LUTON History and Nostalgia

[22/04]

Yep SIDs came later- don't know when but maybe Vintage ATCO or Compton 3B (who has named himself after one of them) does.

Clearances mentioned way points (VORs, NDBs or fan markers?) as I have mentioned. The standard south westerly one I didn't mention was Beacon Hill Burnham Chertsey and Dunsfold.

North bounds were at one time join control airspace x miles east of or on track Woburn IIRC. There weren't many so I don't remember clearly- Autair Herald in the evening was the memorable one.

But the restriction at Bovingdon might have come later- may have been easterly Beacon Hill (or Henton it is all such blur!) before that.

[Spanish eyes]

Were flights into and out of Radlett and Hatfield coordinated by Luton?

[LGS6753]

Britannia 707s

I recall unloading a BY 707 in July/August 1972 (?), recently arrived from Georgetown, Guyana. I think it was a regular service, in addition to LAX.

[compton3bravo]

I think the Singapore and Hong Kong were group affinity charters (members for the Hong Kong Canoe Club!) but I could not be 100 per cent sure. Those are the days.
On a different tack there was a Saint feature film on Talking Pictures the other night with Roger Moore being checked in for a flight from Naples but the check-in in desk used was the one by the arrivals with the main check-in desks in the background! Filmed in 1969.

[HershamBoys]

Originally Posted by Spanish eyes

Were flights into and out of Radlett and Hatfield coordinated by Luton?

Certainly during my time we used to take Hatfield inbounds traffic off London, mainly DTY - LUT, get them past the LUT, and then hand them over to Hatfield (123.350). Radlett had closed well before I went to Luton. We also coordinated Hatfield outbounds into the airways system through LATCC TMA North, northbound via DTY, and westbound via HEN. HENTON 5000 springs to mind, but where that came from I dunno.

HB

[22/04]

A bit off thread but

Hatfield handled Radlett arrival c.1968/69. Radio c/s was Hanair. Radett, I think only had a tower, at least by then.

Certainly during my time we used to take Hatfield inbounds traffic off London, mainly DTY - LUT, get them past the LUT, and then hand them over to Hatfield (123.350).

At that time (68) Hatfield was kind-of more established than Luton. Their approach frequency was I think 124.95 (might be 124.75 but don't think so as that was probably London info even then). They seemed to handle their traffic independent, test flights like the Tridents going to and coming back from Eastern Radar IIRC.

Better watch out for the thread drift police.

[YVRLTN]

Who operated the last 707/720's into LTN? Maof?

[OUAQUKGF Ops]

Luton 11th February 1989

Do you recall this occasion? Photographed by Andrew Martin.

[rog747]

Originally Posted by YVRLTN

Who operated the last 707/720's into LTN? Maof?

MEA and Scibe airlift were doing subs for AE DA BY and MON until the early 90's

[vintage ATCO]

Originally Posted by OUAQUKGF Ops

Do you recall this occasion? Photographed by Andrew Martin.

18 Feb 1989 but I cannot remember why.

[boeing_eng]

I seem to recall the Tarom IL-18's were operating school ski charters...I'm sure CJ will confirm, but no doubt the lack of a towbar was the reason for using the Pond?

[cj241101]

Originally Posted by boeing_eng

I seem to recall the Tarom IL-18's were operating school ski charters...I'm sure CJ will confirm, but no doubt the lack of a towbar was the reason for using the Pond?

School ski flights rings a bell. Think the flights were repeated the following week (18/2/89). Probably coincided with half term holidays.

11/2/89



11/2/89

As boeing_eng suggests, IL-18's always parked nose out due to the lack of a towbar. In 1969 there was a fortnightly flight
to Bourgas operated by Bulair/Balkan, which I always remember parking nose out around stand 1.



LZ-BEP 5/7/69

1971 and 1972 brought a weekly Tarom IL-18 which usually parked nose out stand 9. Other IL-18's I remember seeing were these:-


HA-MOI 14/8/80, brought an orchestra in IIRC



D-AOAS 19/10/93

A couple of LOT examples operated for Tarom in 1971 (SP-LSF 13/6/71 and SP-LSA 20/6/71). SP-LSC operated a Court Line flight on 12/8/73. and another LOT example (SP-LSI) visited on 17/2/81, from Warsaw to Katowice. Last time I saw an IL-18 at the airport was Romavia YR-IMZ on 25/8/99.

[22/04]

Ah those Illyushin's - anyone got a picture of one trailing smoke.

The '69 Bulgarian ones were fortnightly IIRC and also used stand 9. I remember some in still in TABSO livery I think.

[vintage ATCO]

1970 . . .

[22/04]

Lovely picture Vintage - just look at that apron- probably the Court Line/Dan-Air One Elevens and Britannia 737s had all gone - and there was just a Midland Viscount doing a Channel Islands Run and Monarch Brit - they kept odd hours taking seven hours round trip to Palma. Looks like it might have needed one of your SRAs to get in if 08 was in use. All three favoured nose out parking IIRC- only saw Viscounts and Brits pushed towards the end of their service lives.

BTW could it be earlier than 1970 given the stage of construction of hangar 89 - in which case edit Court Line to Autair

[cj241101]

Great picture vintage ATCO and thanks for publishing it.
The Bulair 1969 programme was announced in the local rag (Evening Post) with the front page headline "RUSSIAN PLANES ARE COMING TO LUTON". They must have been desperate for headlines as one IL18 a fortnight wasn't exactly newsworthy, although it may have conjured up images of a squadron of MIG-15's as part of an invasion force.... As a newspaper that claimed to be in favour of airport expansion, it was very good at publishing stories designed to provoke anti-airport feelings locally.
Anyway, I missed the first flight on 7th June 1969 but made sure I was there, camera poised, for the next one on 21st. It ran a bit late, but eventually something trailing smoke appeared between layers of cloud, heading north around 4 miles east of the airport. Binoculars revealed it to be the long-awaited IL18. It turned away then reappeared on the approach a few minutes later. I watched it land and head towards me in the speccies car park. So excited was I to get my picture that I forgot to adjust the exposure on my Kodak Instamatic, so when the film came back from being developed my IL18 picture was so horribly over-exposed that no photo editing software has been able to render it worth publishing.

While I'm on the subject, does anyone remember, or have any record of, a Balkan IL-18, possibly LZ-BEK, visiting around March 1971? The only other Bulair/Balkan IL18 visit I know of post 1969 was LZ-BET which night stopped on 28th July 1971.

[Level bust]

While I'm on the subject, does anyone remember, or have any record of, a Balkan IL-18, possibly LZ-BEK, visiting around March 1971?

My records show, although Dave Gearing was responsible pre 1980 for them, has LZBEK making a first visit on 14th March 1971.

[cj241101]

Originally Posted by Level bust

My records show, although Dave Gearing was responsible pre 1980 for them, has LZBEK making a first visit on 14th March 1971.

Thanks level bust, that confirms the "spotter rumour" that's been reawakened after 47 years by the recent threads.

[LTNman]

Looks like the ground has been cleared in preparation for Britannia's hangar?

[cj241101]

Originally Posted by LTNman

Looks like the ground has been cleared in preparation for Britannia's hangar?

I think the area in view on far left of the photo is actually what is now stand 1R. The building of hangar 89 was already underway by the summer of 1969 when the Bulair series began. I suspect the early stages of the hangar construction are just out of view. I remember my initial enthusiasm at having a new hangar at the airport waned somewhat when it became apparent it was going to block the view of a large part of the apron that was still visible from the spectators car park.