Airlines you wish still existed
 

Personally I have 3. When I was a child I used to travel with those airlines all the time. I think aviation back then was different from now, there was something more magic about it.

Air Afrique:

http://photos.airliners.net/photos/m.../8/0515885.jpg

Sabena:

http://photos.airliners.net/photos/m.../7/0417768.jpg


UTA:

http://photos.airliners.net/photos/m.../4/0057478.jpg

Could become a long list.

Imperial Airways
Laker
BOAC
BEA
Starways

Several hundred more from "British Independent Airlines since 1946". :sad:

Independence Air
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?i...ext_id=1003415

British Eagle - Kemble museum please paint G-ANCF in this scheme
BEA
BOAC
Cambrian
Laker
Dan Air

It is a shame that Duxford have repainted G-ALWF in BEA colours when Cosford already have one in those colours. IMHO she should have remained in the quite attractive red & blue Cambrian scheme that she made her final flight in. I watched that final landing at Liverpool.
http://photos.airliners.net/photos/m.../3/0111396.jpg
Perhaps if the airlines at Cosford survive, they could be a tribute to British Independent with the VC10 in the lovely BOAC navy blude & gold scheme. "Laker" B707, "British Eagle" Britannia, "Dan Air" BAC1-11, and there must be a timex Dove somewhere that could represent the humble beginnings that many of these grew from. Though I would like to see Dan Air as either a HS748 or better still, a Nord 262.
http://photos.airliners.net/photos/m.../9/0245948.jpg

The SABENA 737 brings back memories for me of the truly fantastic crews of the SABENA Friendship OO-SCA which operated out of Heathrow. None to touch them - they were the best.
Also reminded of Linair - a subsidiary of SABENA which operated in Libya in the 60s.

Is this just us all wanting to see the old planes & liveries, not that there is anything wrong with that? British Midland seem to still be doing well, but miss the old Heralds & Viscounts.

British Air Ferries - Carvairs!!! Looked great in both their original livery, with the white, pale blue, dark blue swoops from the nose, down the window line. Also the 1980's Viscounts. Nice relaxed bunch when I flew with them.

Dan-Air seems to be a popular choice. Memories of the Comet 4s (my first flight, 1972!) and the 727s. Happy, relaxed crews & pax, even on the charters to Spain. Not like today.

British Caledonian. All together now "Wish they all could be Caledonian..."

Channel Airways. Just so I could stand at the end of the runway at Southend & watch the Golden Jet Trident take off one more time...

ACE (Air Cargo Express?) and would that they were still flying Connies! Never saw them though, a bit before my time...

Tradewinds...

Gatwick in the late 70s with Capitol, CP Air and Braniff adding a colourful note.

Scoggy, just acquired a CD by Clare Torry which includes the 1970s British Caledonian ad "Let's Go British Caledonian" which she sang on... That brought back a few memories!

Court line with their pastel coloured BAC1-11's and Tristars.:D

HEATHROW DIRECTOR,

That's a Sabena A310 not a 737.

Scoggy,

You may miss things like Heralds but they took an absolute age to get you anywhere!

The old 'erald may not have been particularly quick (the Carvair was even slower...) but it's HOW you get there what matters. Style, of sorts.

More from the dust vaults of Scoggy's mind;

Heavylift - Beautiful Belfasts.
BEA - It's a Trident thing I've got.
Pan Am - Clipper style.
Brymon - Please ensure your seat-belt is secure, this is London City we is landing at...

It's nice to look back to my early days - to unravel memories - but I must admit I have a yearning to go back to what had long ended before I even existed.

If we could slip further back into the past I would like to see (and experience) some of the 1930's era aircraft. An Imperial Airways HP42 maybe of Short Calcutta. Most of all a De Havilland Albatross..

From my early days at Newcastle:

BKS Ambassadors, replaced by Britannias and eventually Tridents.
Silver City Dakotas and Bristol Freighters to the Isle of Man. Dan-Air Daks to Norway, Doves on the stopping service down to Bournemouth, Ambassadors to Carlisle for 18 bob (£0.90) one way,
Starways Daks to Newquay, Mercury Herons to Leeds and Sandown.
Cunard Eagle DC6s to Bergen. Skyways and Euravia Constellations on Sunday charters. Occasional visitors Autair and Channel Express Vikings, Derby Airways Daks.

Oh, and the Tyne Tees Airways Dakota permanently parked (they also had a Bristol Freighter over at Usworth).

Now where’s me Zimmer frame?

BEA with their Vanguards, Viscounts and Tridents

BOAC with the VC-10

Old BMI with their 707s

Anyone who flew proper jets that smoked and made a bloody racket.

I'm not old, I just have a very good memory

:\

Treadigraph

ACE was Air Charter Enterprises, and i remember them dropping oil all over the ramp at Changi ( a REAL a/c, those Connies ) :cool:
Horlicks and bed time now

My first trip to the Paris Airshow, June 1967. A "real" a/c Air France(Modern Air) Convair 990 N5605. Wow!

Any chance of posting a photo of N5605 or for that matter "any" CV990?

This one. :sad:

PAN AM - those IGS Pilots were among the best in the industry. Ever seen a 727 in a sideslip ? Witnessed the last flight from STR to THF...

SÜDFLUG - charter airline, homebase STR, killed by Lufthansa in the late 60´s, early 70´s.

ATLANTIS - anyone remembers the story of the DC-8 crew that left the A/C on the runway, engines running fleeing from the airport cause they were ordered to taxy back for an alcohol test ? Happened in STR in the mid 70´s...

Memories of many happy trips from STN-FRA with buzz:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...69/buzz146.jpg

..until the wooden-footed wooden-headed fools at KLM sold out to Mikey-the-pikey and they started flying instead to where-the-hell-is-Hahn!

Friendly, affordable, frequent, efficient, they were everything you could want from a lo-co carrier. And no "You vant buy scratchcard" nonsense either!

So nowadays it's back to Lufthansa for me......

Pan Am

The last Pan Am, aircraft I saw was spread over 18 miles of Scottish Countryside. Sadly some memories are better forgotten and yet they are the ones that stay with you for life. I was on one of the first helicopters there, and it took us an age to find the cockpit despite it being the image that many will hold. Upon return to Aldergrove (& a late lunch) a ground engineer (also eating late) made the mistake of having a poke at aircrew getting additional (flying) pay, it wasnt the day to do that, and he never did complete his lunch!

Lockerbie probably contributed to the demise of Pan Am .

Lockerbie *was* the demise of Pan Am. (They weren't quite a basket case before it occurred, they certainly were after)