Originally Posted by
WHBM
BIA Heralds at Gatwick were a further hangover from British United days, I don't have any timetable but recall that the "Silver Arrow" service from Gatwick to Le Touquet was handed across from BUA to continue operation, with Heralds, for a while. It had train connections from Gatwick to London (the regular service) and from Le Touquet to Paris, a special train service for which a branch line was laid in the 1960s right into the airport, and across the apron, with the small diesel train used standing next to the Herald.
The last time I took G-WHBM into Le Touquet a few years ago the tracks were still there embedded in the asphalt. Tjhe railway signals no longer showed any lights but were still physically there, rusting. I commented on all this as we bounced over it, but there was general non-comprehension ... if my navigation is any good (no comments please) Le Touquet is actually closer to London than it is to Paris, so the French train was the longest leg. Looking at Google Earth, the tracks are indeed still there now.
I think the Gatwick BIA Heralds also operated to Jersey on low demand services, as they had previously done, on subcharter to B. Cal.
I worked as a Movement Controller for BIA at Gatwick from 1973 until 1978. In that time the Heralds were based at Gatwick and Blackpool only. Crews were based at Gatwick, Southampton, Jersey (cabin crew only) and Blackpool. Movement Control was based at Gatwick with Operations Officers manning Ops rooms at Blackpool, Jersey and Southampton. Maintenance base was Blackpool. It is a long time ago now and I cannot remember how many Heralds were based at Gatwick. We certainly operated a Gatwick-Guernsey-Gatwick scheduled pax service, likewise Silver Arrow to Le Touquet. Basic pattern of Operation was daily departure in the wee small hours of two freighter services one LGW/JER the other LGW/GCI carrying newspapers and mail. On arrival in the Channel Islands seats would be fitted to the Heralds and they would then do a full day's pax flying on the network before returning to the Channel Islands in the evening where the seats would be removed and the aircraft loaded with flowers and vegetables for their return to LGW. We also operated a nightly newspaper service for Sabena LGW/BRU/LGW and a scheduled pax service Gatwick-Antwerp-Gatwick. I'm sure there were other schedules we operated from LGW and charters too but it's all a bit of a haze now, though I can with certainty say that we did not operate a pax service LGW/JER.