S America August 1982

[davebasing]

Back in 2016 I posted some shots from Ecuador including some of my visit to the new airport at Quito. My first trip to Ecuador was however back in 1982 flying Puerto Rico–Caracas-Bogota-Quito-Guayaquil-Lima-Cuzco-La Paz-Cochabamba-Santa Cruz-Sao Paulo-Iguassu-Curitiba-Brasilia-Rio, and 4 August 1982 was the leg to Guayaquil from the old Quito airport of Mariscal-Sucre. That airport is now a public park but contains the excellent Ecuadorian Air Force museum.

Back then S America was a haven for props (Bolivia in particular, which hopefully will follow on 15 August) but Quito had quite a number dumped in a ravine by the end of the runway including DC4, DC6, C46 and Electras. The Caravelles of SAETA were stored, all being ex Alitalia plus I-DABE which had been acquired for spares. The 737-200 of the military airline TAME was lost a few months later when it struck a mountain killing all 119 on board. Guayaquil was then the home of Andes Air Cargo with DC8, CL44 and DC6s.


82-04 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 729 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 736 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 731 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-46 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-34 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 739 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-17 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 740 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 742 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-25 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 747 by dave tompkins, on Flickr

[Deleted]

Wow- Dave- fantastic looks like an upmarket Miami- love the Caravelles like most of us- saw them in their previous Alitalia registrations- great days- thanks for sharing with us all.

Happy Days

Bob

[davebasing]

Part 2 of the 1982 trip taken on 15 August, Bolivia to Brazil flying La Paz-Cochabamba-Santa Cruz-Sao Paulo. The Bolivian fields were dotted with pistons, mainly used to haul meat from the lowlands up to La Paz on the Altiplano at an altitude of some 12,000 feet and not suitable for animal farming (Llamas apart). The surrounding mountains provide a nice backdrop. Arrived in Bolivia in the middle of yet another revolution which sadly made spotting and particularly photography a bit sensitive hence some of the quality below. Was given an armed escort by the Bolivian Navy into the city (yes it is landlocked) but half way their vehicles mysteriously disappeared. Gunfire echoed off the mountains but good practice for my later Somali trips. Some of the pistons looked destined only for the scrappy but many got up and flew again as the local operators all had machine shops for manufacturing spare parts.

Firstly at La Paz (just visible behind CP-1517 is meat hauling 1941 built B17 Fortress CP-753 of Frigorificos Reyes which is now in the States as N12355. My separate shot of it was hurried and sadly a bit too blurred)

ac 761 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-16 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 758 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 762 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-38 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 764 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 771 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-28 by dave tompkins, on Flickr

Cochabamba, Santa Cruz and Brazil (Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Rio & Curitiba) will follow.

[davebasing]

Missed some-
ac 770 by dave tompkins, on Flickr

ac 768 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 755 by dave tompkins, on Flickr

[graham]

Fabulous Dave, love the 727, just a majestic looking airliner

[davebasing]

Part 3, again from this week in 1982 and starting with B727 CP-861 which took me from La Paz to Sao Paulo via Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, the latter being a joint military/civil airport with an impressive collection of Bolivian Air Force types including a pair of still active Sabres. Part 4 will cover the rest of Brazil.

ac 773 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 778 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 780 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 779 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 782 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-19 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-26 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-14 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-13 by dave tompkins, on Flickr

[graham]

727 heaven.....

[davebasing]

Final part – The Bell 47 was my first helicopter ride having turned down the offer of a CPL(H) some years earlier. The Varig 707 turned out to be my last ever 707 ride, from Brasilia back to Rio on 19 August 1982. I ended the trip with a visit to the air & space museum at Campos dos Aphonsos but that can wait for another day.

Iguassu
ac 791 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 794 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 788 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-15 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-37 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 793 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 789 by dave tompkins, on Flickr

Brasilia
ac 797 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 798 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-02 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-45 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 796 by dave tompkins, on Flickr

Rio Santos Dumont (the downtown airport)
82-18 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 799 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
82-43 by dave tompkins, on Flickr
ac 801 by dave tompkins, on Flickr

[graham]

Super Dave, many thanks. Those 727s just look wonderful from any angle, any scheme.