Just found this thread - it's brilliant. Took me right back to the summer (around 1960) when my late Dad took me to London for a week. We did the museums etc. and spent a lot of time in the viewing patch on the N side, close by the statue of Alcock and Brown. He blagged us in to the (IIRC) 'Green Dragon' whcih I think was the staff canteen towards the eastern end of the N aprons. Recall it was full of guys in oily overalls. Guess they were from the BOAC Brits outside, along with early jets and the Panair do Brasil Connie which I eagerly 'spotted'.
I took distant photos of the Air France Connies which operated the Paris shuttle, the Aer Lingus Connie, and a BOAC DC-7 freighter with BEA cargo titles.
In later years, overnight coach trips to Farnborough saw us walking through the tunnel to the central area for brekkie, before bussing onward to the Show. It was a bl..dy long walk too !