LUTON History and Nostalgia
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Air Malta had some CV880s on lease late 70’s possibly early 80’s - they were regular(ish) visitors to Newcastle. Did they never venture as far south as Luton?
Seem to remember the green colour scheme and smoke was horrendous. N reg if I recall- but Oriental in origin????
Seem to remember the green colour scheme and smoke was horrendous. N reg if I recall- but Oriental in origin????
Convair 880 North West Air News
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Third. Luxair one on a Britannia subcharter in the 70s (?) and a BA one in 1992 diversion from Heathrow.
It first diverted to Prestwick but when it got up country the weather went out in Scotland so the crew declared an emergency and came to Luton. I vectored it onto the ILS. It was only when it was on final we discovered it had Prince Andrew on board!
That's me in my car behind waiting to do a runway inspection after its departure. I don't recall it causing any damage.
Sorted the pic! A Dave Gearing photo.
It first diverted to Prestwick but when it got up country the weather went out in Scotland so the crew declared an emergency and came to Luton. I vectored it onto the ILS. It was only when it was on final we discovered it had Prince Andrew on board!
That's me in my car behind waiting to do a runway inspection after its departure. I don't recall it causing any damage.
Sorted the pic! A Dave Gearing photo.
Last edited by vintage ATCO; 11th Jan 2019 at 06:42. Reason: pic added
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The first 747 departure was rumoured to have damaged some of the lighting with jet blast.
The second one (BA) was stuck at Luton until a tow bar was collected from Heathrow.
Gordon Wilson
The second one (BA) was stuck at Luton until a tow bar was collected from Heathrow.
Gordon Wilson
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The second one (BA) was stuck at Luton until a tow bar was collected from Heathrow.
It was parked nose in. It was only later we worked out the top of the tail penetrated the 1:7 transitional slope (see CAP168 if you are bored :-) ) Subsequently, B747s on the south apron were parked nose out.
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Out of interest and in simple terms, why has MAEL gone into liquidation ? Part of, but separate from Monarch Airlines owner's company, it had lots of clients needing Mx and so on ? What changed ?
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Was there not some Air Atlanta B747s in the 1990s? I think I can remember one on a Manchester United charter t/f Barcelona and one or two whale watching charters to Iceland. Apologies if this has been mentioned before.
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A summary of the challenges MAEL faced after the failure of the airline.....
https://www.mro-network.com/maintena...d-monarch-saga
https://www.mro-network.com/maintena...d-monarch-saga
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Here's TF-ATF on 15/7/01 being pushed back - very carefully - from stands 47/48 on to the Delta taxiway:-
Blimey so LTN saw some of the oldest 747's in history grace the tarmac -
The Cargolux owned (not Luxair) Caribbean Airways example 747 was as equally ancient as the 2 Air Atlanta above and the other Cargolux ( Lion Air ) examples,
plus the BA 747-136 shown.
The Virgin G-VLAX was also very old ex QF "City of Darwin" 1974
Did the Orion Air N751PA (the flying pig) ever come into LTN?
The Cargolux owned (not Luxair) Caribbean Airways example 747 was as equally ancient as the 2 Air Atlanta above and the other Cargolux ( Lion Air ) examples,
plus the BA 747-136 shown.
The Virgin G-VLAX was also very old ex QF "City of Darwin" 1974
Did the Orion Air N751PA (the flying pig) ever come into LTN?
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No - N751PA was with Orion (US) in 1989, operating mainly for Air Europe from LGW and MAN, then went to Evergreen as N476EV at the end of that year. To spares at Marana in 1992.
One 747 I'd forgotten about was BA G-BDXJ which operated a Britannia sub to (or from?) Las Palmas on 23/12/04, parked south stands. My anorak log has it routing LGW-LTN-LPA but the flight number BY116B suggests it may have been the other way around.
One 747 I'd forgotten about was BA G-BDXJ which operated a Britannia sub to (or from?) Las Palmas on 23/12/04, parked south stands. My anorak log has it routing LGW-LTN-LPA but the flight number BY116B suggests it may have been the other way around.
No - N751PA was with Orion (US) in 1989, operating mainly for Air Europe from LGW and MAN, then went to Evergreen as N476EV at the end of that year. To spares at Marana in 1992.
One 747 I'd forgotten about was BA G-BDXJ which operated a Britannia sub to (or from?) Las Palmas on 23/12/04, parked south stands. My anorak log has it routing LGW-LTN-LPA but the flight number BY116B suggests it may have been the other way around.
One 747 I'd forgotten about was BA G-BDXJ which operated a Britannia sub to (or from?) Las Palmas on 23/12/04, parked south stands. My anorak log has it routing LGW-LTN-LPA but the flight number BY116B suggests it may have been the other way around.
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N751PA was, of course, ex Pan American who managed the occasional visit to Luton in the 70's operating subs for the resident airlines. Only 707 I know of was N766PA on 25/7/71 on a Britannia flight. 727 N323PA on 11/8/73 was probably operating for Court Line, then this one (N356PA) on 24/7/78 was probably doing a Britannia trooping flight, arriving as "Clipper 159F" (which must have raised a few eyebrows when it called Luton Approach). Apologies for the picture quality:-
Same aircraft was back on 7/9/78, BY918 from Hanover, then N329PA on 12/9/78. It was a summer of horrendous ATC delays (the French - surprise, surprise) and the holidays airlines were bringing in a variety of aircraft to bail things out - Aeroamerica 720, Trans European 707, Balair DC-8, BA Trident, Geminair 707, S.A.T.A Caravelle, Lufthansa 727 were amongst the aircraft used during the peak summer.
Same aircraft was back on 7/9/78, BY918 from Hanover, then N329PA on 12/9/78. It was a summer of horrendous ATC delays (the French - surprise, surprise) and the holidays airlines were bringing in a variety of aircraft to bail things out - Aeroamerica 720, Trans European 707, Balair DC-8, BA Trident, Geminair 707, S.A.T.A Caravelle, Lufthansa 727 were amongst the aircraft used during the peak summer.
Last edited by cj241101; 13th Jan 2019 at 10:32.
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Many thanks for all that information. The Man U charter I was thinking about occurred on 26-27 May 1999. I was just arriving at the airport about 8am when a 747 was just coming over the 08 threshold. I believe it was Air Atlanta but I do not think it had any titles.
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