LUTON History and Nostalgia

[LTNman]

Behind Britannia's old hangar. The track is now a busy road.

photographer unknown

[diddy1234]

was the connie scrapped there or sold ?

[vintage ATCO]

Scrapped most likely. Not sure if this is the same one but it is just over the road from the previous pic.

[22/04]

Invicta also picked up some ex Court line work after their demise in 1974 - for the remainder of that summer season. Can't remember if it was Jetway or Wallace Arnold- both were independent customers of Court Line. Any pax who expected a TriStar or One Eleven ended up with Vanguard plodding down to say Alicante, a bit of a come down

[LTNman]

We were booked on a Pontinental holiday using Courltline just before they went bust and ended up on a Dan Air Comet.

[cj241101]

If anyone thinks the airport is too congested now then they should have a look at 1968! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgdupI0CKvU

[LTNman]

Also poetic license has allowed you to use a taxiway that didn't exist in 1968

[LTNman]

After seeing those photos of the airports aircraft dump does anyone know the last aircraft to actually be scrapped at Luton? I have got a feeling it might have been a 707 maybe 15 years ago but the memory is vague.

[cj241101]

Originally Posted by LTNman

Also poetic license has allowed you to use a taxiway that didn't exist in 1968

Plan on redesigning the airport eventually to reflect the late 60's layout. It won't, of course, cope with the level of traffic I included in the video with aircraft backtracking 3 times the distance and everything exiting the main apron on taxiway Alpha. Can't do anything to make the flying club aircraft depart from the intersection. Poetic license also with the Viking and Argonaut which had been retired in 1967 before the Autair 1-11's and Britannia 737's arrived. Plan on further videos for later years (1970 - start of the Court Line era) then probably 1978/79 with the Scandinavians. This video has taken me 7 weeks of ground work, mostly repainting the aircraft, so the next ones are a while away while my eyes recover from the strain

[cj241101]

Originally Posted by LTNman

After seeing those photos of the airports aircraft dump does anyone know the last aircraft to actually be scrapped at Luton? I have got a feeling it might have been a 707 maybe 15 years ago but the memory is vague.

Last ones I recall were the 707 N751TA and the 720 N7201U, both of which were scrapped in 1982.

[Groundloop]

They all take-off without flaps!!

[cj241101]

Originally Posted by Groundloop

They all take-off without flaps!!

Maybe that's why none of them is intersection able . A quick look at some landing videos I've done shows full flaps on landing, reverse thrust where appropriate, smoke from the tyres on touchdown; will post another video on YouTube to demonstrate sometime soon, watch this space....

[lotus1]

Regarding invictas 707s in the book invicta airlines a Kent airline there is a part when one of the 707s was stuck in Cyprus during the civil war of 74 Turkish troops where living in it and it substained a few hits of gun fire I beleive it was patched up and flow back to Luton for repairs by monarch also thomsons use to sublease the 707 and the 720 also Iraq airways leased these as well

[EGGW]

The last one i remember being scrapped or dismantled was the BAC 1-11, that was being overhauled by Mc Alpine for Mediterranean Express. It was dismantled and the fuselage trucked away. That would be about 1987.

EGGW.

[LTNman]

I remember that one now. A photo appeared here of that very aircraft. I can't think of anything after that date.

[cj241101]

Does anyone have any photos of Cessna 182 G-ATTD which was a regular in the McAlpine hangar circa 1967/8? Colour if possible (have a B&W photo already) or if anyone can remember the colour scheme that would help (green?).

[vintage ATCO]

Plenty if you Goggle but I guess you mean the original scheme as it appears to have been re-painted. I must have seen it but I don't remember it.

[cj241101]

Originally Posted by vintage ATCO

Plenty if you Goggle but I guess you mean the original scheme as it appears to have been re-painted. I must have seen it but I don't remember it.

Thanks vintage ATCO. I have a B&W photo from 1967 which shows a classic Cessna scheme. I think the main colour was green but there is darker trim underneath. I remember seeing it regularly inside and outside the McAlpine hangar back in 1967, although registered to an owner in Leicester. As you say, is has long been repainted. It was registered to a Spanish owner in 2006, eventually going on to the Spanish register as EC-LXN in May 2013.

You'll probably remember these parked outside McAlpine's, though...

[boeing_eng]

I can still hear those Piaggio's today!.....what a noise they made!

[LTNman]

They were banned from Elstree because of the noise they made I seem to remember.