This thread brought back many memories, out of all the airports in the world the old Ringway seems to be part of so many peoples lives with a huge following, a sort of institution.
I don't know what it was with Manchester but everyone seemed to have an interest in aviation, my first memory was as a 5 year old standing in the middle of our avenue in Wythenshawe with all the other residents watching the first 747 arrive on finals some 2 miles from the airport. Other normalities at the time were family day trips to the airport the science of flying still being a novelty especially if you were from a council estate. Imagine suggesting this to the wife now for a family day out!
My plane sporting days were the mid to late 1970's. What I remember paraphrasing the good memories are as follows:
Walking to the airport on a Saturday morning with my wagon wheels to get the KLM Dc8F departure. If I got there earlier enough I would also see the Kar AIr DC6F depart
The winding sound of the dart engines from the HS748 and Viscounts, very distinctive and still haunts me today. You could hear them miles before arriving at the airport.
I was fortunate or posh enough to have an annual pass for the airport pier viewing terraces, limited to about 200 people a year and signed off my the airport director.
The row of portable plastic TV's moulded into the seats with crap reception in the domestic lounge.
The bar and the island information office with their issues of the world airlines ABC timetable guides? (Have I got the title right.)
The airline offices at the back of the terminal where the checkin offices were. The sponging of timetables, stickers, baggage tags from these offices.
Collecting airline postcards, writing to head offices for
PR cards and swapping with fellow enthusiast on the terraces.
Binoculars 8x40 10x50 or if you were really lucky 12x50. The large square radios, approach 118.7
Aircraft Flying overheads from the airport multi-storey car park, were they called spicks or specks? If you had the more powerful binoculars you could possibly make out the reg.
I was a member of a spotters club called Starliner, anyone remember this? I remember Malcolm Gresty a hairy bloke who had a scope instead of binoculars. I went on some of their trips to. Greenham Common, Luton and Gatwick, Heathrow, all overnighters on a coach and very exciting for a young boy on his own.
The Guppy's you could hear them approach from miles way, not sure what type of engines they were fitted with.
I loved the Tupolev 134's with the glass noses and swept back wings. Aviogenex seemed to be in abundance.
Any one remember the Sabena 737-200 that landed at Woodford instead of Ringway? Or the Lufthansa 737-200 with patched up bullet holes still visible from a high jacking whereby the pilot was killed (not at Manchester) or the singer John Denver arriving on his private Lockheed Electra.
Anyhow the list of memories are endless, great days, being at the airport kept me out of trouble a blessing for a young lad out of Wythenshawe!
I have long since moved away, but like many others when I return my head rotates up to the Manchester skies and sad to say the variety is no longer there any more. I even ventured for a nostalgic visit to the modern airport recently and didn't even recognise it.
Great thread, thanks.