Originally Posted by
lakerman
I, and my wife to be, went on a day trip from Southampton to Rotterdam and on to Keukonhof (forgive the spelling) Gardens for the Tulip Festival on 6th May 1966, all inclusive with meals for the princely sum of £8. This was aboard an Airspeed Ambassador of Dan-Air.
This was one of what became quite an operation in the Spring, visiting the "Dutch Bulbfields" and other attractions, for day return trips, or just a couple of days, using aircraft marginal time just before the main Mediterranean season got into gear. The major tour operator doing these was Clarksons, and the airlines they used were principally Dan-Air and Channel. Once Clarksons went out of business in 1974 they rather faded away. They operated from a wide variety of local airports, out morning, back evening, and the aircraft often then positioned on to the following days' departure point. There was a secondary operator of these based in Bristol, who I knew, whose day trip from Bristol to Basle, extensively marketed to women's social groups in Somerset country villages, used an Invicta Vanguard, which sadly ended up as the Basle crash of 1973.