Originally Posted by
kala87
....significant base at Luton during the late 60's and early 70's, from about 1969 to 1974.
The based aircraft were 3 short-fuselage 1-11's (ex-British Eagle I think), plus one or two Comets.
The One-Elevens were from American Airlines, as well as former British Eagle ones, but the charter contracts from Luton were largely ex-Eagle ones, which Dan-Air picked up when Eagle went out of business. British Eagle was the last real charter operator based at Heathrow, but Dan-Air chose to set up a new base at Luton for these flights rather than use their established one at Gatwick.
This must have been the time when Dan-Air were finally winding up their Airspeed Ambassador fleet. One of these was based at Liverpool and operated daily to Amsterdam, an oddball link in their network. Anyone who is familiar with the sleeve-valved Bristol Centaurus radials on the Ambassador will know they were liable to smoke on startup, and after 15 years in service plus standing overnight at Speke, the morning start-up was something to see (although any aircraft parked behind it was not then something you could see for a few minutes). I wonder if any passenger ever had to be offloaded after witnessing it ! They must have got through several gallons of lube each day.