across it with dangling strips of negatives . I now remove dust gently and hope to clean the scan latter digitally . In the back ground of the HA- Il18 is a Bristol 170 . I took a photo of it one day from the terminal viewing area and some time later one or two of it being 'dismantled' by way of JCB ! Keep them coming … Chrisj
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Post by davebasing on Jun 12, 2020 13:43:00 GMT
With the usual caveats re lack of quality etc, just a few more from Gatwick, then by way of a change, some odds and ends thrown in. I had intended this part to include military from the 60s (my first military show -Farnbrough apart - was at Wethersfield in 1961) but one tenuous link led to another so they will be kept for the next part. Not quite the 60s but I’ve included a Hansa taken at Gatwick in 1974 as it was not a too common type.  bw94 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw79 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw78 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  74-ag by dave tompkins, on Flickr Whenever one started the hobby its always the things one was just too late for that one yearns to have seen. I consider myself lucky to have started when the likes of propliners and century series fighters etc were still dominant but oh for those years just before that! The prototype VC10 G-ARTA was at the Farnborough show in 1962 having first flown in June that year. It was never in service with BOAC, but was sold to Laker who immediately subleased it to MEA. Returning to service in the UK with BUA (later Caledonian) it ended its life at Gatwick after a very heavy landing there in January 1972. She sat on the hangar side there forlornly and with a badly wrinkled fuselage for two years as a spares source before finally being broken up. VC10 9G-ABP of Ghana AW at Heathrow carrying MEA tail markings. Its lease to MEA proved fatal as it was destroyed in an Israeli commando night raid on Beirut airport together with 13 other aircraft in December 1968 as a reprisal for a terrorist attack at Athens Airport a few days before.  BW43 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  ac 860 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Back in those days I still collected light aircraft and have several hundred negatives of such things. Just a couple of British light which are perhaps a bit different. Firstly on a family holiday to Sorrento in September 1963 I got the local train to Naples-Capodichino airport and found Proctor G-ANVZ sitting derelict in an old hangar which was seemingly equally derelict. Officially withdrawn from use in Malta after its CofA expired in July 1956 it had clearly made a last flight to Naples at some stage before being finally abandoned. There were quite a few Italian Air Force Sabres and F84Fs withdrawn on the far side but only managed to read a few. Don’t suppose anyone has a list?  bw124 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Secondly, G-ARZG an Aermacchi-Lockheed AL60 Lasa which I took at Biggin Hill in 1963. One of only 3 such types registered in the UK (G-ATJS registered but not taken up; and G-AXEZ registered for 3 months in 1969 before ditching off the Isle of Weight). G-ARZG came off a poor second best in a ground collision with Viking G-AGRW at her home base at Blackpool two years later. Unlike ARZG, the Viking survived the experience and later became part of a coffee bar alongside G-AGRU & G-AHPB near the air force base at Soesterberg where I photographed her (and had a burger) in 1975. When the owner of the bar died GRW moved on to be preserved in Austrian AL markings outside McDonalds at Vienna Airport and thence to the Austrian museum at Bad Vaslau (GRU is now at Brooklands and HPB was displayed at Dusseldorf Airport before moving to Winterthur in Switzerland where she was eventually scrapped).  bw320 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  75-gt by dave tompkins, on Flickr  75-gs by dave tompkins, on Flickr On the subject of Vikings, I went to the show at Brussels-Charleroi in September 1967 flying Southend-Ostend on Channel AW Viscount G-APPC returning the same day on sister ship G-AVHK. Ostend produced Invicta Viking G-AHOY along with Air Congo B707 OO-SJG on sub lease from Sabena.  BW357 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  BW356 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Not quite a Viking but the military version, Valetta VW821 at the Biggin Hill Battle of Britain show in 1965. She was with the RAF Maintenance Command and had not crashed but had been roaded in and placed at the show to demonstrate how the RAF lifted crashed aircraft. She ended her days on the fire dump at RAF Manby 2 years later.  bw152 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Of similar era, Avro 19/Ansons G-AGPG (taken at Southend before she went to the museum there), D-IDEK (at Shoreham in 1962) and RAF TX160 awaiting its turn for burning at the Ministry Fire Training School at Stansted in 1968. D-IHEK went to the Air Training Corps at Wealdon Park School and was broken up in 1979.  bw194 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw207 by dave tompkins, on Flickr  bw171 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Also awaiting the firemen at the Stansted school, this time taken in 1967, was Javelin T3 XK577. It never saw squadron service with the RAF, spending its entire life as a trials aircraft at Boscombe Down.  BW361 by dave tompkins, on Flickr Filair may be interested to see a video at which shows several of the school’s fire engines attending the burning of an Avro Lincoln in 1964. When I first started flying with the Doves at Stansted I noted two Lincolns at the Fire School RE359 and RF553 one of which could be the one shown burning (probably the latter which I noted as an RAE machine while 359 was still identifiable as late as 1967). |
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Post by graham on Jun 13, 2020 9:26:45 GMT
Fantastic stuff Dave, and a great reminder of how Gatwick once looked at the start of my spotting days in 67-ish.
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Post by howardlgw on Jun 14, 2020 22:19:36 GMT
Great photos Dave, for information sake re D-IDEK Anson, it was at Warden Park School Cuckfield not Wealdon. I was a pupil and you can imagine my surprise when on my first day back in Sept 1971 I found the Anson frame and
5N-ABW Widgeon Bristows parked behind the School gym. The Widgeon moved on to the Museum at Weston Super Mare in 1996. Thanks again for the LGW photo's how about the 70's.
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Post by davebasing on Jun 15, 2020 8:26:42 GMT
Great photos Dave, for information sake re D-IDEK Anson, it was at Warden Park School Cuckfield not Wealdon. I was a pupil and you can imagine my surprise when on my first day back in Sept 1971 I found the Anson frame and 5N-ABW Widgeon Bristows parked behind the School gym. The Widgeon moved on to the Museum at Weston Super Mare in 1996. Thanks again for the LGW photo's how about the 70's. Hi Howard. Thanks for that as I'd often wondered where "Wealdon" Park School was, even Googled the school again before posting D-IDEK. Clearly I wrote it down incorrectly all those years ago. Finally sorted thanks. I'm supposed to be doing a follow up to my How It Was 1980 as I had a request for 1981, and also the military part of my black and whites, so I'll add Gatwick 70s to my to do list. Best wishes Dave |
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