How did Heathrow used to look ?
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AMos Keeto, wow that looks good.
I bet that was alot of work to do. Must have taken a while to build.
would you be able to post another pic of your model (like a general overview of your model airfield) ?
RD
I bet that was alot of work to do. Must have taken a while to build.
would you be able to post another pic of your model (like a general overview of your model airfield) ?
RD
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Would an Air France Connie and the 727 in the background have been there at the same time ?
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Amazing, more pics please! Are those the Corgi models?
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Not to nitpick (after all, you're free to have deliberate anachronisms if you want), but I seriously doubt Air France 727s visited Heathrow in 1964 or 1965. There were -200 Advanced versions, which would put them at 1969 or so at the earliest, I think.
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Amos Keeto, Supurb model ! Wow wish I had that amount of skill and patience ! Below is the bottom right hand corner of your photo ?
Look at the wide open spaces on this one ? and the BOAC ad on the fire station.
BOAC maintenance area again, looking busy ?
All photos courtesy of Colin Laurie, with permission. Keith.
Look at the wide open spaces on this one ? and the BOAC ad on the fire station.
BOAC maintenance area again, looking busy ?
All photos courtesy of Colin Laurie, with permission. Keith.
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I remember that when the Piccadilly Line terminated at Hounslow West one had to catch a London Transport single decker (A1?) which, I think, ran nonstop to the central area and was, when I used it, frequently packed. This would have been the early '70s.
P.S. I, too, recall cycling into the central area.
P.S. I, too, recall cycling into the central area.
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I thought the bus from Hounslow West to central was 91B, may be wrong, we are talking almost 50 years ago ! spotting at London Airport !
Glory Daze. Keith.
Glory Daze. Keith.
The A1 nonstop bus from Hounslow West station to the Central Area started in about 1969, and ran until the Underground was extended about 10 years later. They used old London single-deck buses from the early 1950s (AEC RF type for the technically minded) with their whining transmissions and thundering engines, and some seats taken out for luggage racks and more standing room. Eventually it was found the Underground was not as universally convenient as hoped and a new express A1 bus was started, this time from Heathrow to Central London. This lasted until the Heathrow Express came along.
Every week in 'Skyport' there is a brief article about some kind of historical aspect of flying at Heathrow and/or Gatwick. This weeks issue covers the creation of the twin-bore tunnel from the A4 Bath road into the Central Area, and has a photo showing the work in progress.
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Some great memories here....
As someone who grew up in Hounslow (underneath 28R) and later lived in Harlington and Sipson I also have lots of memeories... here are a few (which seem difficult to believe in today's security driven world)
I remember the first BOAC 747 at LHR (G-AWNA??) .... it and a couple of others were parked on the North side but could be easily accessed from a service road off of the Bath Road. I went there one evening with my dad (1969?) and we just parked up and calmly walked around the "sound baffle wall" and explored the undercarriage of this unbelievable aircraft. No one seemed in the slightest bothered by us being there!
In the early 70s I would get the 82 bus from Hounslow garage to LHR, and with other urchins would go around the terminals collecting anything that was free.... timetables luggage labels etc (in fact I have just bought the 1970 ESSO guide to London Airport from Ebay... I used to get one a week in those days!).... but most of all sugar cubes from the cafés, we would then go to the edge of the balcony in T1 and drop them onto the heads of the poor sods siting in the public phone areas on the lower floor (sorry if I ever got you)
In the mid 70s everyone my age had a sports moped (FS1Es, AP50s etc). The airport tunnel (the smaller bike/pedestrian one) was the favored place for seeing how fast your bike could go... the gentle slope down and no wind allowed us Fizzie boys to see 50mph on the clock. Most evenings you could see boy racers whizzing through, chin on the tank!
I particularly remember one evening in the early 80s in the White Hart (Harlington). A girl I was with knew I was interested in aircraft and asked if i would like to sit in the cockpit of Concorde. A call was duly made and after the pubs shut we headed off for TB J (i think). It turned out her mate's husband was the foreman electrician on the night shift , and for small donation to their tea swindle you could get a guided tour of anything in the hangar that night (and for me that was 747s and Concorde). The ground systems were all powered up and I had great fun whizzing back and forth in the the electrically powered captain's seat. There were several other parties also going around... they had quit a little thing going!!
Other memories include seeing the plume of smoke from our back garden when the BOAC 707 lost an engine and caught fire ('67?).... and returning from Pirbright range as an ATC cadet and being caught in the Sunday afternoon traffic at the Crooked Billett on the A30 when Papa India crashed.
In later years, racing a guy in an MGB off the lights at Hatton Cross and in th ensuing burn up around the perimeter road the MGB spun and rolled on the very sharp bend on the Northern Perimeter road and he had to be rescued by a transit full of BA workers who lifted the car up for him to crawl out, and the Pan Am maintenance base on the south side that always had a 727 parked there...
Sadly it just not the same over there anymore....
As someone who grew up in Hounslow (underneath 28R) and later lived in Harlington and Sipson I also have lots of memeories... here are a few (which seem difficult to believe in today's security driven world)
I remember the first BOAC 747 at LHR (G-AWNA??) .... it and a couple of others were parked on the North side but could be easily accessed from a service road off of the Bath Road. I went there one evening with my dad (1969?) and we just parked up and calmly walked around the "sound baffle wall" and explored the undercarriage of this unbelievable aircraft. No one seemed in the slightest bothered by us being there!
In the early 70s I would get the 82 bus from Hounslow garage to LHR, and with other urchins would go around the terminals collecting anything that was free.... timetables luggage labels etc (in fact I have just bought the 1970 ESSO guide to London Airport from Ebay... I used to get one a week in those days!).... but most of all sugar cubes from the cafés, we would then go to the edge of the balcony in T1 and drop them onto the heads of the poor sods siting in the public phone areas on the lower floor (sorry if I ever got you)
In the mid 70s everyone my age had a sports moped (FS1Es, AP50s etc). The airport tunnel (the smaller bike/pedestrian one) was the favored place for seeing how fast your bike could go... the gentle slope down and no wind allowed us Fizzie boys to see 50mph on the clock. Most evenings you could see boy racers whizzing through, chin on the tank!
I particularly remember one evening in the early 80s in the White Hart (Harlington). A girl I was with knew I was interested in aircraft and asked if i would like to sit in the cockpit of Concorde. A call was duly made and after the pubs shut we headed off for TB J (i think). It turned out her mate's husband was the foreman electrician on the night shift , and for small donation to their tea swindle you could get a guided tour of anything in the hangar that night (and for me that was 747s and Concorde). The ground systems were all powered up and I had great fun whizzing back and forth in the the electrically powered captain's seat. There were several other parties also going around... they had quit a little thing going!!
Other memories include seeing the plume of smoke from our back garden when the BOAC 707 lost an engine and caught fire ('67?).... and returning from Pirbright range as an ATC cadet and being caught in the Sunday afternoon traffic at the Crooked Billett on the A30 when Papa India crashed.
In later years, racing a guy in an MGB off the lights at Hatton Cross and in th ensuing burn up around the perimeter road the MGB spun and rolled on the very sharp bend on the Northern Perimeter road and he had to be rescued by a transit full of BA workers who lifted the car up for him to crawl out, and the Pan Am maintenance base on the south side that always had a 727 parked there...
Sadly it just not the same over there anymore....
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agreed-so so much has changed.
i remember the 105 bus route, with those jump on, jump off routemaster buses which used to travel from shepherds bush to heathrow, & was like soo cheap to travel on them just to see heathrow. it was like 20p return with those conductors too.
oh those were the days. i remember the first time my friend took me to heathrow when the bus fare for some days went cheap, i had no idea where i was really going, & when i got into the tunnel, i started nearly crying wondering where the hell we had got to...
i remember harry heathrow-the teddy bear, those security guards in brown uniforms who used to advise us to leave, but we didn't, that trolley tunnel next to T2 where me & my mates used to race each other on them!, the queens building where so much could be seen, the busy bus stations.
a lot of the times whilst at work, i look at things around the airport & try to place myself back in those days again. very early 80's.
i know they will never return, but the feeling of being part of that is such a good feeling.
i remember the 105 bus route, with those jump on, jump off routemaster buses which used to travel from shepherds bush to heathrow, & was like soo cheap to travel on them just to see heathrow. it was like 20p return with those conductors too.
oh those were the days. i remember the first time my friend took me to heathrow when the bus fare for some days went cheap, i had no idea where i was really going, & when i got into the tunnel, i started nearly crying wondering where the hell we had got to...
i remember harry heathrow-the teddy bear, those security guards in brown uniforms who used to advise us to leave, but we didn't, that trolley tunnel next to T2 where me & my mates used to race each other on them!, the queens building where so much could be seen, the busy bus stations.
a lot of the times whilst at work, i look at things around the airport & try to place myself back in those days again. very early 80's.
i know they will never return, but the feeling of being part of that is such a good feeling.
233SQN
Darn good thing ASBOs weren't around in those days - and security wasn't "paramount"!!
Darn good thing ASBOs weren't around in those days - and security wasn't "paramount"!!
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Amos Keeto
Great Model.
If you have a wide angle lens I would use it and stop down to get the focus sharp from foreground to background. It will look more realistic and enhance your modeling skills.
Dirtying down is another skill entirely.
I used to do all that for a living. Decades ago.
Great Model.
If you have a wide angle lens I would use it and stop down to get the focus sharp from foreground to background. It will look more realistic and enhance your modeling skills.
Dirtying down is another skill entirely.
I used to do all that for a living. Decades ago.
Last edited by aviate1138; 30th Aug 2008 at 13:17. Reason: typo
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Re the A1 bus service. RF's were not used:
The A1 Airport Express was introduced in 1969, providing a direct non-stop link between Hounslow West Underground Station and Heathrow Airport Central, as a forerunner to the Piccadilly Line extension to Heathrow. The route was initially operated by MBSs and later SMSs, and was withdrawn in 1977 when the Piccadilly Line extension opened.
The number A1 was reused in 1981 for London United’s express Airbus service between Heathrow and London (Victoria Station) via Cromwell Road. It was withdrawn in 1999 when Heathrow Express trains began running to Paddington. (cf London Transport Lettered Routes A–C)
The A1 Airport Express was introduced in 1969, providing a direct non-stop link between Hounslow West Underground Station and Heathrow Airport Central, as a forerunner to the Piccadilly Line extension to Heathrow. The route was initially operated by MBSs and later SMSs, and was withdrawn in 1977 when the Piccadilly Line extension opened.
The number A1 was reused in 1981 for London United’s express Airbus service between Heathrow and London (Victoria Station) via Cromwell Road. It was withdrawn in 1999 when Heathrow Express trains began running to Paddington. (cf London Transport Lettered Routes A–C)