PDA

View Full Version : Old airport codes


KeMac
18th Mar 2011, 11:08
Is there anywhere I can find a list of airport codes that were used in the 50s and 60s. I am trying to find out where BEB is as I cannot imagine Euravia Constellations were coming into Renfrew from Dus (which I am assuming is Dusseldorf) and then flying onto Benbecula on a regular basis. It's the same with Lloyd DC-4s also going to BEB from Renfrew. I know they are both in Scotland but if it is Benbecula - why??
Any ideas?

The SSK
18th Mar 2011, 11:23
I have a list from 1958
BEB was Benbecula then

scr1
18th Mar 2011, 11:54
has been lots of activity there since the war

RRH Benbecula - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RRH_Benbecula)

http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/RAFBenbecula

Halcyon Days
19th Mar 2011, 18:54
Flights into Benbecula from Dusseldorf via Renfrew sound very much like they were military trooping flights (via Renfrew to clear customs and probably fuel).
Britannia Airways-who were previously Euravia-had a very big MOD contract
from all the various German bases (Gutersloh/Wildenwrath/Dussledorf/Gatow etc

WHBM
20th Mar 2011, 10:26
Britannia Airways-who were previously Euravia-had a very big MOD contract
from all the various German bases (Gutersloh/Wildenwrath/Dussledorf/Gatow etc
Britannia picked up this longstanding MoD West German contract in 1969, with their new 737s of the time, whereas the Euravia (their original name before they bought the Britannias) Constellation era was from 1962 to 1965. However Euravia had also bought out the old Skyways airline at the end of 1962, mainly for their aircraft but they also had been a longstanding MoD contractor and thus had the commercial contacts, although by the time of the takeover Skyways were being steadily outclassed by turboprop operators, and were reduced to ad hoc jobs, which this very much sounds like.

Lloyd were in a similar market with their DC4s at the time, and also were an established MoD contractor for flights to West Germany. The reasons given for Skyways losing their MoD Constellation contracts, obsolete aircraft, don't however seem to have applied to the even more rudimentary, unpressurised, DC4 ! Maybe they were just freight tasks, moving missiles to and from the Benbecula test range.

KeMac
21st Mar 2011, 10:16
Many thanks for the responses. I was not aware of the military connection so that would seem to be the answer. It was just the thought of Constellations and DC-4s going in and out of a remote airfield on a Scottish Island just seemed a bit odd.
Thks
Keith