Going back a few more years:

Anyone seen that 1955 movie "Out of the Clouds' with a brilliant cast including the late great James Robinson Justice playing the part of a BOAC Captain?

Out of the Clouds (1955) - IMDb

Severe traffic congestion, Central Area, 1950s:

http://steemrok.com/LAP%203%20sm

Note: this image is taken from the booklet 'London Airport: The official story of the new world air centre', published by the General Office of Information in 1956. I have been unable to find the copyright holder.

From Discorde's interesting London Airport 1948 video:

"Building work will continue for another 6 years" .........http://www.pprune.org/images/smilies/yeees.gif

Typo... Missed out the zero!! 60 years!!

Oh, hang on, 1948 + 60 = 2008.....

No, can't be that!!

:}

wheres 3 years gone?
 

I thought I would start at the beginning of this thread, and Im glad I did.
There are names of members who dont seem to post any more?
Up to Page 2 all posts are 2011, then suddenly page 3 its 2014. I cant believe no posts for 3 years?

"Out of the clouds"
 

"Anyone seen that 1955 movie "Out of the Clouds' with a brilliant cast including the late great James Robinson Justice playing the part of a BOAC Captain?"


Yes, recorded it off TV some years ago onto a vid, then I think I bought a DVD of it on Amazon? But having just looked through my DVDs and vid's, I can't put my hands on it.


An absolute clunker of a film so far as the plot goes, with love scenes so bad I had to fast-forward through them, but fantastic propliner action at LHR. Well worth getting and sitting through all the nonsense, just for that.

Re Bedfont Pub
 

Mr Oleo, could the pub in Bedfont possibly be the "Duke of Wellington" in Hatton Road or "The Green Man" near Hatton Cross ? both were a mere stones throw from BEA and BOACs maintenance area. I grew up in a house behind the Green man in the 60's, Mum and Dad moved from London and bought a new house in the country with a big garden that was formerly an orchard with apple and pear trees still planted in lines, the field at the back was a Bluebell field. Every now and and again a Plane would sail over the house and Mum and Dad wondered where they went ! of course they had never heard of the New London Airport :)

Oleo Strut and Dockwell, the Stanwell pub is the Rising Sun. Loving this thread - I started straight from school (Windsor Grammar) in '68 in BEA cargo at Hangar 8, soon moved across to the then-brand-new Cargocentre and well remember legging it across to a small gate in the peri fence on many occasions to get to the pub. When I went back eleven years ago to witness the last Concorde departure I was pleased to note said gate is still there!

Mr Dockwell would your families home have been on the land which was/perhaps still is a field with horses in it ?


SHJ

Afraid not, I did know the Burnhams who owned the farm though

One of my best memories of over 45 years at LAP /Heathrow / LHR ,were the day an announcement was made that the "B ofB Memorial Flight"were giving a FLY By down 28 right so the off duty erks went to witness this event outside their crew room door ,Aviation's finest were using said runway for take off not a flicker of interest was shown of DC8s ,747s 757s and sundry other types even Concorde hurtling the runway ,plenty of aircraft in a long line on the holding point, in a short lull a Hurricane, Lancaster ,and a Spitfire flying in formation trundled along the runway not a dry eye to be seen . I don't suppose it will ever happen again it must have been the 40th anniversary of BofB MF or something.

A few more memories...
 

Just a few more ramblings to add to my posts 49 and 50 about my time at LHR in Customs from 1962 to 1968, before memory fades and the new runway obliterates familiar places:-

Transport. Without your own wheels it was not that easy to get to the the central area for work. I travelled from Reading which, depending on shift patterns, required a trolley bus to Reading station, train to Slough, 81b bus to the north side, walk through the tunnel, or thumb a lift. Sometimes colleagues with cars would do a rota. Other times I used the Thames Valley 'B' bus from London to Reading. All very complicated which soon provoked me to get an old Lambretta scooter with dodgy electrics, until the Queen arranged for me to get a driving license and I acquired a bright new Morris Minor - luxury indeed, particularly because we were allowed to park in the central area. Before the M4/M25 the A4/Great West Road was always busy and the phased traffic lights through Slough were a real lottery.

I remember how quiet the then new Terminal 3 Oceanic was before and after the 'wagon trains' morning and evening. It was quite creepy, a huge building and nobody much about. Very handy for a quiet drink and a kip! Noise restrictions limited night flying but there was a regular arrival of a Seaboard and Western CL44 freighter (based on the 'whispering giant' Britannia) at about 3am which I liked to volunteer to go and clear. There were only three crew to deal with, the whole front of the aircraft hinged open, and I could drive the official car all the way round to Hatton Cross at very high speed on the empty perimeter road. On one occasion I drove off the road at warp speed near Perry Oaks and almost turned the car over. That took some explaining away.

Her Majesty eventually kindly agreed to provide us Customs wallahs with VHF car radios. Huge, hot, unreliable but no doubt very cheap. I think they had been put together by Marconi himself. Trouble was they seriously interfered with local TV reception and the complaints poured in when East Enders was overlaid with hiss, squawk and 'Charlie Whisky 7 go to 75 and 80 (stands) etc'. The radios were quickly withdrawn and we were back to phoning in from the outer stands to get details of the next arrivals. I must add that in those far-off days Customs had to clear aircraft first and deal with bonded stores before the plane could be offloaded. And, of course, there were no airstairs or travellators, it was coaches and your plates of meat! From landing to passports to Customs could be a couple of hours or so before you got out of the Terminal if you were lucky. So what's new, you might say!

Airport security was somewhat low-key - old chaps fast asleep in glass boxes with the barriers up and the airside/landslide boundary about as logical as the Northern Irish border. Fleet Street reporters would slip in and out and leave sarcastic notes in cockpits. I remember the cross-runways being used occasionally and, sadly, several fatal crashes, which naturally shocked us all. There is a photo on this thread of the Canadian DC8 crashed in the cabbage patch. I was sent out to make sure that the bonded stores were not nicked. That used to go on as soon as the rubber-neckers turned up, which they always did.. I remember a BOAC VC10 landing with nose wheel up, on a foam carpet on 28L. The flash was brilliant. Luckily nobody was hurt. And the BEA Vanguard, the BOAC 707, and the Ambassador with those poor horses. There was always a buzz about the old place, though, despite all the moans and groans. Far off days now, starting to fade away...

Also remember when a light aircraft possibly a Cessna 150 was allegedly stolen from White Waltham flown in in the early hours of the morning and parked under the wing of our beloved ELAL 747. Pilot never identified and disappeared into the night.

Also on the South side via the Air India / Panam maintenance areas you could drive uninterrupted from the peri road onto the main runway. On the 1st Concorde take off a hundred or so private vehicles were parked on the grass areas adjoining the runway with picnics.

It was actually a Chipmunk, stolen from Denham. It belonged jointly to William Hickey of the Daily Express and to London businessman Peter Tory who later flew it back to Denham.

It had been stolen in the early hours and had been flown low over buildings and traffic on the M4 before being landed on the grass at the airport next to RW27R.

And when the Tower Supervisor rang the police to report a Chipmunk on the grass the police-type suggested he call the RSPCA hostel!

Yes indeed, but with RR Tyne engines. Occasionally we plane spotters living in Isleworth noted strange behaviour of these aircraft when LHR were on easterlies - soon after take-off the engine noise would momentarily reduce significantly for a few seconds and then increase back to climb power.

When I joined the BEA Vanguard fleet some years later we learned that the BEA SOP had been similar, except that the power reduction was done at top of climb - something to do with 'offloading the splines' or some such. By the time we converted onto the type the problem had been solved and the SOP discontinued.

Great to read these stories, but I'm particularly interested in the quote above. It's the first time I've heard of this, does anyone know more about it?

I don't recall that one, nor this one that popped up a couple of days ago in the Air Canada/SFO incident thread:

Info on either/both welcomed. An A320 with a grey topside doesn't leave too many possibilities ...

I believe a Lufthansa B720 also landed nosewheel retracted on 28R.