quote:-
"The first I remember is before I validated so pre-1971 when we took 45 diversions from Heathrow on a Saturday morning. We parked them everywhere, inc along the apron
centreline from stand 9, 'first in, last out'".
4th January 1969 I remember visiting the airport in the afternoon after hearing the lunchtime news referring to LHR and LGW being closed all morning due to fog, with LTN
being one of the airports accepting diverted flights. So I guess this was the day referred to by vintage ATCO? I counted 20 diverted aircraft so must have missed a lot.
This was the only photo I managed to get before a fog bank crept across the runway, quickly enveloping the whole airport for the rest of the day.
For the record, the other diversions I recorded were 2 KLM DC-9's, 3 Aer Lingus Viscounts, 2 B.E.A. Vanguards, 2 more B.E.A. Tridents, a B.E.A. Argosy, Cambrian, BKS and Channel Viscounts, a BKS Britannia 102, 2 B.U.A. 1-11 200's and a BUIA Herald.