Luton in the Fifties. Grass track runway.
 

I see there was a discussion about airfields near Watford back in 2006 and I wasn't registered with this forum then otherwise I'd have joined in but I see that Luton was mentioned a few times and I wondered if anyone is interested in my memories of the place.

When I was just 7 yrs old in 1953 my father an ex RAF Bomber Command Pilot who flew Wellingtons in WWII was working for Smiths Aircraft Instruments and he took my brother and me over to Luton for a pleasure flight around the area doing a few circuits of Luton.
Smiths had a Percival Proctor there G-AHFK which later won a few Air Race Trophies and ended its days in South Africa. After Smiths sold the Proctor they acquired a Saab Safir G-ANOK and we also had a flight or two in that.

The Luton aerodrome was very crude affair compared to the complex that is there today. We had to drive almost through the middle of Vauxhall's factory to get there and there was a very modern control tower and it was manned by a guy who lived in a bungalow right by the entrance gate called Mr Rushton.

At the age of 7 I hated flying as I couldn't see out of the window and the massive amount of bumping in flight was like being blindfolded and sent on a roller coaster. The noise was horrendous and I was not a fan of flying from that moment on. But I did go plane spotting by cycling on my bicycle to Bovingdon from our home in Watford and I would have been about 11 or 12 at the time. We used to watch American planes at Bovingdon and I seem to remember the Blackburn Beverly or possibly the Fairchild Packet.

At one point my father landed the Saab at somewhere like Bovingdon and parked it up just below the wing of the huge Blackburn plane making it look quite funny by comparison that the press photographed it.
I remember my father showing me the press proofs of the photos.

At Luton on one unfortunate occasion my father let a partly trained pilot bring the Saab into Luton to land. Something went a bit wrong on touchdown and the nosewheel snapped off and the plane nose dived into the grass when almost stopped. This did a fair bit of damage and snapped off the prop.

I remember taking the yellow and black tip of the prop that my dad brought home after this incident. Nobody was hurt but it was a great boost to my ego to take the prop tip to school and show it off.

It is indeed sad to think that Bovingdon has become just a Car Boot sale site and a store for something and has no connection now with the Aircraft industry or military. I did have an email from a Canadian guy who was at Bovingdon during the Cold War and he had a very nostalgic soft spot for the place.

I wonder if anyone else reading this forum has any memories of Luton.

Saab Safir G-ANOK was eventually sold to a private owner who flew many trips from Scotland to Sweden and back. It was eventually sent to the East Fortune Museum and somehow it left there and found its way into a barn in a farm on the Scottish Borders where it still remains to this day. It is in what is best described as a sorry state now. The present owner doesn't wish to make contact about it and one can probably assume it will never fly again. Restoration would probably be too expensive and not guaranteed to be made airworthy again. It was a very advanced plane for its time.

I would be happy to hear from anyone in email or on the forum if they have any parallel memories of that time and place.
--
Plado (New member now in S Devon)

You are a bit older than myself Plado but I do recall logging G-ANOK at Turnhouse on a spotting trip, although I don't have an exact date - I think in the 60's would that have been possible?
I remember my first trip to Luton in 1968 and how helpful the staff were to myself and a friend. We were allowed to go into the hangars but told to not
touch anything and to stay away from the busy apron. :ok:

Its the same today for we "back office" staff. :)

Plado. Welcome to the forum, and a little memory for you, not at Luton but Turnhouse photo courtesy of Colin Lourie.

Keith.

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i.../ganokturn.jpg

Visit to Airline Engineering
 

Sorry but my first visit to Luton came in August 1966 and then only briefly as I still lived in the North of England. After moving to Bedford later in the year my visits became more frequent and one of the most enjoyable was a visit to Airline Engineering in July of 1968. Monarch only had two Britannias then G-AOVH and G-AOVI and after I had written to Monarch (I still have the invitation) to have a look round and they told me to come on a weekday as both Brits would be busy at the weekend naturally. I turned up and was invited to look round the hangar and a Britannia (unfortunately cannot remember which one) which was having its seats taken out for a charter to Khartoum in the Sudan for British American Tobacco carrying cigarettes. The day was a Tuesday and it would be back in time for passenger service for the weekend. There was not much on the ramp as I recall - a couple of Britannia Britannias and not much else.
Looking further ahead does anyone remember the regular Condor B727 flights in the 1970s?

Thank you muchly for that superb photo of G-ANOK
I've never seen that picture before. Where is Turnhouse exactly?

It's a very early 1960s looking photo.
My memory of G-ANOK seems to place the colour as pale primrose yellow with a black stripe but I could be mixing that up with my father's Triumph Vitesse which was pale yellow with a very dark green stripe down the side.
However, I feel pretty sure she was pale yellow at any rate.

The amount of space in the cockpit was amazing and it was a 4 seater or 2+2 and it seemed to me a very much smoother machine than the Proctor. I learned in recent times that the Proctor was a flawed design and a few of them crashed with air-frame failures. So it looks like I might have been up in a bit of a death trap in 1954! Oh well I lived to tell the tale and nobody crashed G-AHFK as far as I know.

Thanks very much for that photo it was a very nice touch. I will cherish that one. It's so good, I think I might even frame a copy to keep at home.

With best wishes
Plado (Laurie Prior)

Turnhouse is the 'old' name of what is now called Edinburgh EDI EGPH

Think we should reinstate these good old names........

Woolsington, Yeadon, Ringway etc etc etc...

the list goes on and on and on.......

...like John Lennon, George Best?

Nah, best stick to place names.

Hi, Please note the name of this Forum..."Aviation History and Nostalgia".

Castle Donington, Lulsgate, Rhoose etc. are place names.

Not like the namby pamby George Best, John Lennon which I agree are naff for names as locations......:ugh:

The 'Oldies' fight back.......:D

Not quite the same vintage as 'Plado', my first visit to Luton was in April 1965. The old-old terminal (just off what is now taxiway echo) looked out over two grass runways (06/24 and 18/36) towards the main 08/26 runway. Constellations (Euravia, Brit Air, Skyways), Vikings and Ambassadors were being replaced with Britannias and HS748s. Jets followed in 1968.
Luton Flying Club operated three Austers, and was re-equipping with Cessna 150s. On my first visit in April 1965, I 'logged' about 30 aircraft.

The thought of large turbo-propped aircraft using Luton back then is one that almost seems unbelievable. I imagine that after around 1960 the grass runways were upgraded to something a little more compatible with civilian passenger planes as the grass runways of the 50s was only really suitable for small craft and TigerMoths!

I never visited there after about 1961 and I remember my Dad filling up his Hillman Minx with very high octane petrol, the cheap stuff on tap from the pump outside the hangar door! Those were the days of "pinking" and regular decokes. You never hear of grinding valves in today, or new piston rings. When we filled up with petrol at Car Petrol stations my father would ask for "A shot of upper cylinder" which was I think RedEx upper cylinder lubricant. Oh those days of "cooking grade" petrol at 4/2d a gallon. We'll never see fun like that again. It was nice to be here for the best bit though.

And the phonetic alphabet left over from the RAF days George Able Nan Oboe King, and George Able How Fox King, nothing like the police phonetics of today
Golf Alpha November Oscar Kilo. Almost completely different.
--
Plado

Luton
 

Hi Plado,

My first visit to Luton was around 1956 - and bingo - there was the Proctor HFK.

http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/a...NC1956185.jpg?

There was also the local airline and the scrap behind the hangar. I will try and put these up on separate posts, as I cannot get two more full size photos on this one (limited skills).

What a cracking shot of the Safir at Turnhouse!! :ok:

My first memories of Luton date from August 1958 when I was doing my PPL at Marshalls, Cambridge. I was sent off on a solo cross-country via Luton and White Waltham back to Cambridge in Tiger Moth G-ALTW. No particular problems with the grass, and no need to use the newish control tower, as I had no radio anyway. Also a bit of time to look around. A few gems were the Scorpion-powered Canberra WK163, the silver fuselage of Rapide G-AFOI in a hangar, 2 other Rapides IBB and LBC, Jet Provost OBU, Lockheed 12A GTL, as well as some more "ordinary" stuff such as Apache PLJ (quite new at the time), the red Chipmunk PAC, the dark green Gemini KEK, red Tiger Moth OGS ("Miss 'Obbs"), and the Pegasus Viking HOY.
An excellent flight and a great day out. A hard day though, with 7 flights and about 6 hours logged.
Tomorrow I fly, as I often do, by easyJet from Geneva to LTN. It is very different these days!

Laurence

Luton Airways!!
 

Rapide IBB - Like the prototype airstairs -


http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/a...19571136-1.jpg


Still can't get a normal sized image from this one - it says 'Luton Airways' on the nose! :ok:

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/7960/getimage10.jpg

By Luton's "new" tower

G-AIBB
 

Yes, G-AIBB was one of the Rapides I saw in 1958, and it was marked "Luton Airways", and the "new" tower was there.

Laurence

Very much so, I must have some photos somewhere, about the time my dad was a regular at the flying club. If I wasn't up with him I was wandering around the grass areas without any hassle, as long as 18/36 wasn't in use.

Dated 1970
http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/862/layoutxe.jpg

Luton's first tower can be seen on the right

Obviously you're referring to the present Luton Airport rather than the 'original' one at Barton in the Clay, where the Luton Minor and Major were developed.
Anyway my first visit was for a flight in the Chrisair DH Dragon (not Rapide) G-ADDI in about 1964. It was arranged by Air Britain (Chorleywood Branch - yes it actually existed!)and the pilot was Claire Roberts, wife of the owner Chis Roberts. It signifed several 'firsts' for me: first flight in a civil aircraft (but as a seasoned ATC cadet I'd flown in several miltary types), first in a biplane, and first with a 'lady' pilot.

Entaxei thanks a lot for your contributions and everyone has been putting up fabulous photos here. To see G-AHFK again in a photo I've not seen before is quite a thrill. It's funny but when my memories are from the age of 7 the boarding of the Proctor sticks in my mind as particularly tricky since it only had a couple of half-foot shaped reinforced dents in the wing close to the cockpit side and getting one's feet into them when your legs are only child-age short was extremely scary.

Later "treats" to board G-ANOK Saab were a lot easier as it had a simple non-slip wide band up the wing and you could get into the aircraft almost like boarding a car.

I had no idea during later years that G-AHFK would go on to win Air Race trophies.

Incidentally Entaxei if you're having trouble resizing photos digitally drop me an email and I'll give you a few tips & tricks.

Is there any chance you might remember what colour G-ANOK was?

My own memory is that it was a pale primrose yellow with a black stripe down the side. Of course all old photos are black and white so I can't prove that it was a pale yellow aeroplane.

I'm just hoping you can recall or know what it was registered as?

Thanks
--
Plado

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/3394/21770342.jpg

Taken late 40's with the old Italian prison of war camp in the background

I thiink Barton opened in 1935 while Luton was already open in 1934

Saab Safir G-ANOK
 

I grew into aviation as a young teen at Southampton/Eastleigh as it then was, and was closely linked with the Hampshire Aero Club as one of a number of youngsters who were encouraged to get involved. I washed aircraft and helped with various minor "engineering" tasks, and occasionally got to taxi an aeroplane etc. I was never paid for the jobs I did, but did log some great flying experiences - C of A test flights, etc - and flew quite regularly from there and from Hamble as an ATC cadet.

G-ANOK was based at SOU in the early 60s, not sure who owned it but the guy who flew it on the occasions I was aboard was Shaun Hennessy a club member. A great aeroplane, and fairly powerful as I recall.

Yes I can confirm she was painted primrose yellow, with I think a redstripe. Thanks to those who've supplied her later history.

Interesting to read your contribution Victor Oscar, suspect we may have been around HAC Eastleigh at the same time. G-ANOK was owned by Ben Halpin who as I recollect ran a radio business. After the Safir he owned Comanche G-ARFY, remember a flight to Blackbushe with him and Shaun Hennessy. I wonder if the Safir was resprayed around that time as I remember it as being grey with some dayglo on it? Some where I have a slide of it but sadly I do not have the IT skills or necessary hardware to display it in here.

Planemike

PS 04 May 10. Have dug out my slide of G-ANOK taken in the aeroclub hangar: Grey, dayglo orange and white. Have checked dates on G-INFO. It had been sold to KFP Couling in Essex (Stapleford ??) before I arrived on the scene at HAC Eastleigh. So it was a "visitor" when I saw it. Suspect it came back for some work on the avionics.

This is really testing the grey cells but think Halpins system was called ADAS ???? The obvious external feature was a red "T" shaped aerial fitted above the cockpit. It was fitted to G-ARFY as well.

Saab Safir G-ANOK
 

Planemike, you suspect right! Confirmation for you from my present location and interest in this thread. But interesting that although we were contemporary (and friends) at Eastleigh, your memory of the Safir's colour scheme is different. Guess we must be talking of slightly different dates then. But my memory is gettting selective. Thanks for confirming B G Halpin as owner.

Chevvron

Further to yours above, you might be interested in...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2016/...57987e41_o.jpg

Taken in 1966 while parachuting at Thruxton. Claire Roberts used to fly it for us.

2 s

Was she wearing the `sprayed-on` leopardskin trousers,or were you too keen/innocent to notice ?

G-AHFK went on to finish to its life in Kenya. I have a photo of it at Nairobi West (Wilson) in 1964. Unfortunately cannot display it on here (limited IT skills).......!!!

Planemike

Good grief! Planemike, Dayglo orange must have been an afterthought.
Back in the 1950s there wasn't any dayglo paint for painting on vehicles and aeroplanes!
Back then even the police cars were black Wolesleys with bells on the front.
Someone must have re-painted it. I think it was Primrose Yellow with a black stripe.

So it looks like it's down to memory for this, after all most of us in the late1950s and very early 60s were only doing black and white photography until Kodachrome transparencies came along with 35mm. I doubt if any colour prints exist from that era.

Anyhow it's all very interesting what you've all come up with on this.
G-AHFK did indeed go to Kenya but I had heard that it rotted away out there once it fell out of use. Rather sad really.
--
Plado

Plado...........

See my msg No 28. Take your point about "dayglo", I would have said not around in 50s. My slide was taken in early 64, I reckon NOK had just been repainted. I would be more than happy to display the image on here but unfortanely my IT skills do not permit that. Have a slide of Tiger Moth G-ANEE with "dayglo" rudder, wing tips and nose cowling.

Yes, my understanding is also that HFK fell in to disuse after arrival in Kenya. In all probablity it was burnt at Wilson. My slide shows the a/c intact so I guess just after arrival in Kenya.

Planemike

Dayglo in the 1950s
 

I think dayglo was around in the (late) 1950s. I saw a couple of Geminis (G-AKGC and KHH) and an Auster Autocrat (G-AJRN) at Tollerton with dayglo markings in October 1959. There was another Auster, an Aiglet Trainer G-APVG, at Rearsby, also in October 1959.
Several aircraft had dayglo in 1960, such as the Argosies G-APRL and M.

Laurence

DAYGLO
 

The earliest dayglo type example that I can remember, is the Automobile Association Auster Alpine G-APAA, which was painted bright yellow for all lettering and the AA badge, this was registered 23/6/56. I cannot remember anything prior - even military.

Re colour film, for individual filming and shots, it simply was not available, the developing process was extremely complex and results very variable. I worked in BOAC's photographic unit in London for a couple of years, where we did all of the publicity photography and developing, and we kept to B & W, even when we did all of photographs of Princess Margrets wedding dresses as they were designed by Norman Hartnell !!. (could have made a fortune from the press, but we were very honest/loyal).

I was given a 50 foot length of 35m Positive Eastmancolor film by the sales rep about 1959 to try out at a Brands Hatch motorbike race, but the result was very poor. It was only the film industry that got it going.

I will try & send over a photo of PAA in a minute - Plado I will be back at some stage for Bucketshop tuition!!

Cheers :ok:

Hi Plado!

This is my very first post having joined just a few hours ago. And now an automotive memory. Like your father, my grandfather had a Hillman Minx and I remember him asking for a shot of RedEx. I never thought I would hear that name again! I did fly out of Luton in about 1967 in a Britannia Airways Britannia - G-ANBL.

Well I'm sure everyone welcomes you here just as they all welcomed me a few days ago.
Hillman Minxes of the 1950s stuck in my mind vividly because my Father had 4 of them as company cars with Smiths Aircraft Instruments Sales job. Sorry if this is a bit off-topic from our conversation here about GANOK and GAHFK but it's nice to just talk 50s nostalgia as a by-product of the thread. Some of the early Minxes were column gear change and my dad used to let my brother and I take it in turns to steer the car at normal cruising speeds when we had the opportunity such as on a holiday visit to the Durham Dales. Lots of deserted winding roads there and the Minx had a bench front seat and no floor change in the middle to get in the way.

It struck me as very easy to steer a car (I was only 12 years old then!) not much movement needed more just guiding it with small steady movements of the steering wheel.
The cars my dad drove were all serviced at a place called Campbell Simmonds on London's North Circular near Hendon.- and I remember a flaming row developed when someone left all the jets out of the carburettor on re-assembly when cleaning the fuel system.
Somehow the car ran, but a half mile from the dealer things went a bit pear-shaped.
So he walked back and ordered them to tow it in and give him a car to get home.
Sparks flew! Not only from the plugs.

I used to help with later servicing jobs when my dad did stuff DIY at home once he'd got his own car. I remember two products that may ring bells with you. Dirty Paws (Hand Cleaner) and Rozalex hand barrier cream for making it easier to clean off gunge from your hands after an oily job. Amazingly Rozalex still exists.

For Luton to have taken Britannia aircraft in the 1960s the place must have undergone a considerable runway upgrade as I don't think there was enough room for something that big to land or take off back in the mid 1950s. The ground was much too bumpy for a passenger aircraft of that size to land without suffering the "forced landing in a ploughed field" effect !

One last thing that just sprung into my mind, we had a holiday on Hayling Island in the 1960s and the approach road to the Caravan Site had a small bungalow opposite a fairly large field. The occupant of the bungalow had his own Piper aeroplane parked opposite in the field beside the pavement. He used to fly in from somewhere and make a low pass to shoo away the horses and get a strip to land on. Then he'd come round again and do a proper approach and touch down. It had a very short pull-up distance and also when taking off he'd repeat the same thing by taxiing round to move horses out of the way and then take a really short run-up to lift-off almost like a Harrier jump jet. We were astounded to watch it. No fire engines standing by. My father never said it was illegal what this chap was doing. I don't even know how he refuelled as there were no pumps or cans beside the road. What freedom eh?

Cheers
Plado

Remember doing the same thing with several of dad's cars, Standard Vanguard, Austin A55 and Zepher 6 spring to mind, that was out in Kenya, open roads and very little traffic.

Planemike..........

Hi Plado and PlanMike!

Thanks for your welcome and Hillman Minx comments. Yes, my grandfather's was a column shift/bench seat arrangement. I never got to steer it on the road, but in my parents' driveway, which was uphill and short, he let me try to find the clutch bite-point.

I remember Rozalex barrier cream from my days as a British Aircraft Corp (just missed being able to claim Bristol per se) Filton apprentice, so I guess that at least gets this sequence back to aeronautics!

Cheers

bassbellman