oldravendale
Western Thunderer
I've steadily been scanning my photos and recently dealt with a few I took in Heathrow in the '60s. Whilst these may have less interest than military aircraft they are now around 50 years old so represent some sort of historical document in their own right. I'm gonna bung some on here - if not appropriate just let me know and I'll close the thread down, but if more are needed I have a total of around 40, of which something over half are suitable for publication.
I was never a plane spotter, but the London Transport 140 bus which terminated at Heathrow passed close to home and on the occasional quiet day I'd take myself off to watch the aircraft. Then, in November 1968, the Kodak Photographic Society of which I was a member wangled an invitation to the BEA maintenance hangers - a trip for which I immediately signed up.
Until that time I'd never been close to a civil aircraft, although I'd flown in an Avro Anson from RAF Benson and also a Bristol Belvedere from RAF Odiham as a member of the Air Cadets at school. This is a selection of the photos taken on the Kodak trip and earlier.
REGISTRATION DETAILS FOR OE-LCA (AUSTRIAN AIRLINES) SE-210 CARAVELLE-VIR
Serial 161
First Flight 06.02.63
Registration History
Delivered F-WJAL Sud Aviation 00.01.63 Left Fleet and went to
OE-LCA Austrian Airlines 18.02.63 Left Fleet and went to
F-BUFC Catair 16.01.73 Left Fleet and went to
F-BUFC Euralair International 00.04.78 Left Fleet and went to
HK-2402 Aerotal Colombia 25.11.79 Scrapped on date unknown
Taken on 29 March 1966
REGISTRATION DETAILS FOR G-ASXO (BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS) ARGOSY-222
Serial 6803
c/n 6803 Series 222
28th of April 1965 to BEA as G-ASXO.
4th of April 1970 to Transair as CF-TAX.
November 1976 it went to SOACO as TR-LWQ.
9th of March 1979 joined the Australian register as VH-IPA and operated by IPEC Aviation.
5th of December 1990 struck off the Australian register and broken up at Essendon Airport, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
G-AVFB was the second of fifteen Trident 2Es ordered by BEA. It made its first flight at Hatfield on 2nd November 1967, and was delivered to Heathrow on 6th June 1968.
In June 1972 it was sold to Cyprus Airways, to replace one of that airline’s 2Es which had been damaged in a heavy landing, and was re-registered 5B-DAC In July 1974.’AC was parked at Nicosia airport when the Turks invaded Northern Cyprus, and it suffered gunfire damage in the ensuing fighting. Afterwards it was abandoned on the airfield along with other damaged Tridents Eventually British Airways sent some engineers to survey the Tridents to see if any of them could be repaired and then recovered to London with a view to returning them to service. ‘AC was in better condition than the other aircraft, having sustained just some bullet holes in its fuselage, and these were repaired with patches. It was ferried to Heathrow in May 1977, and restored to its original British registration. Following its total refurbishment and repainting in BA livery, ‘FB was used on the airline’s inter-city shuttle services until 27th March 1982, when it operated a London-Manchester service. It was then donated to the DAS, and was flown to Duxford on 13th June 1982, where the year’s main airshow was being held, and performed a short display before landing. It had then flown a total of 21,642 hours and made 11,726 landings. Work then began to prepare the aircraft for opening to the public. In1990 ‘FB was repainted in its original BEA ‘Red Square’ livery. Since then the Trident has remained on display outside, and this has necessitated a continual programme of monitoring both its external and internal condition and dealing with any problems that are encountered.
This was photographed in November 1968.
Civil aircraft were new to me, hence this photo of BEA Vanguard G-APED through the window of G-APFB, same date, same trip.
Reg Aircraft Airline Status Delivery Date 30.01.61
G-APED Vickers/BAC Vanguard-951 British European Airways Scrapped Heathrow 1973
and our privileged access to the flight deck.
On 3 July 1968 an Airspeed Ambassador, G-AMAD of BKS Air Services suffered a failure in the flap operating mechanism on one wing, causing the aircraft to bank to the left and lose height. It touched down and left the runway, colliding with two parked Tridents, G-ARPT and G-ARPI. 'PT's entire tail section was torn off whilst 'PI suffered significant damage to its tail. No one was onboard either Trident at the time, but there were six human fatalities on the Ambassador and also a number of equine fatalities. 'PT was written off and after much work, 'PI was repaired.
On 18th June 1972 British European Airways operated flight BE548 departed Heathrow's runway 28R at eight minutes past four in the afternoon. As the aircraft climbed its speed was consistently below that that it should have been and this appears to have gone unnoticed. Then at 1770ft and 162kts IAS whilst in a 20 degree bank, the leading edge droops (high lift devices) were retracted. Correct retraction conditions dictated altitude >3000ft, IAS >225kts and wings level. The aircraft entered a stall which was recovered by the stick pusher (automated recovery system). No further action appeared to be taken and the aircraft entered a second stall. This time the stall recovery override lever was pulled and the aircraft entered a deep stall, descending rapidly in a flat attitude with a very low forward airspeed before impacting the ground near the town of Staines. All 118 persons onboard were killed but thankfully no-one on the ground was injured. Some form of human error or errors appear to have contributed to the crash but without a cockpit voice recorder it was not possible to determine with total certainty what did indeed happen. Factors may have included a heart condition suffered by the Captain that was discovered in the post-mortem or inexperience and slow reaction to the situation by the P2 pilot. As a result of this accident it was recommended that all airliners be fitted with a cockpit voice recorder.
Photos taken in November 1968
The removed damaged tailplane from G-ARPI
(BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS) VICKERS/BAC VISCOUNT-806
Serial 418
Line Number
First Flight 24.03.59
Model Vickers/BAC Viscount-806
Comments built from the remains of G-AOYF (C/N 255)
Registration History
Reg G-APOX British European Airways 11.04.59 Left Fleet and went to
PK-RVL Mandala Airlines 00.06.70 Scrapped on date unknown
Photographed November 1968
REGISTRATION DETAILS FOR G-ARVH (BRITISH AIRWAYS) VC-10-1101
Serial 810
First Flight 22/11/1963
Model VC-10-1101
Status Scrapped
Comments
Registration History
Reg Airline Delivered Status G-ARVH BAC Vickers 16/01/1963 Left Fleet G-ARVH British Overseas Airways Corporation 08/07/1964 Left Fleet G-ARVH British Airways 01/04/1974 Subsequently Scrapped
A Comet IV of East African Airlines at Heathrow in July 1965. I believe that, at this time, East African Airways was part of BOAC. I did not record the registration so have no details.
Finally, just to show how important it was at the time, a photo taken from our 405 line b;lack and white TV of Concorde 001 first flight in Toulouse on 2 March 1969.
No more for the moment. Let me know what you think.....
Brian
I was never a plane spotter, but the London Transport 140 bus which terminated at Heathrow passed close to home and on the occasional quiet day I'd take myself off to watch the aircraft. Then, in November 1968, the Kodak Photographic Society of which I was a member wangled an invitation to the BEA maintenance hangers - a trip for which I immediately signed up.
Until that time I'd never been close to a civil aircraft, although I'd flown in an Avro Anson from RAF Benson and also a Bristol Belvedere from RAF Odiham as a member of the Air Cadets at school. This is a selection of the photos taken on the Kodak trip and earlier.
REGISTRATION DETAILS FOR OE-LCA (AUSTRIAN AIRLINES) SE-210 CARAVELLE-VIR
Serial 161
First Flight 06.02.63
Registration History
Delivered F-WJAL Sud Aviation 00.01.63 Left Fleet and went to
OE-LCA Austrian Airlines 18.02.63 Left Fleet and went to
F-BUFC Catair 16.01.73 Left Fleet and went to
F-BUFC Euralair International 00.04.78 Left Fleet and went to
HK-2402 Aerotal Colombia 25.11.79 Scrapped on date unknown
Taken on 29 March 1966
REGISTRATION DETAILS FOR G-ASXO (BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS) ARGOSY-222
Serial 6803
c/n 6803 Series 222
28th of April 1965 to BEA as G-ASXO.
4th of April 1970 to Transair as CF-TAX.
November 1976 it went to SOACO as TR-LWQ.
9th of March 1979 joined the Australian register as VH-IPA and operated by IPEC Aviation.
5th of December 1990 struck off the Australian register and broken up at Essendon Airport, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
G-AVFB was the second of fifteen Trident 2Es ordered by BEA. It made its first flight at Hatfield on 2nd November 1967, and was delivered to Heathrow on 6th June 1968.
In June 1972 it was sold to Cyprus Airways, to replace one of that airline’s 2Es which had been damaged in a heavy landing, and was re-registered 5B-DAC In July 1974.’AC was parked at Nicosia airport when the Turks invaded Northern Cyprus, and it suffered gunfire damage in the ensuing fighting. Afterwards it was abandoned on the airfield along with other damaged Tridents Eventually British Airways sent some engineers to survey the Tridents to see if any of them could be repaired and then recovered to London with a view to returning them to service. ‘AC was in better condition than the other aircraft, having sustained just some bullet holes in its fuselage, and these were repaired with patches. It was ferried to Heathrow in May 1977, and restored to its original British registration. Following its total refurbishment and repainting in BA livery, ‘FB was used on the airline’s inter-city shuttle services until 27th March 1982, when it operated a London-Manchester service. It was then donated to the DAS, and was flown to Duxford on 13th June 1982, where the year’s main airshow was being held, and performed a short display before landing. It had then flown a total of 21,642 hours and made 11,726 landings. Work then began to prepare the aircraft for opening to the public. In1990 ‘FB was repainted in its original BEA ‘Red Square’ livery. Since then the Trident has remained on display outside, and this has necessitated a continual programme of monitoring both its external and internal condition and dealing with any problems that are encountered.
This was photographed in November 1968.
Civil aircraft were new to me, hence this photo of BEA Vanguard G-APED through the window of G-APFB, same date, same trip.
Reg Aircraft Airline Status Delivery Date 30.01.61
G-APED Vickers/BAC Vanguard-951 British European Airways Scrapped Heathrow 1973
and our privileged access to the flight deck.
On 3 July 1968 an Airspeed Ambassador, G-AMAD of BKS Air Services suffered a failure in the flap operating mechanism on one wing, causing the aircraft to bank to the left and lose height. It touched down and left the runway, colliding with two parked Tridents, G-ARPT and G-ARPI. 'PT's entire tail section was torn off whilst 'PI suffered significant damage to its tail. No one was onboard either Trident at the time, but there were six human fatalities on the Ambassador and also a number of equine fatalities. 'PT was written off and after much work, 'PI was repaired.
On 18th June 1972 British European Airways operated flight BE548 departed Heathrow's runway 28R at eight minutes past four in the afternoon. As the aircraft climbed its speed was consistently below that that it should have been and this appears to have gone unnoticed. Then at 1770ft and 162kts IAS whilst in a 20 degree bank, the leading edge droops (high lift devices) were retracted. Correct retraction conditions dictated altitude >3000ft, IAS >225kts and wings level. The aircraft entered a stall which was recovered by the stick pusher (automated recovery system). No further action appeared to be taken and the aircraft entered a second stall. This time the stall recovery override lever was pulled and the aircraft entered a deep stall, descending rapidly in a flat attitude with a very low forward airspeed before impacting the ground near the town of Staines. All 118 persons onboard were killed but thankfully no-one on the ground was injured. Some form of human error or errors appear to have contributed to the crash but without a cockpit voice recorder it was not possible to determine with total certainty what did indeed happen. Factors may have included a heart condition suffered by the Captain that was discovered in the post-mortem or inexperience and slow reaction to the situation by the P2 pilot. As a result of this accident it was recommended that all airliners be fitted with a cockpit voice recorder.
Photos taken in November 1968
The removed damaged tailplane from G-ARPI
(BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS) VICKERS/BAC VISCOUNT-806
Serial 418
Line Number
First Flight 24.03.59
Model Vickers/BAC Viscount-806
Comments built from the remains of G-AOYF (C/N 255)
Registration History
Reg G-APOX British European Airways 11.04.59 Left Fleet and went to
PK-RVL Mandala Airlines 00.06.70 Scrapped on date unknown
Photographed November 1968
REGISTRATION DETAILS FOR G-ARVH (BRITISH AIRWAYS) VC-10-1101
Serial 810
First Flight 22/11/1963
Model VC-10-1101
Status Scrapped
Comments
Registration History
Reg Airline Delivered Status G-ARVH BAC Vickers 16/01/1963 Left Fleet G-ARVH British Overseas Airways Corporation 08/07/1964 Left Fleet G-ARVH British Airways 01/04/1974 Subsequently Scrapped
A Comet IV of East African Airlines at Heathrow in July 1965. I believe that, at this time, East African Airways was part of BOAC. I did not record the registration so have no details.
Finally, just to show how important it was at the time, a photo taken from our 405 line b;lack and white TV of Concorde 001 first flight in Toulouse on 2 March 1969.
No more for the moment. Let me know what you think.....
Brian