Very interesting read this thread. I was particularly interested in the photo of the Autair Herald G-APWC in post 177, since it was the first aircraft I ever flew in, when it was operated by BEA. The flight was from Turnhouse to Renfrew and cost 13/-.
I have passed through Luton flying 'Smith Air' a few times. The last time I flew from there was in 1995 on an ex-Brittania 737, flown by Sabre Airways. They were transporting an ATC Summer Camp's-worth of cadets and staff to Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri. I found it strange that we didn't fly direct to Akrotiri but instead refuelled at Athens. They never came back for us and a Monarch 757 did the honours instead. I do recall one one flight seeing the IL-76 referred to here, parked up.
In 1974 I was based at RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire and used to watch with interest the Monarch Britannias from Luton seemingly staggering across the sky loaded with holidaymakers. The unit was involved with radio engineering and I was selected to complete a course on the Plessey AR-15 airfield radar which the RAF had just ordered. By lucky chance, Luton had just had an AR-15 installed, the first in UK if I remember correctly, and we were invited along to the airport to see it in operation.
I have a vivid memory of our group being briefed at the radar head and one curious (or bored) individual deciding to see what was inside one of the cabinets. Unfortunately he chose one which had an interlock on it and when he pulled the door open, that radar ran down. The engineer who was briefing us went crazy, he shouted "This isn't the bl**dy RAF, there are thousands of real people up there!".
