LUTON History and Nostalgia

[Mooncrest]

Were the Invicta Vanguards ex-Air Canada ? The livery doesn't look much different.

[ATNotts]

Originally Posted by Mooncrest

Were the Invicta Vanguards ex-Air Canada ? The livery doesn't look much different.

Indeed they were.

[kcockayne]

Originally Posted by Mooncrest

Were the Invicta Vanguards ex-Air Canada ? The livery doesn't look much different.

Yes. All that Invicta did (a la Channel Airways) was paint in “Invicta “ along the top of the fuselage, instead of “Air Canada”; & paint in the horse on the tail, instead of the maple leaf. Saved money, I suppose.

[boeing_eng]

I seem to remember standing there with said fence with perhaps a lowish wooden building to the right out of shot ? When did the fence get taller ?

Certainly, by the Summer of '76 it was a taller fence. I seem to remember where the wood fencing started further down in the car park, you could climb on it to get high enough to take photo's clear of the fence mesh.....

[OUAQUKGF Ops]

Eagle Aviation Handley Page Halifax G-ALEF Luton c1950.

Sharing the fate of many Halifax Freighters; a result of the end of The Berlin Airlift, contraction of the initial post-war air freight boom and a shortage of spare parts. Photograph NA3T with thanks.




'Red Eagle' Berlin Airlift 1948-49. Photographed at Wunsdorf West Germany.

[22/04]

Invicta Vanguards would have been leased or purchase from Air Holdings- they were traded in as some kind of exchange deal for L1011s (TriStars) IIRC. While it may have saved painting the Invicta Livery was very similar to Air Canada- a DC4 was recently posted here - a stroke of good luck. The Horse is of course the Invicta symbol with association with Kent (unconquered) and the airfield base - Manston. One Vanguard G-AYFN operated in a blue colour scheme ex Fly Trader of Sweden but was I think repainted into full Invicta livery later. CJ will no doubt be able to post a picture.

European Air Service France later received several Vanguards and also operated them in the basic Red/white scheme.

[OntimeexceptACARS]

Don't forget a proposed reincarnation of Silver City Airways (part of Air Holdings) :

Flickr Slideshows (Photostreams)

Sorry for the thread drift.
OTEA

[Mooncrest]

Weird. I was thinking I had seen a picture of a Silver City Vanguard in a book years ago, knowing the original airline had disappeared years before.

[lotus1]

Invicta did quite a lot of work for clarksons from Luton just shows you how the boom in the days of the package tours took off in the early seventies

[OUAQUKGF Ops]

Derby Airways H.P. Marathon at Luton 1959

A scarce colour image courtesy of Tom Cole who took this photograph on his Dad's Ilford Sportsman camera.

[vintage ATCO]

What a terrific photo! That is parked on the curved taxiway that passed in front of the control tower (which is off to the right, spectators enclosure to the left) and the foot path leading from it went to the cafe which occupied the end of the old farm buildings where the Luton Flying Club bar was. The cafe was used as the 'terminal'. I remember these. Great stuff!

[LTNman]

This is the text that went with the photo

ex.XA265. The date is uncertain; 'MEW was wfu at Burnaston on 27.9.60. It is thought, but not certain, that the smartly dressed woman at the door is Clare Roberts. She, and husband Chris, operated Chrisair from Luton for some years, using DH82A Tiger Moth Coupe G-AHVU cn.84728 and DH.84 Dragon II G-ADDI cn.6096, prior to emigrating to the USA.

[22/04]

ex.XA265. The date is uncertain; 'MEW was wfu at Burnaston on 27.9.60. It is thought, but not certain, that the smartly dressed woman at the door is Clare Roberts. She, and husband Chris, operated Chrisair from Luton for some years, using DH82A Tiger Moth Coupe G-AHVU cn.84728 and DH.84 Dragon II G-ADDI cn.6096, prior to emigrating to the USA.

"Diamond Flight" by Bill Gunston (1988) has entry into service as 7/7/58 and it looks like summer so one of three. It looks like early rather than late summer (quite green everywhere) to me so maybe '59 or '60.

[OUAQUKGF Ops]

Perhaps GotTheTshirt would know if Claire Roberts ever freelanced with Derby Airways - but I suspect she would be wearing slacks if piloting. At some stage she flew for Dan Air on their Ambassadors the first of which were introduced in 1959.

[22/04]

Perhaps GotTheTshirt would know if Clare Roberts ever freelanced with Derby Airways - but I suspect she would be wearing slacks if piloting. At some stage she flew for Dan Air on their Ambassadors the first of which were introduced in 19559

Would Chrissair have been what we would now call a handling agent then, I doubt Luton had much other commercial traffic at that time. Before even my time - I would have been somewhere between three and five.

[YVRLTN]

Originally Posted by 22/04

Would Chrissair have been what we would now call a handling agent then, I doubt Luton had much other commercial traffic at that time. Before even my time - I would have been somewhere between three and five.

From British Independent Airlines 1946-1976: "Chrisair was formed in early 1961 by Mr & Mrs Chris Roberts, as a light charter and pleasure flight operator. The first two years were spent at Luton airport, joy riding with a Leopard Moth (AIYS) for the 1961 season, and during 1962 the company used a Proctor (AHGJ). These aircraft traveled to many air displays throughout the country to give pleasure flights, and at the end of the 1962 season, Chrisair moved its base to Ramsgate aerodrome. Prior to this Chrisair had been flying pleasure flights from Ramsgate since the summer of 1961 for 10s per person. In November 1962 the company bought a former Blackpool joy riding aircraft - Dragon ADDI - and during the winter this aircraft was serviced and resprayed in Chrisair's red and white paint scheme, and for the first part of 1963, this aircraft and a Prentice (AONB) and Proctor gave joy rides from the airport at Ramsgate. However, in June Chrisair once again moved its base, this time to Sywell, near Northampton. From here, in addition to joy riding, the aircraft were used for passenger and freight ad hoc charters, and during the 1966 dock strike the Dragon was used to carry cigarettes from Sywell to Belfast. Only a few flights were made, though, due to the rather slow cruising speed of the aircraft making the journey seem rather long. The Dragon became a very familiar sight at air displays up and down the country, and this aircraft was very often flown by Mrs Claire Roberts. On July 31 1964 the Dragon made the long trek to Brawdy to give pleasure flights at an air display there the following day - the Dragon returned to Luton on August 2 after making a night stop at Cardiff on the night of August 1. A Cessna 175 (ARML leased from a private owner) was used for a number of charter flights during 1964 - it made a Sywell - Cardiff - Sywell flight on March 11 1964, but few other charter flights flights were undertaken. One epic journey undertaken bu the Dragon was a cargo charter to Kirkwall on June 17 1966 (presumably form Luton). The aircraft made stops en route at Newcastle and Aberdeen, and the return flight was accomplished on June 18 using the same airports as staging posts. During 1967, only an Auster (AJEB no record when it joined) and the Dragon were in use, and in 1968 the Auster spent much of its time pleasure flying from North Denes on behalf of Anglian Air Charter, while one of their own aircraft was away on overhaul. The Dragon's C of A expired at the end of May 1968, and was sadly retired from service, and once the Auster had returned from Anglian Air Charter in the autumn of 1968, Chrisair stopped flying."

I remember reading somewhere that was the last Dragon in commercial service, and I believe it was indeed based at Luton to the end.

[Haraka]

I flew in ADDI at a Yeovilton Air Day in the mid 60's.

[treadigraph]

and a Prentice (AONB)

I wouldn't describe a Prentice as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...

[OUAQUKGF Ops]

Lutair a subsidiary of Autair was set up at Luton in 1961 and became the airport's official Handling Agent. The early years of Lutair are described in Graham Simon's book 'Colours In The Sky' a new edition of which is being published in May 2018. I expect many of us had the pleasure of flight with Claire Roberts in G-ADDI so at the risk of a bit of thread drift on a dreary wet day (certainly here in Norfolk).....

You Tube

[22/04]

So to get us back to the thread does that make it unlikely that the lady by the Marathon door was Claire Roberts (pre 1961).