Xmas Eve 1958
There were some good old memories in the posts about Xmas Eve 1958. Inevitably with the passage of time the story has become distorted . This is true of the first two of the preceding accounts though the later posts have done a good job to put the record straight. At risk of boring the non-anorak readers here is some more.
First off I believe the total diversion figure on the 24th was 47, not the “over 50" that gets quoted. There were 3 further arrivals on Xmas day plus an Air Charter Tudor that had diverted in from STN on three engines on the 23rd remained there throughout taking up ramp space. Then on the 26th BEA used a pair of DC-3s to ferry their crews in from LHR. Maybe all these together produced the figure of “over 50.”
The first arrivals were not “Lufthansa Viscount 400s” (there was no such thing) but a Lufthansa Convair 340 and a BEA Viscount. Shortly after, two Air France Viscounts arrived in quick succession after a low visual circuit of the town which must have a roused the awareness of any locals interested in aviation that something unusual was happening. The KLM Connie soon after was indeed an L749 as already noted.
The majority of diversions were from LHR but there were a handful from LGW, Blackbushe and Croydon. I believe LGW was open at first and took some LHR diversions but soon succumbed to the fog.
It is not correct to say that BEA decided to position their ground equipment to SEN as a result of this big diversion. They had already done so since (IIRC) the previous winter. SEN itself only had one set of passenger steps suitable for Viscount sized aircraft, so the BEA steps were invaluable. Their Viscounts did not have integral steps at that time.
The story of the Pan Am 707 was published in the local newspaper. The claim was its arrival was only prevented by the arrival of the fog at SEN on Xmas day. I have always had my doubts as to whether this was ever a serious possibility.
All in all it was a remarkable set of circumstances - a widespread fog that left only SEN unaffected on a day of heavy traffic with (one guesses) an element of get-home-itis - whereas on any other day many of those flights would have been cancelled. And an outstanding performance by SEN ATC in handling it all with only limited equipment at their disposal and a severely congested airfield to cope with.
I was not going to bother with this contribution as it seemed to have missed the boat, but on further reflection I felt some light relief was necessary from the ongoing SEN Punch-and-Judy show on this thread which has now become exceptionally tedious.