Great pictures from when spotting was wonderful.
I lived in Stortford from 69 to 72 and my few memories of Stansted from that time include:
Flying to Edinburgh on an Air UK F27 and leaving the car in the car park for a week for 90p.
Taking SWMBO and sprogs to the cafe for Sunday afternoon tea and watching BOAC doing circuits and bumps.
Visiting the tower with a residents group and asking to see the radar. "What radar?"
Being woken early hours of the morning by a very low flying jet. Local rumour mill said it was a Nigerian 707 overloaded with whisky which blew down the perimeter fence and was unable to make the noise abatement turn to avoid Bishops Stortford.
Anyway I hope the above comments are of some interest and feel free to correct my memories if they have become distorted over the years.