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.
Same here we used to meet in Leigh at 7am get the bus into the Arndale then leg it over to Piccadilly to get the 44 which would get us there about 9.30. I remember nearly catching pneumonia one Friday in Feb 80/1 standing on pier C waiting for the Weekly Northwest Orient 747 Freighter.
There was always a Fred Olsen Convair in on Sat mornings and also the weekly TransAmerica DC10 to look forward to.