Was this normal practice?

Midland 331.

From your MME callsign, I can only assume we know each other !
The book you refer to, written by Barney Concannon, was entitled "Black Billy".
It was first published. in paperback, by The Writers Cooperative in 2001 as ISBN1-902651-52-9.
It does indeed fictionally refer to the "ghost of Room 5(?), the upstairs room on the western spur of the present St.George Hotel.

I bought a copy from Barney, an old friend, and the b*gg*r didn't even sign it !
My old mate passed away on the 23rd.December, 2012.

BH.(DC9 fleet)

No.....which is why he crashed.

Article by Barney here;

ARTICLES - Barney Concannon

Mr Sleeve Wing,

I was a humble ticket agent '83-'85, so probably cashed some of your traveller's cheques at some time. However, my family's roots with the airline go back to 1965. I did bump into the maverick Capt Belcher at my uncle's funeral around a year ago.

My ID comes from the prime flight on the route, which you may recall, was frequently chock-full of suits , all paying the full fare. Happy days (most of the time...)

Now the airport has grass peeping through the paving slabs, a deserted terminal, and a doubtful future.

r

I remeber "the Dumps" well i wasted many an hour there. I also remember the mini apron at the road up from hemington hill. In fact I stood there when concord made its first vist to EMA in 1977?

I've just been givern a copy of Action Stations 2 and it has a couple of really good photos of RAF Castle Donington in it. It also mentions Eric Dyer who was in charge of the airport when it first opened. My old man used to know him and his daughter went with school with my sister.

It also has a cracking photo of the old grass runway. Could anyone tell me when it closed?



The book also

I did a bit of "courting" there, over thirty years ago with my future wife....

A fine lady and the odd Merchantman and Viscount. Super.

I seem to recall the grass runway closed well before the sim. block opened. In all the time I spent around the place with my dad, I don't think I ever saw it used more than once. I always willed those traffic lights to change.

Was it 01/19-ish? I had a summer job working for the airport authority in 1978, and remember the lights still in place then. I hadn't passed my test, but the lads let me drive the maintenance vehicles around the peri track and even onto the ramp. Mr Dyer would not have been pleased...