Luton in the Fifties. Grass track runway.

[vintage ATCO]

For Luton to have taken Britannia aircraft in the 1960s the place must have undergone a considerable runway upgrade as I don't think there was enough room for something that big to land or take off back in the mid 1950s. The ground was much too bumpy for a passenger aircraft of that size to land without suffering the "forced landing in a ploughed field" effect !

The hard runway was built in 1959 and completed in 1960. Prior to that, Jet Provosts (built there) and Derby Airways DC3s and Miles Marathons regular use to use the grass, and the Bristol Freighter taking Vauxhall cars to Ireland.

And let us not forget that John Cunningham landed a Comet on the grass on 27 Feb 1952 after fog closed Hatfield.

[merv32249213]

Luton

Started at Luton a little later than fifties, 61 to be exact, and here are some early memories.
Helicopter Services, with their crop spraying Hiller 360,s
Autair's Dakota being washed down with avgas on Mondays, by Bill, next to our old McAlpine hangar
Derby Airways on schedule service.
JP's disturbing the peace and quiet of daily life
Mr Rushdon taking his daily walk with his scottie dog.
Flying club activities . Cross country learner pilots asking us to prop swing their Tigges.
Listening to the story of the Gemini that was prop swung by its own pilot only to find that when it fired it jumped the chock and in spite of all attempts to get on board kept going round and round loosing bits of airframe . Faster and faster till the other chock was overriden and headed for the flying club bar where it stopped, still ticking over .
Ah the memories
Merv

[vintage ATCO]

It was a Messenger . . . . The wreckage was dumped around the side of the heli blister hangar. I could probably find the reg somewhere . . .

Mr Rushton's dog once got on board the daily Bristol Frightener to Ireland with Vauxhall cars. It had to come back.

[merv32249213]

Luton

Vintage Atco
Yes you are right it was a Messenger ,senior moment
Merv

[T-21]

Was it G-AJKL Miles Messenger ? It was laying behind the flying club hangar derelict in the mid seventies. When was it scrapped ? The owners replaced it with a Piper Apache.

[Plado]

That's amazing to hear these stories. I'd forgotten Mr Rushden's dog Scottie. I seem to remember Mr Rushden as a smartly dressed medium height fellow who wore a tweed jacket. He was always polite and my father used to chat with him quite a lot.

The name John Cunningham of course was frequently mentioned by my father but more in context with the "Cat's Eyes" tag I think he had during the war. I'm surprised that Comet landing was never to my knowledge mentioned. Quite an event. I know my father was once "talked down" by the control tower in bad fog at Northolt in the Proctor. The rest of our family went to fetch him in the car and it was a scary moment or three!

Also I'd not heard of the later Messenger throwing a wobbly without a pilot. My father's flying days at Smiths seemed to peter out by 1960 and the only opportunity he got to fly again was on a visit to LA when someone let him have a go in a Piper or some aircraft of similar size. Then it wasn't worth him keeping his pilot's licence going.

Anyhow thanks for those great memories of Luton that have been added here, I've really enjoyed this trip down memory lane.
--
Plado

[Antek]

The Messenger

Yes, it was 'KL. It was gone by about 1974. I remember discussing it with a bloke at Autair Helicopters who looked just like 'The Master' from Dr Who. He said I could have it for £100, but I declined.

That was in the days of the busy flying club, with the late, large, Dave Hughes at the helm.

[Plado]

Yes indeed that would make interesting reading. Do you have a copy or is there a link to a document?

You're welcome to send it to me in email if you have it. I think my email is listed here on my profile. If not get back to me and I'll post it here on the replies.

Many thanks.

[22/04]

So is that the tower we all remember under construction in the Comet photo from 1952- I thought it was built in 1959.

What was the layout of Luton runway wise prior to construction of the concrete - we remember 18/36 and 24/06 but was there a grass runway where the concrete was laid?

[D500]

MESSENGER -v-FLYING CLUB BAR

I remember that Plado! I was watching the whole thing from the entrance to the Flying Club Bar. I recall Dave Campbell (Flying Club CFI) trying to board the spinning Messenger and having to retreat every time. The alternative was to have been knocked over by a wing and then a possible haircut from the prop.
I seem to recall there were some provosts on the taxyway which was immediately in front of the tower.
Liz Overbury (Flying Club Instructor) climbed on board the aircraft when it eventually made it's way prop first into the Flying Club Bar to turn off the switches. I took a photo of her while she was doing that - rear end sticking up in the air. Never did show her. I wasn't that brave. If I can find it I'll post it. Liz passed away a couple of years back. She ended her flying career on a DA 748 based at NCL. Unfortunately I did not get to see her when I moved up here from civilisation. Pity. She was a grand lady.

[pabely]

John "Cat's Eyes" was an absolute gent to me when he lived just up the road. Great storey's he told me and much encouragement when I was in my teens. RIP.
A few laughs we had about Hatfield & Luton at the time.....

[RETDPI]

Sad to hear about Liz Overbury. Some may recall the Jet Provost accident in which her husband lost his life whilst a test pilot at Hunting -Percival.

[vintage ATCO]

So is that the tower we all remember under construction in the Comet photo from 1952- I thought it was built in 1959.

What was the layout of Luton runway wise prior to construction of the concrete - we remember 18/36 and 24/06 but was there a grass runway where the concrete was laid?

Yes, the 'old' tower was built in 1952, into service in '53.

There wasn't a grass runway where the hard rwy now is as it was pushed out of the then airfield boundary. Initial length was up to the current twy B, 5532ft, and no other twy (in 1959). It was then extended to about 6000ft where the small intermediate turning circle and then to its current length in the early 60s.

ISTR that 24/06 had a parallel, somewhere where the current terminal must be, and there was also a rwy something like 15/33 although I think when it was all grass you could land more or less in any direction.

When John Cunningham landed the HS125 on rwy 26 with no gear down he said on the RT 'I am awfully sorry, I seem to have made a mess of your runway'. John was always very polite. The following Monday he called all his test pilots into his office, explained exactly what he had done and they were not to repeat it! With the Spanish Minister of Tourism on board he was early and slowed the acft down. The gear horn was annoying him so he pulled the circuit breaker. Whoops.

The Fox on the (now) A1081 was John's local and although it has been refurbished there is still a wall dedicated to photos of John. Pity about the Spitfire though, completely out of context. I don't suppose anyone working there knows the significance.

Sorry to hear about Liz Overbury, knew her when she flew for Autair.

I have got quite a lot of old information about Luton Airport that I rescued. Must get around to sorting it but it will have to be done over a winter.

[merv32249213]

luton airport

Regards the 125 belly landing by JC, I was there and have a photograph of it
As I walked around the aircraft and glancing at the CB's,one was popped and as I had worked on the 125's I knew which one it was ,so we knew on the day.
Strange, but a Twin Comanche belonging to a certain Racing manager Colin Chapman,had a annoying U/C warning horn that was of the same nuisance and the end result was a belly landing , so John C was'nt the first .
Merv

[22/04]

Many of us seemed to be around when G-AYRR? landed wheels up that Saturday afternoon- we just kept watching not believing there were no wheels and I can still see the sparks.

Sad to hear about Elizabeth Overbury- remember her voice on Ambassadors and and then BAC One Elevens and the reponse of an ATCO - (corr!) can't remember his name bit no doubt Vintage ATCO will - he went on I think to fly 125s for Mc Alpine (the oh so pretty G-AYRY)

Luton seems to have more than its fair share of nostalgia - it seemd to have a very strong enthusiats movement back in the 60's and 70's

Happy days!

[diddy1234]

excellent thread, if it helps I found a web site of Luton through the years.

Some of the pictures also show the grass runways.

Luton Today: News, Sport, Jobs, Property, Cars, Entertainments & More

[Sultan Ismail]

De Havilland Comet at Luton

It seems to have gone unnoticed that the aircraft shown is G-ALYP which disappeared into the Mediterranean on 10 January 1954 after inflight breakup.
This tragic event set in motion an intensive aviation research project on high altitude pressurisation and metal fatigue.

[GliFly]

AAhh, Luton Flying Club inthe 50's. I took my Flying Scholoarship PPL there in August 1958, the first cadet to do so under their new 30-hour approval. CFI was Dave Campbell with Barry Radley, the Hunting T.P., assisting with instruction. Went solo on G-AOGS (Miss 'obbs - oh, the beautiful Bernice) in mid-August.
Liz overbury checked me out on an Auster, G-AIJI, later when I'd not flown at Luton for a while. As you say, a charming lady and a good instructor.
Fred Pinchin was club owner at that time and Frank Loos was Chief Engineer with Steve Mentzalis as his assistant. Steve had a supercharged pre-war Austin Seven ally-bodied special in which we used to go to the White Horse at Tea Green.
When I was a member of a group which owned a Magister, G-AKPG, we kept it there for a while before moving it to Denham.
I remember the Scorpion rocket-engined Canberra taking off on the grass with Scorpions burning and that there was a bit of a row as it burned two strips in the grass!
So many characters there in those days. Happy days.

[l.garey]

GliFly: We might almost have met. I saw Miss 'Obbs at Luton on 6 August 1958 when I was on my cross country qualifier from Cambridge in one of their Tiger Moths!

Laurence

[Lon More]

I did my RAF Flying Scholarship at the Club in 1966. Dave Campbell had moved on by then, as had Liz Overbury; Howard (?) was CFI then (drove an Alvis). Other instructors I remember were John Middleton, Phil Jeffrey, and Deli Grey-Fisk. There was another who was also one of the Controllers. Although most of the trainees "Lived in", I only lived a couple of miles away so cycled in. Our first job in the morning was to move the NCB Dove GARUM (?) out of the hangar. This later lead to my first and only bit of fame when my photo appeared on the front page of the Times. Admittedly I was in the background when a photo was taken of the Minister flying off to attend the Aberfan Enquiry\I also remember sweeping out the hangars before Airline Engineering moved in. They'd been empty for a couple of years and were knee deep in pigeon crap.

I remember the wreck at the side of the Autair hangar but always thought it was a Piston Provost. Spent a few happy evenings in its shade with the then Girlfriend.

I had no idea there had been an airfield at Barton (overshoots must have been interesting) until the subject was bought up at my Hamble interview a couple of months later.