The last flight I had at Filton was a flypast in the RAF's last VC10K2 on its way to the scrapyard at St Athan. The purpose being to honour the memory of Brian Trubshaw who had passed away a few days earlier.
My first flight at Lulsgate was in 1962 - my first ever flight! A family friend flew us in a brand new Piper Caribbean for an hour around Somerset...I was hooked!
Road access to Lulsgate is diabolical and the runway is still too short for large, intercontinental airliners - I recall when it was extended 'for the Viscount' in 1963. The A38 was rerouted, but even so, the RW is only just over 2000m in length with a displaced threshold on RW27, some 20% shorter than Filton, which is also 400 ft lower, has excellent road connections and the potential for direct rail connection.
Nope, Lulsgate was the wrong decision; Bristol should have moved from to Lulsgate to Filton when the limitations of Lousy Bottom became all too obvious. But it used to be fun for a little lad in short trousers to watch the comings and goings from the viewing area on what we called the 'new' terminal - the exciting new Aer Lingus Fokker Friendship being particularly memorable, shortly after the airport opened.
Last edited by BEagle; 19th Jan 2013 at 08:01.