Heathrow Engineering Hangars
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So is the massive loss of hangar capacity a function of modern aircraft needing much less engineering support? Or is a lot more A320 maintenance now with Iberia?
When I used to work in the Central Area, we would often pile in a van at lunchtime and head through the tunnel to the MT canteen, which was one of the better ones. Any day except Wednesday - which was always curry day in the T3 staff restaurant.
Agghhh the runway canteen, happy memories of the summer in 1970 sitting on the grass outside after lunch watching, if you were lucky, the Pan Am and TWA 747s staggering into the air defying the laws of gravity. IIRC the Pioneer club occupied a small portion of the runway canteen building and was open certain nights for social events, and it was open at lunch time on Fridays only. On Saturday nights the Pioneer Club would expand into the canteen area for dancing with live bands and I recall Joe Loss and orchestra playing there on occasions. I worked for a time behind the bar and it was very busy indeed on the nights of the dances. After clearing up on a Saturday it was an early breakfast at 1 a.m in the canteen before returning home and retiring to bed! Happy days.
The Pionair Club (the odd name came from BEA's Dakota fleet) was where I had my farewell p*ss-up.
Memories of egg and chips at 3 am in the Runway canteen when on night shift ...
Memories of egg and chips at 3 am in the Runway canteen when on night shift ...
Ah, you mean Viscount House!
It was indeed 5 stories high, IIRC. I can't remember much after all this time, but I do recall that the Engineering library was on the ground floor. On the top floors were the development engineers, mods section, drawing office, etc. I briefly worked on the 4th floor, right at the end of my time at BA.
Oh, and it had a Paternoster!
It was indeed 5 stories high, IIRC. I can't remember much after all this time, but I do recall that the Engineering library was on the ground floor. On the top floors were the development engineers, mods section, drawing office, etc. I briefly worked on the 4th floor, right at the end of my time at BA.
Oh, and it had a Paternoster!
But can't remember whether it was during a visit for one of the many interview/apptitude test's I had for Eng Apprentice application in early 1980, or another visit arranged by one of two Uncle's that worked there during the 1960's/70's...?
Pretty sure it was the former?
I remember using the Paternoster as a teenager....
But can't remember whether it was during a visit for one of the many interview/apptitude test's I had for Eng Apprentice application in early 1980, or another visit arranged by one of two Uncle's that worked there during the 1960's/70's...?
Pretty sure it was the former?
But can't remember whether it was during a visit for one of the many interview/apptitude test's I had for Eng Apprentice application in early 1980, or another visit arranged by one of two Uncle's that worked there during the 1960's/70's...?
Pretty sure it was the former?
Virtually none of the A320s go over for IB to do. One exception recently was when BA introduced new seats and removed one of the rear toilets, the wanted the new seating configuration introduced across the fleet in a very short time and Glasgow just didn't have enough spare capacity on top of all the normal checks to do all those, so a number went out to Spain for the new seating. Glasgow could easily expand but are constrained by the lack of extra hangar space, so new ones would need to be built and I would suspect at the moment building hangars is not high on BA priorities.
The fact that many of the major overhaul lines went elsewhere meant BA could lose hangar capacity at LHR as an aircraft on a major check ties up a bay for a long period while the majority of the work carried out at LHR now is only the type that ties-up a bay for a day or two.
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Where was the runway canteen and Hatton Cross canteen? I attended an interview in '92 for a 1 year industrial placement with BA. I remember they took us to lunch somewhere (ground floor) that was near the holding point for one of the runways. Was it somewhere near Viscount House? I also remember the interview being on the top floor of a hangar, overlooking the bays with 747s. Could this only have been TBJ/TBK for 747s? An excellent book I can recommend is "Heathrow: From Tents to Terminal 5" by Ian Anderson. It focusses mainly on the buildings rather than the aircraft of Heathrow.
Where was the runway canteen and Hatton Cross canteen? I attended an interview in '92 for a 1 year industrial placement with BA. I remember they took us to lunch somewhere (ground floor) that was near the holding point for one of the runways. Was it somewhere near Viscount House? I also remember the interview being on the top floor of a hangar, overlooking the bays with 747s. Could this only have been TBJ/TBK for 747s? An excellent book I can recommend is "Heathrow: From Tents to Terminal 5" by Ian Anderson. It focuses mainly on the buildings rather than the aircraft of Heathrow.
[Note the Concorde obviously wasn't there at that point!] The Hatton Cross club/canteen was in the patch of at the end of Viscount Way on the other side of the road to the Barclay's Bank at Hatton Cross.You are correct that offices with a view down into the Boeing 747 bays would probably have been in TBJ. If it was an office above TBK you would only have seen one bay as the other bay [Bay3] was a paint bay and the windows were blanked off.
Is the BA club next to the Hatton Cross roundabout still there? I had a few late nights there in my time... I seem to recall that there was a warship mural somewhere in the entrance to the club, does anyone know which warship? All the BEA Vickers Vanguards had a depiction of the ship that they were named after somewhere in the aircraft and I think that the one at the Hatton Cross club may have been one of these.
Is the BA club next to the Hatton Cross roundabout still there? I had a few late nights there in my time... I seem to recall that there was a warship mural somewhere in the entrance to the club, does anyone know which warship? All the BEA Vickers Vanguards had a depiction of the ship that they were named after somewhere in the aircraft and I think that the one at the Hatton Cross club may have been one of these.
I was a BOAC Engineering apprentice starting in 1968 and the combined apprentice school for both BEA and BOAC was housed in workshops on the ground floor of Viscount House, in wooded huts on the apron nearby and in classrooms wherever a spare office could be found in TBE, the following year all apprentice training moved to Cranebank.
We would all go to the Runway Canteen at lunchtime and in the summer head off across the grass, no fence then, towards the 27L holding point and sit with our backs to a little brick building watching the airliners, I remember most was the BKS Brittania that always taxied out with the main passenger doors wide open until the last minute before take off.
The Vanguard club was northside and the Hatton cross club in Viscount Way.
We would all go to the Runway Canteen at lunchtime and in the summer head off across the grass, no fence then, towards the 27L holding point and sit with our backs to a little brick building watching the airliners, I remember most was the BKS Brittania that always taxied out with the main passenger doors wide open until the last minute before take off.
The Vanguard club was northside and the Hatton cross club in Viscount Way.
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Was the Hatton Cross Club upstairs on the first floor, adjoining the restaurant (with its wonderful view of the roundabout and Barclays Bank
), or was there a separate space downstairs on the ground floor?Still seems a bit odd, BEA having two social clubs at opposite ends of Viscount Way, less than half a mile apart.
Fair enough. It may be that the latter had closed by the time I was let loose on real aircraft in what was then the "East Hangar" in 1972.
Was the Hatton Cross Club upstairs on the first floor, adjoining the restaurant (with its wonderful view of the roundabout and Barclays Bank), or was there a separate space downstairs on the ground floor?
Still seems a bit odd, BEA having two social clubs at opposite ends of Viscount Way, less than half a mile apart.
Was the Hatton Cross Club upstairs on the first floor, adjoining the restaurant (with its wonderful view of the roundabout and Barclays Bank
), or was there a separate space downstairs on the ground floor?Still seems a bit odd, BEA having two social clubs at opposite ends of Viscount Way, less than half a mile apart.
As a final note the Barclays' Bank at Hatton Cross also closed a couple of years back, probably to do with the fact BA no longer uses Barclay's as it's bank, it uses Deutsche Bank. The Old Barclay's at Hatton Cross which has stood empty for a couple of years now, is allegedly going to be yet another hotel.
Last edited by MAC 40612; 26th Nov 2020 at 13:45.
I didn't visit there much after about 1976 as for the rest of my time with BA (other than the last couple of months) I was based in the Central Area (QB/T1/T3).
I was going to say, it certainly survived until early 2000. Yes, I meant the upstairs one next to the roundabout, sorry to hear that it's no longer there. I hope someone saved that ship mural!