"I was one of those boys in my fawn Parker with the 10x50 bins and big radio in the 70's." Like the guy on the right in this photo of mine from 1974 (taken at EMA rather than M/C, but a good illustration of mid-1970's teenaged boys fashionable attire back then):
Piper Apache G-ASDI, Castle Donington, 16-3-74e | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Airband radios: my first was a "Flight Four," I think. Made in Hong Kong (as most radios in those days were) and pretty good. But when I got older (bit more pocket money from my not ungenerous parents), I got really ambitious and bought myself a HUGE Hira airband radio, costing a lot of money in those days.
Whereas I had been able to fit the Flight Four in a shoulder bag, I had to buy a special holdall for the Hira. I think I only finally threw both out as recently as 2000, when I moved house and had a major chucking out session-both had long since ceased working.
On bad weather days, I would sit in "The Glasshouse" on top of the then main terminal building. And this am, in one of those strange quirks of memory, someone mentioned a guy with the surname Fox, who I used to know (not a spotter and not from the 1970's); and it reminded me of how, whenever his name was/is mentioned, I used to/still do refer to him as "Foxie 55."
That moniker came from a day spotting at Ringway in the 1970's, when I picked up on my Hira radio, a US military "flyover," using the call sign "Foxtrot 55." In a subsequent communication, he shortened that to "Foxie 55" and that moniker came back to me when I met this guy named Fox twenty-five years later!
And here are links to a few other of my a/c photos from the 1970's, where-accidentally-other spotters are in view:
Biggin Hill 18-5-74 IAS Britannia G-AOVS | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Manchester1973Alitalia747 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
ScanImage 6v2-G-APPX as improved by PeterEdin | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Anybody recognise themselves?
Finally, given the total rip-off parking prices at the airport's (otherwise excellent, but a £3 for one hour, £6 for two hours; and £12 for any period of three hours or longer charge really does ruin it), I actually spent some time finding out yesterday how to get there by train and bus-and it's quite do-able. Either that or take a car-load of people.
Back in the 70's, I used to catch the 44 bus to the airport from Gatley, after quite a long walk from my parents' house in Cheadle.