Originally Posted by
Bigt
I seem to recall there was some connection with `Hards Travel Service`...in fact the viscounts were registered to them. RGR & RIR left Janus in the direction of Zaire....BDRC was PWFU after just 8 months with Janus....co the suggestion of corrosion is probably correct
Hards Travel Service operated for many years out of BHX, mainly offering Ski holidays in winter, and lakes and mountains holidays to resorts in Austria. Back in the day the chartered Bavaria Flug 1-11s operating from BHX to Munich (Riem). My histrorical copies of the Birmingham Airport Timetable (6d. from the airport shop - that's 2.5 pence in today's money) show several flight per week in peak season - destinations included Mayrhofen in Austria, and Malcesine on Lake Garda. The company was owned by Cliff Hards, who founded it back in the 1960s.
The Viscounts began operating from Coventry, I believe to Beauvais, several times a day, where passengers transferred to coaches to their onward destinations. I can't remember the Heralds operating from CVT, I think they came in after the operation moved to Lydd.
Sadly, today there seems no room for niche operators like Hards.