Based upon Worf's comments/recollections I have done some more research.

Worf is correct, and my comments about 'last visits' were in error. I said that the last Indian AF L.1049s to visit the UK were in September and November 1973 ... but I was wrong.

BG583/G visited 0n 4th June '74 and again on 7th June 74, and then the final visits (by BG583/G again) were on 26th Sept '74 and 28th Sept '74.

There was also an earlier comment about visits by Pakistan AF aircraft. There were Pakistan AF C-130s at Northolt in May and June 74, and the comment (at the time) was that these were the first visitors from Pakistan since 1965.

OK - here's a question for anyone with ancient spotting records or a superb memory (better than mine, anyway).

What WAS the Northolt traffic about 5.30pm on 15 Sep 1972 that got woefully lost to the northwest of LHR for a while and delayed us from departing. I have always thought it was Pakistani but, on reflection, maybe it was one of the Indian Super Connies or Packets. Pretty sure it was from the sub-continent anyway because of comments from the crew I was with which (as I mentioned before) included a very unimpressed Pakistani F/O.

The depth of detailed knowledge just waiting to be found on these forums absolutely amazes me - what DID we do without the Internet? It may seem trivial at times but one comment leads to another and whole new vistas of understanding can open up. Worf's comments have explained events that I had casually wondered about for many years and about which I never imagined I would find any 'inside knowledge'!

Panop,

I don't know about any specific timings for that day, and almost all the visitors on that date were 'regulars' so should have known their way round (as it were!). Visiting on that day were a pair of German Transalls and a US Navy DC-6.
There was a USMC C-130 - they were not that common, so may have been a bit unfamiliar with where they were and the correct procedures.
Also, there was a RAF Belfast that day, and they were quite rare at Northolt. Maybe that was the cause?

Camouflaged IAF Connie
 

Panop,
Couldn't agree more about the Internet, it's an amazing fount of information. I am even more amazed by the UK "spotter" community - they know movements of any aircraft coming to the UK and can usually produce a picture of any type on demand!

Amos Keeto/Geezer - could you answer this question for me. Below is a photograph of a "camouflaged" IAF Super Connie BG583 visiting the UK. This had to be during the 1971 war period or right after, because this hurried splash paint job was typical of the period (including the famous tiger striped Mig-21).

When and where was this picture taken? Any color shots of this airplane available that you could share?
Thanks
Worf
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com//IAF/I...6-2/BG583a.jpg

Worf,

that was taken at RAF Northolt, a place that I know 'rather well'!

In those enlightened days it was quite possible to ride up (on push-bike!) to the Main Gate and ask to take some photo's or the aeroplanes. The answer was almost always 'Yes'.

I will try to find a date for its visit. I seem to remember that it only pain one visit in this drab wishy-washy grey colour scheme, and by its next visit it had all been washed off.

Worf,

I have found the info ... that particular L.1049 (in the grey-ish colours)visited just once ... 13th January 1974.

By the time of its next visit it had all washed off, and the a/c was back to its blue/grey colours.

Can anyone tell me
 

A really interesting thread. I remember the fantastic sight of the IAF Connies flying over when I was in my teens.
Can anyone tell me which aircraft visited Northolt on 31 July 1973, my records seem to be incorrect?

I was a newly minted ATCO at Northolt around that timeframe; the only IAF Super Constellation that I saw in my 2.5 yr tour there was VUQLG, a registration burned into my memory! Every arrival and departure included a drama of some sort. Whereas most Captains add 5 kts 'for the wife and kids' these guys added 15 or so; allied to the 3.5° glidepath on 26 ( as it was then) meant that much 'excess energy' had to be dissipated by the end of the 5,540' runway, resulting in overheated engines and smoking brakes. That's if you could get him to fly 1350ft for the PAR glidepath intercept.....

Sadly I never saw on on the ground at Northolt, it was a big aircraft for the runway length and probably pretty heavy for departure. It must have been pretty scary to watch. I remember seeing my last one flying over my school in High Wycombe. It was such a great looking aircraft, you certainly could not mistake it for anything else.

I grew up close to the Aladdin factory on the A40 through the 60's and into the 80's, and if it was windy, you could certainly here the IAF Connie's when visiting Northolt.
Later in the 80's I worked with an older chap that was living in South Harrow at the time of the Connie almost taking the top off of the Harrow-on-the-Hill spire, and never forgot the noise of that Connie at low level over his house......a story he would often tell over lunch at work.
My late father as a local copper watched the Pan-Am 707 take-off from Northolt, from his Police car parked up on the A40.

I grew up in Northolt in 50s and 60s and I have vague recollections of Radome equipped Connies visiting Northolt too.
I have wonderful memories of various types visiting Northolt during those years and spent many evenings down by the A40

US Navy Connies with radomes were regular visitors to the FASRON 200 base at Blackbushe until 31 May 1960 when the government of the day abruptly closed the airfield as a 'ministry' airfield thus stopping all this traffic even though it wasn't public transport so the ones you saw may have been the ones displaced by this action. The US Dept of Defence had only 3 years before built a hangar capable of housing these Connies and had proposed funding the building of a longer runway, but the government wanted to force operators to use a then under-utilised Gatwick along with its poor weather record compared to Blackbushe.

Chevron

That's really interesting and nice to get confirmation of my recollections. Thanks

During my time 'holding' at HQCC Northwood in 68-69, I had to visit Northolt on a number of occasions. On one visit I remember being taken out on to dispersal (no yellow jackets or people shouting at you if you didn't have one) to see some of the visitors. one of which was an Indian Connie which had arrived earlier that day. My guide (a fellow 'holdee') took great delight in pointing out a large birds nest happily and obviously securely built into one of the rudder hinges. Apparently it had been pointed out to the crew on their previous visit some weeks before, but they had replied that it was 'unlucky' to remove it!