Ace Airways

[Lukeafb1]

Whatever happened to ACE AIRWAYS?

I remember a Super Conny belonging to Ace, which was contracted to ferry some detachment equipment from Wyton to Sharjah in the 60s. It was painted all white (where it wasn’t scratched, dented or covered in oil), with a large black ace on the fin.

Rumour had it, that it was owned by a small group of (ex) air force guys and their aircraft (don’t know how many they had – one, possibly?) were serviced by Air France. I remember, that the one which came into Wyton, was in such a poor state of repair, that we actually had to service it for them (mainly engine leaks and hydraulic leaks, if I remember correctly). Not even sure whether that would have been legal, as far as the CAA were concerned.

The three crew, reminded me of James Stewart’s character in “Flight of the Phoenix” (which came out at about the same time).

I know one thing though, I wouldn’t even have taxied in it to the end of the dispersal, let alone flown in the bl@@dy thing!

[No comment]

Try this:



Ace Airways (http://airlines.afriqonline.com/airlines/441.htm)

[Spot 4]

I have a photo somewhere of an Ace Connie @ LPL sat on its tail, ie nosewheel aloft due to mishandling whilst offloading freight.

Had you inserted an "M" to make it ACME it wouldnt have looked out of place:O

[Fokkerwokker]

Ha! I was there that morning. Think it was the ciggy flight to Dublin?

Seem to remember the British Eagle Station Manager (in his usual haze) suggesting that a lassoe was thrown around the nose to haul it down.

Happy days....or daze in his case

FW

[thetexpat]

And as the last flight deck member stepped onto the mx. steps, the nose rose with the loadmaster hanging on to the now open freight door!
Believe the loadmaster went on to work for Autair/CourtLine in BoomTown!
Obviously didn't do the standard 'oleo-extension trim/W&B check before departure'!
Cheers
thetexpat

[Saint-Ex]

Actually it was Ace Freighters.Based at Gatwick with engineering at Coventry. Flew for the Air Force, for the most part, to Aden, Hong Kong, Singapore and Auz. Neville Shute called the company "the last of the Tramp airlines." Despite the previous comments, the aircraft had few technical problems. I had one engine failure on a DC4 which we 3 engined ferried from Karachi to the UK, and a nosewheel that could not be lowered for landing at Aden with some Brit. engines on board. That was quite exciting! Two engines feathered on the approach and the other two after main wheel contact (at night). The 3 bladed props were all positioned so no blade touced the tarmac when the nose was lowered on to the runway. Fire crew did more damage to the aircraft putting out a small electrical fire in the nosewheel bay than was sufferred by the landing. That was real flying when one had almost no radio aids bar NDBs, poor met forecasting and landings at night when one had to make HF contact 45 minutes before arrival so the minions could rush out and set fire to the runway flares. I learned more about flying in 3 years than the other 32 0f my career. Wouldn`t have missed it for the world.

[SPIT]

I remember a time (70s) at Liverpool Speke airport when an Aer Turas DC 7 delivered a load of Horses for the grand national. Unde the nose of the a/c was the captain ? sheltering from the rain. The two Stbd engines were black and leaking something. I asked the Pilot what was wrong and he replied that these engines always liked to run wet so he always carried a 40gal drum of Oil inside the a/c and that was probably what was running out? but being a good mick he was smoking a fag under this ac. I got to hell out of there:D :D

[treadigraph]

Keep these recollections coming: I recall seeing pics of Ace Connies in books, but being an (almost) young sprog born just too late to take an interest in the aviation going on around me in the 60s, I missed out on these classics. Indeed, the MATS Connie's visit in 1998 was the first time I saw one in the air, though I heard an EC-121 fly over once in 1970something, early on a Sunday morning, and didn't bother to get out of bed as I thought it would be something boring... My mate over the road did... how wrong can one be...

How about Lanzair... the visit to the Biggin Air Fair in 1976? Some of you must have been there? CamelPilot?

[gaterbait]

RRIVED AT LYNEHAM IN JUN 66 & I SEEM TO REMEMBER ACE FREIGHTERS FLYING ARMS TO IRAQ? USING B17s? BUT I COULD BE WRONG.

[Captain Slogg]

As a young lad in the mid 60`s (and dare I admit it -a spotter) our school arranged a trip to Coventry cathedral-which was quite a distance from where we lived. As the coach approached Coventry over on the left hand side we passed Coventry airport and up on the hill we could see two Connies and a DC-4.
On arrival at the cathedral the headmaster who was organising the trip said we had two hours to wander around the cathedral, and to make notes so that we could write an essay all about it afterwards. The only notes we wanted to take were the reggies of the Connies!
Well we reckoned two hours would be more than enough to get the bus to the airport and be back in time for the coach home.
We wandered all around the airport (as you could in those days) where there were Messengers/Geminis/Austers etc and I remember a civil registered Beaver-but the Ace freighters machines were what we really wanted to see.
We made it back to the coach just in time having seen nothing of the Cathedral.
The Connies were the two Ace freighters L-749s G-ASYS and G-ASYT (forget what the DC-4 )
We cribbed notes from the others in order to try write the essay!!
Happy days.

[surely not]

I have a couple of pics of two Ace Freighter Connies at CVT. My father took the pics and didn't have a fancy camera at the time so not sure if they'll scan well, but I'll give it a try and then try to uplift them onto the site if anyone is interested.

It'll be a couple of weeks as I'm going down under for a couple of weeks.

[Spiney Norman]

Hi Spit.
I know this is slightly off topic but I well remember the Aer Turas DC7 running off the end of 08 at Luton. Fortunately there were no horses on board but there were some grooms who were playing cards down the back. As the aircraft came to a halt among the approach lights they climbed out of the rear cargo door and waited as the fire service arrived. Suddenly, one of them remembered he'd left his wallet and winnings inside the aircraft and climbed back in! The fire chief spotted him and yelled to jump out quickly as there was a serious risk of fire. The groom jumped and broke both his ankles, thus becoming the only casualty! Poor old EIAWG, (I think), was a write off.

Spiney
P.S. We were told that the cause was a failure in the reverse-pitch controls, which had put all props into fully fine. Don't know if this is true, seemed strange to me I must admit!

[PaperTiger]

Not B-17s, gaterbait. Ace only had the aforementioned Connies and some DC-4s. Perhaps one of these tipped on its tail during loading. Closest I can come to a "B-17" ;)