Newcastle Airport
NEWCASTLE AIRPORT: Regional airport prior to WW2, gradually developing into a major international regional airport. Aka at one time NEWCASTLE MUNICIPAL AIRPORT
(See RAF WOOLSINGTON for WW2 and previous details of this site)
(Now known as NEWCASTLE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT)
Note: Pictures by the author unless specified.
ICAO code: EGNT IATA code: NCL
Activities: Post 1945: Airline, charter, GA private, training, and maintenance
Operated by:
1965: North East Regional Airport Committee
1990: Newcastle International Airport Ltd
Note: Picture by Austin J Brown, the author flying the sortie.
The amount of assistance from ATC at Newcastle was much appreciated, especially for obtaining this most unusual picture. This said, with Aussie Brown being a local lad, and then an ATPL to boot, I have little doubt this helped.
It was, to say the least, a quite unusual and demanding task for me, flying the sortie, to guesstimate exactly when, and how fast, to fly the downwind leg in order to turn at exactly the right time to get this shot! It is not something you can practice, and has to be spot on at the first attempt.
British airline users: Pre WW2: North Eastern Airways
Post 1945: Air 2000, Air Anglia, Air Safaris, Airtours International, Airviews, All Leisure Aviation, Autair, B.K.S. Air Transport, Britannia Airways, British Air Services, British Caledonian Airways, British Island Airways, British Midland Airways, BUA (British United Airways), Brymon Airways, Channel Airways, Channel Express, CityFlyer Express, Cunard Eagle, Dan-Air, Debonair Airways, Derby Airways, Dragon Airways, easyJet, Executive Air Transport, Flybe, Gill Aviation, Jet 2, Manx Airlines, Manx2, Monarch Airlines, Morton Air Services, Northeast, North-South Airlines, Silver City, Tyne-Tees Airways
Note: In the 1957 edition of The Aeroplane directory, B.K.S. Air Tranport had a fleet of five Douglas C-47 Dakotas, four Vickers Vikings, one Airspeed Consul and one Avro Anson. Their flying bases were here, YEADON and SOUTHEND.
The Dragon Airways fleet comprised one Vickers Viking and three DH114 Herons.
These scans of a Dragon Airways timetable (October 1956 to January 1957) were kindy provided by Mike Charlton. Note that the Heron services to London, presumably NORTHOLT (?), had been suspended.
Foreign airline users: Post 1945: Aer Lingus, Air Europa, Air Malta, Balkan-Bulgarian Airlines, Braathens S.A.F.E Air Transport, Eurowings, Futura, Intersun, Maersk Air, Newair, Onur Air, Ryanair
Cargo, charter, air taxi: Post 1945: Air Charter (Scotland), Air Ferry, Air Gregory, Air Services (Sunderland), Air Transport Charter, Alidair, Astral Aviation, BEA Airtours, Britannia, Channel Airways, Cumberland Aviation Services, Euravia, Fairflight, Hunting Clan, Macedonian Aviation, Martins Air Charter, Northern Air Charter and Schreiner
AIR NORTH www.novembertango.co.uk www.airnorth.org
In October 2017 Mike Charlton who has sent so many lovely pictures from postcards to illustrate this 'Guide', (www.aviationpostcard.co.uk), introduced me to the Air North website edited by Andy Hutchins. Here are some of the airlines that have been using NEWCASTLE in recent years. (See the Mike Charlton Gallery below)
Airlines: Air Malta, BA (British Airways), Emirates, Eurolot, Flybe, Iberia Regional, Jet2, KLM Cityhopper, SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System), Syphax Airlines, Thomas Cook, Vueling
Charter: Aegean, AirX Charter, Carpatair, Cavok Airlines, Hifly, Orbest, Ruby Star Airlines
Flying club/school: Pre 1940: Newcastle-upon-Tyne Aero Club
Post 1945: Newcastle-upon-Tyne Aero Club
This picture from a postcard of the Puss Moth G-ABWG was also kindly sent by Mike Charlton. It appears it was first registered on the 9th May 1932 but the only evidence of its history that I can find is of it being registered to The Newcastle-upon-Tyne Aero Club from the 6th June 1935 until the 17th March 1940. And it was based here. It also appears that G-ABWG was impressed on the 19th January 1940 as 2069M, therefore I assume, being relegated to becoming an instructional airframe.
In the 1957 The Aeroplane directory, the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Municipal Air Centre and Flying School gave their fleet as being three DH82A Tiger Moths, one AusterJ/1 Autocrat, one Auster J/1N Alpha and one Miles Gemini.
1959 ‘snapshot’: Allied Flying Group, Hadrian Group, Newcastle-upon-Tyne Municipal Flying School and Air Centre
Helicopter ops: Northumbria Helicopters
Maintenance: Gill Aviation
Location: E of A696, 5nm NW of Newcastle-upon Tyne
Period of operation: 1935 to 1940, (then RAF), 1946 to -
Runways: 1935: Grass (Most unusually listed as having just one grass runway. I think this is an over-simplification as it was probably an ‘all-over airfield’. In WW2 four grass runways were laid out, presumably used until the single hard runway was constructed in the 1950s)
Note: These maps are reproduced with the kind permission of Pooleys Flight Equipment Ltd. Copyright Robert Pooley 2014.
1965: 07/25 1615x46 hard NNE/SSW 975 grass
Note: The 07/25 runway was being lengthened to 1829, and the grass strip was temporarily withdrawn
2000: 07/25 2329x46 hard
THE MIKE CHARLTON GALLERY
As mentioned above, Mike Charlton has very kindly provided a huge amount of pictures from postcards which have greatly enhanced this 'Guide'. And this really is his stamping ground. He started working here with Servisair, the airline handling agent, but progressed to being an Air Traffic Controller in 1976, retiring in 2013. Shown below are just a selection of his pictures of NEWCASTLE airport, some fabulous I think, but all of great interest.
THE EARLY YEARS UP TO WW2 (WOOLSINGTON)
NOTES: The second and third pictures are of great interest. In both cases the caption states; "Newcastle Airport, Wolsington" - not WOOLSINGTON!
POST WW2
These pictures circa 1960.
Looking at these pictures, it appears that the WOOLSINGTON airport 'terminal' in the 1960s was in a pretty sorry state, and quite possibly struggling to assert itself as a regional airport.
Originally, after WW2, the few passengers travelling used the 1930s building, (see picture above in 'Early years'), but as passenger volumes increased these buildings were erected in 1950/51. When the new 'modern' terminal was opened in 1967, these buildings, including the control tower, were demolished.
Then again, in fairness, this set-up compares quite favourably with LONDON AIRPORT (now HEATHROW), during the same era. And, when LAP opened, passenger facilities were in tents surrounded by duckboards to walk along!
MORE PICTURES
Notes: I love this first picture, how very quaint and innocent. Presumably these people were posed on the access road?
The second picture, an aerial view, is from my point of view at least, a very valuable record. It shows the extent of the original 1930s aerodrome, and evidence of the WW2 runways.
The third picture was, it seems, taken in 1966 whilst trials were being conducted before the 'new' airport was officially opened. Without too much doubt a BKS Bristol Britannia and a BKS Airspeed Ambassador can be seen; but also a Douglas DC-3 type.
The fourth picture: It is quite probably just an 'age thing' but this picture of the BKS Airspeed Ambassador G-ALZW, taken in 1964, gives me so much pleasure. The Ambassador, along with the Lockheed L-1649 Starliner must surely rank as the most lovely airliners ever?
AND YET MORE PICTURES FROM THE 1950s & 1960s
First picture: This remarkable and rare low lovel aerial picture shows the site of what would become the new terminal.
Second picture: Two lovely period cars which I cannot identify. (See 'Comment' below). However, to me the really interesting feature is the clearly marked Newcastle Airport ambulance, itself a machine of at least WW2 military vintage? I find it very interesting that since its inception in 1935, this site appears to have been known, in equal measure, as both WOOLSINGTON and NEWCASTLE AIRPORT.
Fourth picture: What a lovely picture - can you imagine such a scene today, with youngsters free to roam about? The aeroplane, quite rare, G-AKVS, is a Chrislea CH3 Super Ace Skyjeep Series 4. An example of a Skyjeep is still flying today.
THE START OF A NEW ERA - FROM 1967
These first four pictures show the then new terminal building on the north side, which opened in February 1967. Regarding the first two pictures, note the Bristol Britannia of BKS. In the fourth picture a BKS Britannia is in the foreground, and a BKS Airspeed Ambassador is parked beyond.
MORE PICTURES
The first picture features the Rolls-Royce Conway jet engines fitted to BOAC Boeing 707s, a BKS Vickers Viscount is in the background. The second picture has the tail of a BUA (British United Airways) BAC One-Eleven in view.
THE 21st CENTURY
First picture: This great picture, from a postcard, was taken by Mike Charlton! The press and media are always keen to describe the North-East of England in a negative fashion, as being in recession, starved of resources etc, etc. However, as you can see in this picture, a great many people in the North-East are doing very well indeed, and the airport has been going from strength to strength. It is so nice to be able to provide a positive side to this region.
Second picture: As can be seen, even after a fair amount of snow, operations at Newcastle Airport can soon be restored. To the present people in charge of HEATHROW - please take note!
NOTES:
It appears the first scheduled service to use NEWCASTLE airport before WW2 was North East Airways using an eight-seater Airspeed Envoy operating between CROYDON and PERTH. Presumably calling in elsewhere en route? However, was this service actually using CRAMLINGTON?
JUST AN AERODROME AFTER WW2?
It does seem that after WOOLSINGTON was handed back for civilian use in 1946 the only activity was the Aero Club operated by Mr Jim Denyer and the first commercial operation in 1952 was by Hunting Air Transport flying to BOVINGDON (HERTFORDSHIRE) , their ‘LONDON’ destination. Therefore preceding by several decades the lax attitude some modern airlines like Ryanair take about naming accurately the airports flown into. Later Hunting added Amsterdam and Dusseldorf plus Dublin too.
THE KING'S CUP AIR RACE
On the 12th July 1952 the annual King’s Cup Race was held here, no doubt due to the influence of Mr Denyer, who later went on to win the race twice. Only twelve aircraft competed over the sixty mile course which was won by Mr C Gregory in the Taylorcraft Plus D, G-AHGZ, averaging 113.5mph. This was the only time the King’s Cup Air Race was held here.
NOTE: With the emergence of more and more radar and radio navigation aids after WW2, when a lot of the basic technology was developed, flying in poor visibility became much less of a problem and this led to airlines being able to offer greatly enhanced reliabilty in operating their schedules. The VOR (VHF Omni-directional Radio Range) was developed in the USA as early as 1937 and became widely deployed from 1946. By the year 2000 there were about 3000 VOR 'stations' situated around the world, but, since then the number has substantially decreased as greater reliance on GPS takes over.
POST-WAR AIRLINES
I suppose this is as good a place as any to announce there was very little in the way of airline operations until the late 1950s. For example the Derby Airways DH Herons in the 1960s visiting here were leased from Mercury Airlines. They served SANDOWN on the ISLE of WIGHT, and perhaps other destinations?
In 1957 BKS acquired its first pressurised aircraft, the Airspeed Ambassador G-AMAD from the BEA ‘Elizabethan’ fleet. On the 9th of August this aircraft flew from Newcastle to Dublin. It appears that BKS were the first British airline to operate scheduled flights into the Republic of Ireland after WW2, under the Anglo-Irish agreement. I think it is also of interest that most airliners in those days, including the DH.106 Comet jet airliner, were quite capable of operating from grass runways and this applied to the Airspeed Ambassador too.
In or around this period BKS were also operating services to Basle, Belfast, Bergen, Bilbao, Jersey, London, Lourdes, Ostend, Palma, and Rotterdam. Silver City were serving Blackpool, the Isle of Man, Brussels and Amsterdam. The 1950s saw the beginning of package holidays and I think it is very interesting to note today that the very first destinations were the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands. Also, by 1954 scheduled services were 35 a week and passenger numbers reached 5,500 a year! In 1980 the airport reached the one million milestone.
DRAGON AIRWAYS
In 2018 I found information about Dragon Airways on the North West Air News web-site. Although originally based in the north-west of England, and mostly at SPEKE; "On the 1st November 1955, Dragon Airways moved its operating base from Liverpool to Newcastle. At the same time, the Airline was bought out by Hunting-Clan, the Elder, Demster and Tyne-Tees Steam Shipping Company airline. This take-over resulted in Dragon taking over the entire Hunting-Clan northern scheduled service network based on Newcastle. Dragon's resources were then reorganised and strengthened, and although the fleet of Herons was retained, the airline was able to use Hunting-Clans higher capacity aircraft when the loads were heavy."
SUMMER 1956
"For the summer season of 1956, a Vickers Viking was bought from Field Aircraft Services, this aircraft entered service with Dragon in June 1956 on the routes from Newcastle to Paris via Liverpool (flown twice weekly), Bergen (flown once weekly, on Saturdays), Belfast (once weekly by Viking, twice by Heron) and London (once each weekday by Viking and twice each weekday by Heron)."
I wonder if anybody today can kindly explain what the "London" destination was?
"In addition, the Herons flew a daily service from Newcastle to Amsterdam and Dusseldorf, but the Heron service from Liverpool to Glasgow had now been suspended."
"Towards the end of the summer season, Dragon cut many of its schedules - the Newcastle to London service became a once daily Heron flight, while the services to Bergen and Paris were suspended altogether at the end of September 1956. All the winter schedules were flown by the Herons, with the Viking kept in reserve. At the same time as the Airline was suspending and pruning away many of its services, it did apply to the A.T.A.C. for permission to open a scheduled service from Newcastle to Dublin and from London to Cork/Farmers Cross."
"However, these services were never opened and with mounting losses on most of the scheduled services, Dragon Airways was taken over by the British Aviation Services Group in February 1957. Dragon Airways thus became part of Silver City Airways Northern Division - and so the name of Dragon Airways disappeared.
It seems that the fleet of Dragon Airways comprised, (including their time at SPEKE):
Three de Havilland DH89A Dragon Rapides - G-AHPT, G-AIYP and G-AKOB
One Miles M.65 Gemini - G-AKEM
Three de Havilland DH114 Herons - G-ANCI, G-ANYJ and G-AODY
One Vikers VC.1 Viking 2 - G-AOCH
Plus a fleet of Austers during the SPEKE period.
GILL AVIATION
These two pictures from postcards were also kindly sent by Mike Charlton, and serve to illustrate the early years of Gill Aviation which became, for many years, a major presence at NEWCASTLE.
First picture: I think this could well be a rare picture? Imported from the USA, ex N6534L, by Rodgers Aviation (BEDFORD) it was registered to Michael Harry Gill with an address in Cumberland from the 26th September 1966 until the 21st May 1968. So, could it be from these humble beginnings with just one Cessna 150 that Gill Aviation started?
Second picture: When Piper introduced the twin PA-23 Apache in 1952 it was quite popular selling some 2,165 examples - but it was really quite a bad performer. The joke being, as with other twin engine types, that with an engine failure the remaining engine takes you to the crash site!
When they intoduced the PA-23-250 Aztec the picture changed completely, and they sold over double the amount, some 4,811 it appears. Capable of carrying six (including the pilot) at 206mph in the cruise it was, in effect, the Learjet of its day. So small wonder that Michael Gill was keen to acquire one.
UPGRADING THE AIRPORT
In November 2017 Mike Charlton very kindly sent me this information: "When Newcastle converted from huts to modern terminal and the runway was strengthened all operations moved to RAF Ouston with Air Force controllers but civvie back up staff. Dates were 1st November 1965 to 30th March 1966."
"BKS operated Hawker-Siddeley HS748s and Airspeed Ambassadors. The Bristol Britannia's were delivered to Middleton St. George at that time because the runway at OUSTON wasn't long enough."
NEW TERMINALS
A new terminal was officially opened in February 1967 but by 1978 this was replaced with a 4000 sq m terminal and by the end of the 1980s passenger volumes had reached 1.6 million. However, the 1990s saw a staggering increase in charter holiday traffic, by the year 2000 topping 3 million. In May 2004 49% of the shares in the airport were taken over by Copenhagen Airport which escalated growth to another level and the arrival of Easyjet in March 2003 heralded the arrival of the ‘so-called’ low cost era. By 2005 passenger volumes had topped 5 million. Although the first wide-bodied airliner from America landed in the 1970s it wasn’t until 2007 that the first daily long-haul scheduled service arranged with Emirates Airline to Dubai came about.
I have to say from a personal point of view I have long felt that the development of regional airports really should be a first priority, especially in the 21st century, and the demands of ‘instant’ convenience by the travelling public should be secondary. It does now appear the airlines by and large are trying hard to achieve a ‘full-seat’ policy for all flights. Quite right too.
THE NEWCASTLE AERO CLUB
The Newcastle Aero Club, (apparently named the Municipal Flying School according to one source circa 1960), operated seven aircraft under the direction of their CFI, (also the Airport Commandant incidentally), the ex RAF pilot Mr J H Denyer who was twice winner of the King’s Cup Air Race in 1956 and 1958. In a photograph I have seen Mr Denyer is being congratulated on winning the 1958 King’s Cup standing next to a Tiger Moth. This was when he flew the Club Tiger Moth G-AIVW winning at BAGINGTON/COVENTRY (WARWICKSHIRE). In 1956 he won also flying another club aircraft, the Auster G-AJRH once again from BAGINGTON.
At that time, (more or less), the Club was reported to be operating three Auster J/1N Alphas, G-AIGP, G-AJEH and G-AJRH, three Tiger Moths G-AIVW, G-AMLF and G-AMTK plus the Miles Gemini G-AKEJ. The Gemini seeming the obvious choice for the King’s Cup? To win the race in a club Auster and then in a Tiger Moth obviously points to Mr Denyer having extraordinary piloting skills. The King’s Cup Race is the longest running Air Race in the UK, the first race was held at CROYDON in 1922, and is still being held, as a ‘handicap race’ designed to reward piloting skills.
NEWCASTLE AIRPORT PICTURE GALLERY
Most of the pictures came from a visit Aussie Brown and I made on the 17/18 October 1992 flying in with the Cessna 172 G-WACL on our tour of many of the UK airports. In those days Gill Aviation had a speciality in maintaining Shorts 330 and 360s. As we left to depart we found we had a severe mag-drop on the engine run-up checks which we couldn't cure using the normal techniques - but, we lacked the confidence to 'give it some stick' as this involved leaning out the fuel which, if overdone can easily damage the engine. Invariably this problem is a plug or plugs fouling up, especially after a long taxy at low rpm, which at Newcastlewas was pretty much a neccessity if using runway 25 as it slopes down towards the east. After making enquiries, Sue Boxall who was instructing, offered to assist and she had us up and running in no time. Sue was also an ATPL converting onto the Shorts 360 - see the picture of her below. Afterwards Aussie exclaimed, "Well I'm damned, thinking back we often used that technique on Daks in the West Indies."
SOME MORE MEMORIES
In August 2024 Mr Bruce Richardson kindly sent me a readers letter published in the Newcastle Journal on the 13th August, from which I have gleaned these excerpts. Unfortunately the name of the contributor is not made clear, but I think it may be by Mr Bill Beavis?
"Newcastle Airport was established at the instigation of Newcastle City Council and opened on July 26, 1935, initially with grass runways...."
"I flew with my parents from the airport in the early 1960s on a British United Airways flight. And whilst I was at school, I saw a Bristol Britannia of BKS Air Transport arriving from London Heathrow overflying the city to join the final approach for a westerly landing. The Britannias took over 100 passengers at a time on Mediterranean holidays from the old wooden terminal on the south side, while Adria Airways' piston-engined Douglas DC-6B aircraft made their Friday evening visits from and to Ljubljana. The sound they made was remarkable; as was that made by the four Rolls-Royce Darts powering British United's Viscount services through Newcastle on the way to Amsterdam and Dusseldorf. Sometimes these BUA flights started from Blackpool, sometimes from Glasgow."
"Autair (soon to be renamed Court Line) were also operating through NCL on Dutch Bulbfield day trips with Avro 748s, and Dan-Air also had an operating base at NCL with DC-3s; their unique to UK Nord 262 later took over their services to Manchester, Bristol and Cardiff, with forays to the Isle of Man. This service sometimes staged through Carlisle at weekends, but the loads were not enough to sustain those visits. And can anyone remember flying to or from Manchester on Mercury Airways De Havilland Heron miniairliner with 14 passenger seats and four small piston engines?"
ALSO, A QUESTION POSED
"How did the mysterious Canadair North Star (a license-built DC-4 with four Rolls-Royce engines) arrive from Southend before 1967, still bearing its Trans-Canada Airways and registration CF-TFM? It took up residence alongside the old southside control tower for several months, before being overhauled and then flown to Amsterdam with a Panama registration instead, before setting off for somewhere in Africa with a cargo of armaments. The Sunday Times subsequently did a full feature on this escapade; it crashed on the way to Burundi, if I remember correctly."
I have included this last item simply because, in all the years, (now over twenty-five years in 2024), of researching this 'Guide', there have been many instances of operations taking part in the U.K. of, (how shall I say?), highly dubious enterprises which were, to varying degrees, not exactly legal mostly, and in some cases totally illegal. Ranging from light aircraft to airliners.
EVEN MORE MEMORIES
Later, Bruce sent me another article, this time by Mr Stan Abbott. "When I was very small, we used to take family Sunday lunches at what became the Aero Club's building and I was fascinated by the parked planes. I became an avid plane-spotter and would cycle the few miles from home in High Heaton to watch the trickle of arrivals and departures. On one occasion a Dan Air Airspeed Ambassador (more commonly known by the British European Airways name of Elizabethan) flew in from Gatwick and onward to Kristiansand, in Norway. Among the passengers were Blue Peter presenters Valerie Singleton and Christopher Trace. In those days passengers were not segregated from other members of the public and I got both their autographs in my spotter's book in the crowded wooden terminal."
"My first flight was on a family holiday to Guernsey, via Jersey, in 1962, aboard another Elizabethan, this one belonging to Newcastle based BKS Air Transport. 'Boarding cards' were returnable wooden tokens and the onboard service used pretty posh melamine cups, saucers and plates. Back then planes came in all shapes and sizes and the Elizabethan had an elegant trout-shaped fuselage and triple tail fins. It served the Newcastle to Heathrow route for years until replaced by another hand-me-down, the elegant Bristol Britannia, formerly of BOAC, the other state airline, which, with BEA, later became British Airways. BKS carried on using the Elizabethans to transport racehorses until one crashed fatally at Heathrow because of metal fatigue in a crucial control system."
"Thomson Holidays broke new ground by setting up its own airline with Bristol Britannias and called Britannia Airways. In those days even southern Spain was quite a long stretch and so early BKS holiday schedules were to places like Ostend, in Belgium, Bilbao (Spain), and Jersey, Jersey and more Jersey, while Silver City, a Blackpool-based branch of a cross-Channel air ferry company, flew Bristol Freighters - the ugliest duckling of all post-War airliners - to the Isle of Man. Silver City became part of British United Airways, while BKS became NorthEast and was absorbed into British Airways. The Britannias were replaced at NorthEast by black and yellow Tridents, another BEA hand-me-down, which was one of the fastest aircraft around and once did Heathrow-Newcastle in 35 minutes. Britannia's early Boeing 737s brought more distant parts of Spain into fashion from the late 60s and TUI is now Britannia's descendent. Remarkably the 737 is still around, though much evolved."
(Authors note: Yes indeed, in July 2024 I flew in a 737-800 from Gatwick to Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada. Having flown to the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, (for example), in wide body airliners, For most of my adult life, (now 77 years of age), I never for one minute thought that one day I would fly across the Atlantic in a 737!)
"The post-war Newcastle Airport director, James Denyer, always made Heathrow his number one priority and his legacy may in part be the fact that Newcastle retains a five-a-day service that this remains the busiest schedule at the airport, while other airports fell by the wayside. Newcastle was also lucky, in BKS, to have its own based airline. More recently, I was pleased to work for Gill airways at its Newcastle headquarters until the airline was obliged to stop flying when its bankers joined the exodus from aviation after the 9/11 attacks. With really only a couple of regional airlines of substance now operating in Britain - Scotland's Loganair and Humberside-based Eastern Airways - the chances of Newcastle ever having its own airline again seem slim and I think that's a loss for the whole region,"
Harry Cuthbert
This comment was written on: 2017-12-02 21:03:03Hi I have just came across your site re Newcastle Airport. You have a photo showing two cars of unknown make. I would have be fairly sure that the front one is a Triumph Roadster (pre TR2) with the second being a Allard. It appears that passengers in both cars are holding trophies. So I would assume that these are the winner and second of the Kings Cup air race, returning or setting off on a lap of honour past the spectators. At the Kings Cup Race, one entrant by Princess MargaretWas a DeHavilland Vampire, which was still on the ground when the last aircraft rounded the pylon on its last lap. At the finish it was almost impossible to judge who would win as a large bunch crossed the airport boundary. Field Marshall Montgomery was at the races and received an ovation as he was driven around past the spectators. Referring to the photo about kids roaming the airfield- this didn’t happen, we used to hang out next to the flying club and occasionally sneak around to see what was in the hanger. The aircraft in the photo are lined up along side the entrance road - this was not a normal practice - usually when we were there there wasn’t that many aircraft, I would suspect that this was a open day or special event and the kids where probably attended. Main airlines were BKS, Hunting Clan and Dragon Airways (who operated DH Dove(s)). Hope this is of interest. HarryC
Reply from Dick Flute:
Hi Harry, Many thanks indeed. I shall most definitely be keeping this posted. Hopefully I think that most people will realise that the picture of the kids on the airfield was very much a special occasion. Hardly common practice. This said, usually just two of us would regularly 'invade' the maintenance aprons at London Airport(Heathrow)circa early 1960s on our bikes and ask if we could see inside the airliners. Invariably this would be granted! Happy days. Best regards, Dick
We'd love to hear from you, so please scroll down to leave a comment!
Leave a comment ...
Copyright (c) UK Airfield Guide
