Nicosia Airport

[SKI]

Any one visited it lately, I belive a Trident is still there?

[treadigraph]

This (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=nicosia&ie=UTF8&ll=35.16217,33.272803&spn=0.005833,0.013121&t=k&z=17&om=1) possibly? Dunno when image was taken.

[spekesoftly]

You might like to look at posts #1326 & #1327 on the Which Aerodrome ? thread, although nothing specific about the Cyprus Airways Tridents.

[wrecker]

Think it might be 5B-DAC
it was still there mid October

[tubby linton]

I seem to remember seeing a photograph of a gripper in the hangar as well!

[chevvron]

All I get from the link is 'Error on page'

[treadigraph]

Hmmm, not sure why Chevvron, still works for me. :confused:

[sanddancer]

Good while since I was there (mid-90's) but as well as the Trident there was a Shackleton (v well stripped) on the far side of the runways. The light a/c had all been shifted by then.

[spekesoftly]

The last time I was at Nicosia Airport was the Summer of 1974. (At the time I was working in the joint mil/civil ATCC situated just a few hundred yards east of the terminal building). I can recall one Trident being parked on the threshold of Runway 32 in an attempt to deny use of the Airfield. It was subsequently very badly damaged during an air strike. Somewhere I should still have an aerial photo of the sad remains, taken a few days later.

Another Trident parked at Nicosia only suffered relatively minor damage, and was eventually repaired and flown back to the UK. BA used it on the UK domestic shuttle service for a number of years, before donating it to Duxford in 1982, where it still resides.

The Shackleton may well be the same one I remember parked on the fire dump just south of RWY 09 threshold. I believe it had been donated by the RAF to the Airport for Fire Crew training, some years earlier.

[621andy]

I was working in cyprus this year, and it was strictly no access to Nicosia airport. I suspect the UN chappies can nose about, but for normal peeps it's no go.

The Shackleton is probably one of two now located at Paphos airport along with a French Nord somehting or other(I'm sure someone will remind me what it is!)

[treadigraph]

The other aircraft at Paphos looks like a Dassault Flamant? Edit: yes it is, F-AZEN.

There is a Shack at Nicosia as per this thread (post 37) (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=295806) which can also be seen on Googlemap just south of the 09 threshold.

[DH106]

There's also the wreck of a Tu-104 to the north of the airfield, just outside the airfield perimeter.

[newswatcher]

621andy says I was working in cyprus this year, and it was strictly no access to Nicosia airport. I suspect the UN chappies can nose about, but for normal peeps it's no go.

Apologies for very late response, guess I missed this first time round, and only discovered through search.

My wife and I visited the airport in October 2000. I previously contacted the UNFICYP through their internet site and, if I remember, I had to send a copy of our passport details. I was met by an Irish soldier just inside one of the perimeter security checkpoints, and spent about two hours there. I saw the Trident and was taken through the terminal building, much the same as it was left at the time of the invasion! The RAF control tower was in a poor state. Some of the hangars at the SE of the runway were being used for helicopter operations. Bizarrely, I was able to visit the actual married quarters that we used to occupy back in the mid-50s when my father was stationed there. It was being used as the UN housing office.

Things may have changed since 2000, but worth a try, if you are keen to visit.

[621andy]

Unfortunately I'm in Switzerland this year:(:} But thanks anyway Newswatcher :ok: I'm sure I'll be back over there at some point so I'll try and have a nose around...

[POHL]

Ah! Nicosia! The early morning 'deep dropper parade', the Mess games with
43, horse riding, raids downtown and Timbou.

One breathless morning in July '63 at Timbou I witnessed the entire 'nascent' Army Air Corps self destruct, doing circuits. All three aircraft crashed on/near the airfield in perfect flying weather.

The first intrepid aviator,from memory, rounded out a good 50' too high! Crash crash.
Strip cleared, the second unfortunate flying downwind low, encountered a ground explosion,set off by other Brown Jobs, beneath the aircraft causing said machine to flutter to the ground in skeletal fashion. Huge mirth from the assembled RAF audience.
The final stalwart ,no doubt, now totally unnerved managed only to make the scrubby undershoot area thus completing the total destruction of the
entire new 'Service'
Needless to say, no one suffered any serious injuries and thankfully we were thus spared the incessant Brown Job braying for some considerable period!

[Groundloop]

This possibly? Dunno when image was taken.

According to Google Earth the image is dated Oct 15, 2003.

[Captain Airclues]

SKI

I visited Nicosia Airport in November last year. The photos mentioned in earlier posts were taken on that visit. The Trident is still there although it's looking a little worse for wear. I have some photos but not in electronic format and I'm not sure how to scan them.

The terminal building is in good condition externally although birds have made a mess of the floor. The check-in desks and immigration booths are still as they were left in 1974. The doors of the large hangar are locked and nobody knew what was inside.

The runway is in good condition. I don't think that it would be difficult to re-commission the airfield if the two sides could sort out their problems.

Dave