My one and only trip in a Varsity took place in June 1956 whilst I was with Fighter Command Communications Squadron (FCCS) at RAF Bovingdon.
A 90-Group Varsity calibration aircraft (from Watton?) came down to Bovingdon to calibrate the nearby ROTOR Radar station at Chenies. This meant flying outbound and inbound tracks to the Radar station on various headings. Rather boring but it provided a useful opportunity to sightsee London from around 10,000ft. This photo shows the navigator of the Varsity at his plotting station. I recognise the R1155 HF receiver with the big tuning dial.
During the flight I took a photo of a sparsely occupied London Heathrow as it appeared in June 1956 from 10,000ft looking east. The newly completed Europa Building, later Terminal 2 is in the centre island, whilst alongside it the Oceanic Terminal; later Terminal 3 is under construction. In 1956 transatlantic traffic departed from the North Terminal alongside the A4.
No M4 as yet (in 1956 the M4 was but a gleam in the planner’s eye - the London bit of the M4 westwards opened nine years later in 1965), however the Bath Road (A4) shows up on the left as the dark strip running top to bottom parallel with the north main taxiway & runway.
On the right the A30 (the lighter of the two darkish strips) wends its way through the (then) rural delights of Middlesex towards Hounslow and London. Straight ahead and beyond the airfield boundary, just beneath the cloud line the A312 can be seen running left to right.