A new place for all those old articles from yesteryear

[graham]

Over to you Trevor!

[Trevor B]

All our yesterdays – A review of past Magazines

This Month LAAS August 1992 - Items in brackets are my comments

                                                                

Front Cover

          OK-XFB CSA ATR72 – taken by K Duckett at Düsseldorf. (this frame ended up at Kemble as N19DZ)

 

British Register Review (Ack. Ray Hoddinott)



Heading the 'New Allocation' this month were Jet Provost G-AOBU which had been with the Shuttleworth Trust, but being a jet was not really suitable for their collection so it moved on to Loughborough College for use as an Instructional airframe. That was in 1961 now 31 years later she was going to be restored to flying. (after 2 years on build she was back in the air in 1994).

G-BAEF B727 Dan Air was restored after a spell as HK-3599X (EF must of liked Colombia as she went back as HK-3840X then was broken up in Bogota in 2003) , also for Dan Air was 2 x BAE 146’s in the way of G-BUHB,HC. McAlpine Helicopters added G-BUJF & JG to their Hayes Operations, and a new frame was G-OKIS Tri Kis (PFA/239-12248) was on register for the first time



Sad to say that we lost G-ALGT Spitfire, it crashed when it failed to recover from a loop during a display at Woodford.



Of note in the Irish section was EI-TLD DC8-ser 71 which was registered to Translift Airways based in Shannon (Started operations in 1992 and run until they went bankrupt in 2000 with debts of £30m & EI-TLD ended her days as N500MH at Roswell).

 

Corporate Jet Local updates – (Ack. I Churchill)



N602UK CL601 – 3A – Short Bros – Belfast Harbour

VR-CSP C-500 – Biggin Hill

N13HJ C-500 of Lambda Jet could be found at Hatfield

N54GL Learjet 35 left Heathrow

N902FR Falcon 20 was transferred to G-FFRA at Hurn (and is still there)

VR-BMR DC8-62 was new to Stansted - (this frame was to become 5V-TGF of the Government of Togo)

Ex Stansted based VR-CBE B727-46 become VR-CLM this month (she then ended up as VP-CMN which is now at Kemble)

 

At was also reported that L1011 ZE706 which at the time was being stored at Cambridge will shortly be pressed in to service as a run about for the then PM John Major. (This frame started life as N503PA flying for PAN AM and finished being broken up 2014, her last days are on YouTube )
 

Travel News

          Birmingham Branch was offering 7 days to the Paris Airshow and European Tour; it was going to be a camping trip all for £200 with tents provided.

 

Airlines (Ack. D Richardson)

In the States Markair filed for chapter 11 and for the 5th time Braniff ceased flying, it was also reported that Continental would soon be emerging from chapter 11 (which they did in 1993 and then merged with United in 2010). Talking about United they shocked Boeing by placing orders to lease 50 A320’s the first non-Boeing aircraft order for the airline. McDonnell Douglas announced they are to supply 170 MD80’s & 90’s to China.

Few snippets from around the world:-

Canada – Air Canada sold L1011 C-FTNJ to become N140SC & Nationair wfu 3 DC-8’s C-GMXB,XL & XY

Portugal – TAP had to new A320’s when CS-TNA & TND arrived, Air Atlantis had 737 CS-TIM arrive for ILFC. This was short lived as the company was dissolved in April 93.

Bahamas – Laker Airways added N743US & N745US B727 to their fleet

Spain- Aviaco returned some of their MD-83’s back to the companies that they had been leased from and going the other way EC-BIT DC-9 moved from Iberia.

France – Air France had B727 F-BPJU broken up for spares and Air Toulouse International leased SE.210 Caravelle F-GELP from EAS which served them until 1995, the company went on until 1999 before closing operations.

United Kingdom – BAW withdraw 6 BAC 1-11’s and L1011 G-BHBM & BR were both leased to Kuwait Airways with DC-10 G-NIUK . Brymon Airways merged with Birmingham European and re-named Brymon European. This last until late 1993 when they spilt, Brymon was purchased by British Airways and Birmingham was purchased by Maersk Air. Excalibur commenced operation form Gatwick with G-HAGT A320 flying to Corfu. (The airline served for 4 years before closing down in 1996. G-HAGT finally become N293CS which i see at Pinal Air Park in April 2014 being broken up )
 

Touchdown - (Ack. I Jorden)

          Aldergrove – on the 19th April saw G-FINS B206, CS-TII B737, 5B-DBB A320 & EI-BXD B737.

          Glasgow on the 8th Feb saw first visits of C-GAGA B747, N137AA DC-10 & N7638U B727.

          Heathrow on the 3rd May saw 3 nice Russians arrive in the way of CCCP-85669 Tu-154 and a pair of IL-62’s 86506 & 86520. (I was there to see them)

 

Aerodrome Review - (Ack. DJ Reynolds)

 

A Look a round the reports reveal the following

Aberdeen in June saw OY-KAH Fk-50 operating SAS533 which was the first flight of the new service from Stavenger (This frame is now S2-AIL operating for Sky Capital Cargo in BANGLADESH) , the same day  20 visitors arrived who was taking part in the Paris- Montreal Air Rally.

Bristol in June see G-ZAPC SD330 diverted in from Staverton on the 1st , on the 20th Seakings ZE425, ZF117 & XV665 all from HMS Invincible which was operating in the Bristol Channel. (117 is reportd to be going to the Pakistan Navy, 665 is stored at HMS Sultan and the i saw 425 as a shell being stored at Eastleigh Railway yard in 2014). Resident update was new in R22 G-BOXX and departing G-ETBY with G-SLOT C-340.

Cambridge had 4 stored Gulfstream’s HB-ITV, VR-BOB, VR-BRM & 3D-AAC with 2 x BAE 146’s N695AA (Broken up as ZS-SBD in 2016, i see this frame as EI-CWc when in Basle) and N698AA (broken up in Exeter 97ish!).

Edinburgh had an interesting day on the 12th May with the following noted:-D-GAFU PA34, D-IFWZ Merlin 3, 01 & 52 Nord 262, G-BHSU & G-BHSV HS125’s, G-LAKC C404, G-NUIG & G-OLAF BE90’S, Jetranger G-OJCB, 3 Hawks overshoot and lastly 2 x F27’s on their way to America N741FE with N729FE.

On the 10th July departing from Exeter was HS 748 G-BGMN heading to Air Fast Indonesia to become PK-OCH. (Reportedly now stored as S2-ADW)

At Hatfield on the 7th May was new frame OK-2 Bae 125-800B for the Botsawana Government and on the 9th saw ZS-FSI BAE 125-800B departing for South Africa.

At Wembley on the 20th was the European Cup Final which resulted in Se210’s Caravelle’s F-GHKN & F-BMKS to visit Hurn with supporters.

Up in Inverness in May saw G-OAKM Be 200 & PA311 G-ODMM both operating Medical flights in connection with a lung/heart transplant. On the 18th ATP G-BTPH of BAW went tech with a cracked windscreen so was replaced with G-BTPG.

London City  had G-BMVY and G-ROWN both Be200 doing circuits on the 29Th May, also noted that day was D-CBOL Do.228 operating the Flex Air service.

 

Ports of Call - (Ack. R Fitton)

          Booklands held a vintage fly in on the 26th June with G-AAMX, ADXT, AIJM, AKIN, AKPF, ATKI, ATVM, AVDV, AVLF, BANW, BLCT, BPSL, BUKK, HEWI & TOBI visiting which was a good turn out. At White Waltham a Helimeet was held on7th June with G-BRBY, GDAY, JBWI, STMI & TILL all R22’s, Gazzelles XW910, XX451 & XZ931 and Scout XV129 flying in.

 

Back Cover

          Following on from the front cover pictures:-

 

D-AERB MD11 of LTU – (Now N283UP)

D-AERC L1011 of LTU – (moved to N329SN and then canx)

LZ-BTJ Tu154 of Palair – (Become an Artificial Reef)

TS-IED B737 of Tunisair –( become YU-ANW and looks like finishing her flying with Air Serbia titles now WFU)

All Pictures taken at Dusseldorf by K Duckett

 

That's all for this first go and i would like to thank LAAS a group that i have been a member for many years.



Sorry for spelling mistakes etc


 

Regards

 

Trevor

[graham]

Great stuff Trevor, 1992 seems relatively recent until you stop to consider that it was a quarter of a century ago.

[lordevanelpuss]

¼ century ago, now that is scary! So many old 'Farnborough favourites' mentioned, not least the Short Bros Chally N602UK which was in & out most days (along with Lear55 N55UK) And of course HS125 G-BAZB which the yanks replaced.
I wonder which VR-BOB is mentioned, that registration was used on a Gulf 3 & then a 4 and I remember VR-BRM sitting in the same spot at FAB for ages. It didn't seem to move very often.

[Trevor B]

VR-BOB at that time was the Gulf 4

[Trevor B]

All our yesterdays – A review of past Magazines (my comments in brackets)

This Month LAAS April 1976


(Very small issue with 26 pages)





Front Cover

G-BDCW – L1011 Tristar of Gulfair at Heathrow by A Halse (this frame was allocated A40-TC but this was never worn as far as I know, but did wear A40-TW for many years, then N307GB which it could be if still stored in San Juan )



British Register Review - by M Seelev.


Britten Norman was very busy this month with adding no less than 15 x BN2A Islanders and 5 x Trislandlers (i bet Benbridge was a busy place back then), Scottish Aviation registered 9 x Bulldogs manufactured at Prestwick. The only big frame was DC-8-54F for International Aviation Service based at Gatwick as G-BDHA – This cargo company started in 1966 with its main hub at Gatwick lasting until 1979 used 6 in total DC-8’s flying into Nigeria – HA started life as N8782R and ended as N426FB flying for Fine Air and i think being B/U at Roswell



14th International Air Fair – Biggin Hill was to be held on 14,15 & 16th May

LAAS had a stand AE.6

Airlines & Operators.

Air Lingus was doing a swap with their B707's that they lsd to Zambia Airways with 9J-AEC being restored to EI-ASO and EI-ASM going the other way as 9J-AEB.
(EI-ASO was in the 1970 movie 'Airport' when flying as N324F of Flying Tiger, but ended her life as PT-TCS of Transbrasil which crashed while on approach to Sao Paulo on the 21st March 1989. ASM become N720FW of Florida West and was B/U in 1989)

AIR ANGLIA (who remembers them?) - they are about to acquire 2 ex- Bangladesh Biman F-27's and had been chartering a NOR-FLY Convair 440.
(The company was formed in 1970 and Ceased ops in 1980 to become part of Air UK)

AIR TURAS - Britannia XM496 was del Kemble to Luton on Jan 06

AIR FLORIDA - are planning to sell 2 x L-188c to TACA pending financing of 2 x VFW614's, TACA are looking to replace their 2 x Viscounts. (Did they ever fly VFW614's?)

AIRLINE ENGINEERING (who are they?) -Britannia XN392 was del St Athan - Coventry Dec 18th and XL640 was del Kemble - Coventry Jan 13th

ALITALIA - Have traded in five DC-8-43's for new B727's

BA and AF - will commence an 'Airbridge' between LHR and CDG, the idea is to be able to turn up and fly with no-reservations between 08.00 - 21.30 daily.

BA Overseas took delivery of B747 EI-ASJ (ex HS-ASJ) which was to become G-BDPZ, (PZ went on to serve with British Caledonian Airways, then back with Aer Lingus before ending her days as 5N-AAA of Kabo Air.)

CYPRUS Airways - following from the runway extension at Larnaca will begin non-stop DC8 service to London.

Dan- Air had Comet G-BDIV delivered from the RAF which was ex - XR397, (she was b/u in 1987 at Lasham I think!)

GUINNESS- PEAT AVIATION'S - Britannia 253 XL639 (13448) was del Kemble - Stansted Feb 24th.(This frame become EI-EDC being used by various airlines until in 1978 when she was purchased by Redcoat Air Cargo. Unfortunately in February 1980 she crashed on departure from Boston)

IRAN AIR - Was about to take delivery of their first B747SP.

IAS - took delivery of ex Aer Lingus B707 EI-ANV with intention to start services from London Heathrow-

INDIAN Airlines - Have been offered 15 BAC-1-11 at a unit price of £3m each in a long term lease purchase deal by BAC

LOGANAIR - added Trislanders G-BCYC & G-BDKR to their fleet.

SHACKLETON Aviation - Purchased Argosies XP446 and XR136 at the Kemble sale of Feb 4th. ( XP446 went to Range Air Services as 9Q-COE, she was W/O in a heavy landing 3 years later in the Congo,XR136 went through a refurbishment at Manchester and then registered 9Q-COA. After some 5 years she was scrapped at East Midlands.)

YOUNG Cargo - 3rd Britannia XM489 was del Kemble - STN - Charleroi Jan 19th to be used as a spares ship being registered OO-YCC

L.A.A.S shop was open :-

You could buy Biz Jets 1975 for 0.35p & 1976 for 75p
Wrecks & Relics for 90p
JP Airlines Fleet 1975 for £2.00

Trips this year are:-

Flight direct to Toulouse for a days spotting at £35.00
Miami for 8 days at £260.00
Oshkosh for 14 days £335.00

Coach Trips
Duxford £1.50
Hatfield & Sywell £2.00
Green Common £1.50

Executive and Industrial News - S.R.S Saunders

McDonnell Douglas
MD are to start a programme to convert passenger DC-8’s to cargo aircraft.

VFW-614
The VFW-614 has been put forward as a contender in the US Coast Guard competition, the others are Sabreliner 750 and the Falcon 20.

Aerospatiale
Announced a new Helicopter which is going to be Called the Ecureuil (Squirrel) AS350.
(As we all know this went on to be a big seller for the company.)

Touchdown - A Marsh

Gatwick - February & March

24/2 9J-ADU Citation - First visit
G-BDFE Herald BAF
26/2 G-BDKI Sikorsky S.61 flew to the Beehive from the Southampton docks
29/2 YR-IME IL-18 Tarom visited as RO783 (This frame went on to at least 2005 as EL-AHO of Air Cess)

5/3 F-BUTE FK-28 was a first visit
6/3 II7505 Falcon 20 arrived calling CAM928
10/3 Saw TZ-ADR B727 arrived from Lasham as MY100 (She finished her days with Federal Express as N199FE and was donated to the Kansas Aviation Museum)
13/3 saw two TU-154's arrive with 85107 on her first visit and 85092 who had been here before
14/4 Britannia 9Q-CAJ was a first visit and Night Stopped (the frame was ex XM517 and finished as G-BEPX at Luton with Airline Engineering Limited who purchased her on 14 April 1977. August 1977 saw the removal of the wings from out-board of the inner nacelles, and the rear fuselage. The title 'Rolls Royce Proteus Test' was applied and the remainder was used as a Proteus ground running test rig. G-BEPX was finally scrapped at Luton Airport during April 1980.)
15/3 HB-IGB B747 of Swissair

Heathrow - February

1/2 Saw 3 x IL-62'swhich were 86702, 86613 & 86698 (I can confirm this as I was there that day what an old bugger)
7/3 saw fog at Gatwick so TU-154 85104 diverted in
Also visiting was USAF T-39 10685
13/3 Concorde G-BOAC was delivered and another USAF T-39 24469 visited
22/3 was a first visit for OH-LYO DC-9 Finnair
25/3 saw VH-SLJ Learjet passing through on delivery

Birmingham - February

Looking at the report the following was noted

9/2 Viscounts N501TL of Alider - A month later this frame was seen painted in the livery of Cyprus Airways at East Midlands. (The lease went until the May, she went on to serve with various airlines until 26th August 1980 ,while flying in Indonesia with 25 pax and 6 crew she crashed killing all on-board. The reason was a fracture to a spigot inthe elevator which was 21,000 hours over its retirement life!!)
13/2 Britannia A/W B737 G-AXNB as BY944 - (which also ended up crashing while registered as LV-WRZ of LAPA on the 31st August 1999 when the crew tried to take off without selecting the flaps killing 60 of the 93 people on board)

Edinburgh - February

2/2 XP307 Wessex
LN-FOI Electra Fred Olsen (Looking at my log I see the frame Wfu at Coventry in 2000)
G-BDIF Comet Dan Air (Broken up at Lasham October 1980)
4/2 Atlantic V254 & DC-4 LN-MOB both visited (not sure of what happen to MOB she become 9Q-CPB and was last noted stored at Kinshasa)

Glasgow - February

Had first visits from OE-FAP Citation on the 1/2 and PK-NUR DHC-6 on the 13th

Luton - February

On the 1st was Britannia day with the following EI-BAA, EI-BBH, 9G-ACE, 5Y-AYR, 5Y-AZP & G-BDLZ all visiting.


Stansted - February

5/2 Hercules N106Ak (This frame started out as ZS-RSD for Safair and ended her life going off a wet runway in Angola and down a 40 foot deep Valley when registered asS2-BOP on 27th December 1999)

8/2 had LV-JTN CL44 TAR visiting with OY-DSP & DSM B720's and then VC-10 7Q-YKH
(LV-JTN ended her days on 18th July 1981.One of TAR's two CL-44 freighter planes was chartered through intermediaries to fly cargo from Larnaca (Cyprus) to Teheran (Iran). In fact, the airplane picked up a cargo of weapons at Tel Aviv and flew on to neutral Cyprus to continue its flight to Iran. The airplane was flying back to Cyprus on its third round trip and turned to a heading of 300 degrees to the Turkish border. It was then to turn left heading 240 degrees direct to Cyprus. The plane went off course to the north, taking the plane just into Soviet (Azerbaijan) airspace. Soviet fighters were scrambled to intercept the plane. According to Soviet accounts at that time the crew failed to respond to radio callsas well as signals from the fighter pilot flying close to the CL-44's nose. The cargo plane, while probably making the procedure turn to the left, tried to get away. In a heroic effort to bring down the plane, the fighter pilot steered his plane into the tail of the Canadair. Both planes crashed out of control but he ejected safely. Western aviation experts however think the pilot misjudged a turn and hit the airliner by accident.)-ASN

12/2 saw Vanguard G-APEJ and another CL44 VR-HHC


Ports of Call - Dr R.E Ardrey

Aberdeen - February saw 3 new residents S.61 G-BDRN and Aztecs G-BDAV & G-BBAV, the S61 was to be fitted with heavy lifting gear.

Battersea Heliport
11/2 G-AVIC & G-BAKX Jet Ranger's and G-AZUM Hughes where all visiting.

RAE Bedford

Additional residents are Dominie XW930;Wessex XM926;Harrier XV277 and Auster G-AMZT. Undergoing overhaul was Harrier XW175 and CanberraWT308. VC-10 XX914 is WFU and fir sale at £200,000 while BAC 1-11 XX105 is to undergo a complete overhaul lasting 12 months. (XX105 went on flying until 2003 at Boscombe and is was a very sad time when just a few days before Christmas 2012 she was broken up and removed from the airfield in skips)

25/2 Visiting was VC-10 G-ARVM and Devon VP975

Billericay Essex

In Dixon's Scrapyard is a Blackburn B.2 G-ACBY is a sorry state

Bristol Lulsgate

Comet G-APYD has been resident during the month operating IT while new resident is PA31 G-OLLY.

Brize Norton

Visiting was a nice batch of aircraft that only us oldies remember

9/2 BelfastXR369
10/2 Belfast XR365
13/2 VC-10 XV108
15/2 BCAL B707 G-AYSI
24/2 VC-10 XW105 & 105; Wessex XT671; XR362 Belfast; Argosy XN814; XV305 Hercules
25/2 XV208 Hercules; VC-10 XV102, XV109 Belfast XR371 and Argosys XP410 & XN856

Fairoaks

N22AN An.2 departed for Shannon

Glasgow

Noted on the fire dump was DC-3 G-ALYF &Varsity WJ903

Hatfield

A visit on the 18th saw the following
HS-125's G-BAZB, G-BDJE, & G-ARYB; Dove G-ARYB; Turbi G-AOTK; AC.680 G-ATIC; Hunters ET271, ET272, ET274, ET373, ET274, E421 & E423; Tridents G-BBVS, G-BBVT, U, V,W,X,Y,Z With G-BAJH, J and K


Redhill

Visiting on the 15th was S.61N G-BDRH; WS.58 G-ATSC and D.312 G-ASBW

Samlesbury

23/2 saw C.130 of the Venezuelan Air Force

Weston-Super-Mare

On the 13th the last Gannet to be refurbished at the Westland factory, XL494 was to leave escorted by Gannets from Lossiemouth, however due to bad weather this had to be cancelled - (XL494 was W/O 14/9/1978: She was damaged landing on HMS Ark Royal while in the Mediterranean. Not repaired, as HMS Ark Royal was sailing back to the UK to be decommissioned. XL494 was off loaded at Gibraltar and went to the fire dump and then she was scrapped in March 1981.)



Back Page



BAC 1-11 D-ALLI of Gulf Air at Sharjah 19-11-1975 . D.Goodwin

G-BOAA Concorde taxing in at Heathrow at the start of the Bahrein service - A.Halse

N749WA B747 of Korean Air at Dubai 9-12-75 D.Goodwin

That this one put to bed

[Jeff]

Great memories, i prob had that delivered as was a member back then

[keefyboy]

Very interesting.

I still have a pile of LAAS Mags in the loft from 1969 to sometime in the 90's.

I remember visiting Bembridge on numerous occasions during summer hols on the IOW in 70/71 - without consulting my logs (also in the loft) - I reckon at any one time there were always 20-30 Islanders on the field at any one time - mostly in primer and carrying G-51 class B regs. I also remember doing a tour of the BN factory which I seem to recall had weekly open days for the public - another 12-15 could be seen therein in production. I think things changed pretty quickly from about 72 onwards with production being switched to Romania and aircraft being flown to Bembridge for fitting out. I passed Bembridge last year and it looked a sad sight compared to how I remember it.

Biggin Hill was always a 'must do' in the 70's when I lived in London. I can't remember the year but it was mid 70's when the heavens opened up and me and 6 mates all holding pints took shelter under the wings of the static Vulcan - that's back in the days before barriers!

Cheers
Keith

[graham]

Some great memories there Trevor and look at the prices of the foreign trips. Two weeks at Oshkosh for £335!! Or Greenham on the coach for £1.50! My very first foreign spotting trip was in 1972 to Washington, £89 for four nights accommodation and return air fare with BCAL flying on a B707

[keithh]

Every year that goes by, that Washington trip seems a bit more crazy! If you allowed for inflation though, I wonder how current fares compare. I bet there isn't too much in it.

[chrisj]

Trevor , thanks for taking the time and trouble to give us extracts from the past . I too have been a LAAS member for more years than i care to recall , also one of the first for WLAG and at times other groups . I managed to get the first two dvds produced by BARG ( another ex member !) and await the followers . Due to spending many years serving with RAF i have had to dispose of magazines over the years as i moved about places so I asked David Seex of LAAS if they might place there monthly magazines onto disc . He 'offered' me the task which i had to turn down as i do not have the soft wear or experience . I for one would find such items very useful along with WLAG on disc . Air Britain have produced some of theirs but i think they have just scanned pages and let the user search , unlike the BARG version . I may be wrong so apologise in advance to Air Britain . Would it not be easier for you to scan the items you 'publish' rather than type each ? Thanks again . Chrisj

[dave]

hi,
this is another spotter magazine similar to SEAR (but I can't find where I sent that update to, old age?)but AngliaAeronews 63-76 has been put on the same group as SEAR, mil-spotters-forum, although I'm now a member and had a welcome e-mail, I cannot get access, but it might be worth keeping a eye on it...

stay safe, regards,
dave...