LUTON History and Nostalgia

[LTNman]

Look at the height of that fence!

[Luton Anorak]

Ahhh - the beloved spectators area - spent many a happy hour parked up against that fence in my Mk.1 Cortina

[ATNotts]

Ahhh - the beloved spectators area - spent many a happy hour parked up against that fence in my Mk.1 Cortina

And what a fine array of British manufactured cars - Morris 1000, Ford Capri, Hilman Imp, Vauxhall Viva, possibly a Triumph 2000.

DC7 isn't bad either!!!

[JW411]

I do believe that the second one is a DC-4.

[Luton Anorak]

I do believe that the second one is a DC-4.

It is indeed - first picture is EI-AWG Douglas DC-7C and the second is EI-ARS
Douglas C-54E (DC-4) - pure nostalgia!

[10 DME ARC]

And a quick google finds EI-AWG DC-7CF was wrote off at LTN in 1974 after over running the runway after the crew could not select reverse! Interesting read.

[Airbanda]

The C54, which was named City of Galway, was much used for carriage of racehorses. Was a regular at Leeds from 75 onwards, its visits coinciding with racing at Doncaster, Wetherby and particularly the Ebor meet at York.

Last saw it there in Autumn of either 76 or 77 when it had veered off onto the grass after landing on 33. Believe it was flown out to LUT with gear down and repaired but I've no record of it visiting in later years.

Believe it ended up as a 'gate guardian' to former USAF base in Germany wearing a Berlin airlift era 'uniform'.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Those photos reek of nostalgia. Was the cafe/snack bar to the right of the photo ?


SHJ

[staircase]

Triumph 'Toledo' - not one of their beat sellers, and certainly not in Luton given the role of Vauxhall in the town.

[spekesoftly]

Triumph 'Toledo'

I think it's the earlier Triumph 1300 as suggested by Jenkins. Some clues in the position of the Triumph badge on the right of the rear panel, and the rear bumper overriders. Not mentioned so far is what I think is a Mk1 Ford Escort.

Oh, and the aircraft photos are brilliant!

[LTNman]

Is that soot or leaking oil on that DC7 engine?

[Airbanda]

I think it's the earlier Triumph 1300 as suggested by Jenkins. Some clues in the position of the Triumph badge on the right of the rear panel, and the rear bumper overriders.

I think it's a 1300 too. The registration isn't all that legible but the suffix looks like E which would be Jan to July 1967. The F registration began on 01 Aug 1967 marking a change to UK's registration year which thereafter ran Aug to July.

The 1300 was introduced in 1966 and succeeded by the similar Toledo in 1970. It had a revised nose/headlights but was superficially similar to the 1300 at rear. In a major step back the Toledo reverted to rear wheel drive as per the Herald - the 1300 was FWD.

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by LTNman

Is that soot or leaking oil on that DC7 engine?

Knowing Wright Turbo-Compounds, probably both. I believe each engine had a 56-gallon lubricating oil tank, and after a long-haul flight that was mostly gone. There were lubricating oil bowsers !

[JW411]

Which is why they were called petrol-cooled oil-burners.

[LTNman]

Was the cafe/snack bar to the right of the photo ?

If that Morris Minor reversed out of the space and kept going I would say it would have come close to touching the corner of the spectators building.

[vintage ATCO]

And a quick google finds EI-AWG DC-7CF was wrote off at LTN in 1974 after over running the runway after the crew could not select reverse!

Yes, landed on rwy 08 and the crew selected reverse and opened the throttles . . . . only for the aeroplane to start accelerating. Allegedly, as it went off the end, one of the crew was heard to say "Which end is Vauxhalllllllllls!?" No horses on board fortunately but grooms plus someone who had hitched a ride were up the back playing cards. They all legged it but then the 'passenger' returned to pick up his winnings.

No injuries, fortunately, unlike the Jet Star, but it was after both the CAA insisted on Runway End Safety Areas being installed.

[compton3bravo]

Two things I had heard about the DC-7 incident - firstly the Captain had pushed his seat back and when trying to reach the brake pedals when the aircraft started to accelerate he was too far back to do anything and secondly an Aer Turas crew member hitching a ride broke an arm while standing up in the back of the cockpit when landing! How true I donīt know but it was 41 years ago but still remember it was a very windy March Saturday night. Wasnīt the aircraft delivering the Irish Sunday papers which Aer Turas had a contract?

[LTNman]

DC7 crash report Air Accidents Investigation: 12/1975 E1-AWG


Origin of photo unknown

[vintage ATCO]

It was an empty leg of a horse flight, there were grooms on board. It might well have been carrying newspapers. Fortunately it was my night off!

[10 DME ARC]

The accident report says it was loaded with news papers and equipment for the horse trip back. Interesting report like you said the throttles were cycled back to positive thrust twice to try to engage reverse. The aircraft left the top of the slope airborne it was still going that fast!
Takes me back during my training in the early 80's I used to have access to all of the UK AIB accident reports, must have missed this one!