Originally Posted by
Lokwyr
Am I the oldest Stanstead user on the forum?
Departed there in Feb 1954 for Cyprus. Was scheduled for a York but we were told it had an engine fire. The eventual replacement was a brand new Hermes. With Nose Landing Gear!!
The "terminal" was a shed, with duckboards laid across the mud to the hard standing where the aircraft awaited. In the rain. And dark.
I don't remember the airline; it was a trooping flight. The only things I recall- jumping in the aisle to see if the aircraft would overtake me before I landed and the absolutely worst breakfast ever at RAF Luqa. Vile doesn't come near.
Airwork London and Hunting Clan we're both using Hermes on trooping flights during the fifties so the aircraft could have belonged to either.
In 1960, Hunting Clan Air Transport merged with the Airwork group to form British United Airways (BUA).
Just to add and hoping that it's a typo but it's STANSTED never Stanstead 😉.
Here is a photo of an Airwork Airways Hermes G-ALDO at Blackbushe Airport in 1952.
