Originally Posted by
Shaggy Sheep Driver
I used to work for Burroughs (remember them?) in the 1970s and spent periods at their Southend training centre on various courses. I remember the Carvairs climbing out over the town. Big radial piston engined aeroplanes were not so rare back then so I paid them far less attention than I would now.
Well I worked there as well. They generally used the Airport Hotel (nowadays called the Skylark but still all the same buildings), not at all well suited for the terminal, being beyond walking distance, but backing right onto the airfield at the west end, where Carvair G-AOFW sat unused through the whole period of 1979-81 that I was a regular there. It was right in front when you opened the curtains each morning. There were no fences or anything, we quite regularly just walked over the grass to look at anything interesting there.
There were an astounding range of high jinks which those of us on the graduate trainee programme got up to, something for another time though ...
G-AOFW Described here
G-AOFW | Southend Airport Aviation Database