23 memories
A few years separate me and Captain Flynn but I relate to his memories - in fact, many years on I can remember more of what I saw through the school windows than what I was supposed to be seeing inside! 
My nostalgia cells have been working overtime since my last entry above and, for the record (and anyone interested) another of those night freighters I used to lie awake waiting for in the late 1960s was the nightly Sabena DC-6 (whilst typing this a long lost memory file deep in my brain was triggered and the rego OO-CTK came to mind - think I'm on track here).
Also, I'm fairly sure we had a nightly Lufthansa Curtiss C-46 (chartered from Capitol) every night but my memory is not quite as certain - they definitely did visit in daytime on freight runs and I have a vague memory of their distinctive sound at night but that could be a trick of the years - anyone confirm or deny?
There were overnight/early morning arrivals also of Aer Lingus Carvairs (later - I think - chartered out to Aer Turas with a mixture of DC-4 and Bristol 170 types). And KLM DC-7s on early morning daily visits were standard.
Going back further into my (older and dimmer) Southall 23 memories are visions of Ambassadors, Constellations, DC-3s by the dozen, Vikings (same), Convair Liners and Yorks with my father pointing out the differences between them and lighting the fuse of a life long interest. I remember the excitement amongst the boys in my classroom at Featherstone Road Juniors (as it was) when the first Vanguard flew over - the teacher was not as excited I also recall. Aaah - the sound of Tynes (which spookily I still occasionally hear on the far side of the world from the one and only flying Belfast which is based in Oz now).
Bit of a pity that the kids of the area won't have the same opportunity to watch the parade of passing aircraft any more (though the new runway, if it goes ahead, could put aircraft close to southern parts of Southall again) but I don't reckon that the standardised Airbus/Boeing fleets of today would hold as much appeal as those classics anyway - hope I'm wrong.
Last edited by Panop; 17th Aug 2008 at 17:00.
Reason: removed links to pics to avoid being ppruned by mods