Don't remember that. Britannias landing in any sort of a cross wind would bounce a lot, and Caravelles would sometimes have to use their tail parachutes. The crackle, smoke and flames from the Super Connie was always watchable, as was the same from the Carvair - Aer Longus, I think - on the north side. Saw a Strstocruiser once. As regards rarer types, I recall the Russians, particularly TU104s and others, hastily converted bombers with glass noses political commissars, huge stewardesses, dark and dreary Victorian-style cabins, and heavy-duty vodka on tap.Also a regular very smart DC3 from the West Country, and the occasional C46 Curtiss Commander. Can't remember whose. Executive jets hadn't appeared, but Fields ran a poshed-up twin or two I think, Ambassadors?, for Shell out of the old Hunting hangar at Hatton Cross I'm sure. There was also a chopper service to Gatwick but I don't think it lasted very long. How we all managed without decent rail access I really don't know. Noise, smoke and smells there were in volume. A lightly-loaded Comet 4 on full power must have woken the dead over Colnbrook, in fact I remember a BOAC ground engineer doing ground-power checks lit up all four on a Comet at the same time in error, and it was lucky the beast was chained down. Didn't do his career prospects much good. I always thought the BEA Vanguards were stately vessels, but they had a reputation for vibration, apparently. The lack of just about all on-board passenger frills was standard at that time and, of course, many people smoked in all its forms. I remember the pleasure and shock of hearing stereo piped-music in a seat on a Pan-Am 707 for the first time, while indulging in my first American club sandwich. Very nice! Aborted landings in poor weather were a bit of a shock as we didn't know about them until we heard the thunder in the gloom sbove us. I recall that the BEA Tridents were the first to do blind-landings. Favourite aircraft? Concorde of course, but that was later on.

On reflection it must have been 27R (Northern) one afternoon late sixties. I was in the old BEA bonded warehouse under their north-side catering base when the lads tipped us off that something was about to happen. We went outside - silence - then the fire engines appeared and laid a foam carpet right in front of us. Other vehicles, some medical, arrived. No sirens or other movements. It was still very quiet. Nothing in the sky. Word came down that a BOAC Super VC10 on a training flight with crew only was dumping fuel and coming in with nose-wheel retracted. Then we saw it, a distant dot to the east. It landed perfectly just over the threshold and he held it on its main bogies as long as he could while he slowed down, then he gently dropped the nose on to the foam. Neither the nose wheel nor the doors were down or extended. There was a mighty flash and a greenish streak of flame right in front of us but not for long. The nose settled and it was all over very quickly. He kept it straight. Nobody injured, but I can't remember how they towed the aircraft away. It was gone when I want home. I well remember that flash.

Mr Oleo Strut,

I have sent you a PM

The Lufthansa B720 incident occurred 14/08/62. The a/c landed on 10L (as was). Details here.

Seem to recall an Icelandic 720 having a nose wheel collapse at Heathrow around 1980.

Mr Oleo Strut,
It was indeed a long time ago now when I was involved with the VC-10 [1965 to 1975 ] and the little grey brain cells are going fast, but for the life of me I cannot remember a VC-10 landing with the nose not locked down, but as I said the memory is fading fast.

I had a VC10 land with its brakes on! That was novel.

I Think your VC-10 was the 707-436

I often play a game, perhaps to help me sleep or to assist while away some of the 11hrs I regularly spend winding my way south or north along the LHR-CPT line, which is to try and recall the various operators and/or various aircraft types on a typical mid 70's "spotters" day at LHR (complete with salmon paste sandwiches).

Here goes DC-8...Iberia, Air Jamaica, KLM, Swissair, Lofleidir, VIASA, Seaboard World, JAL, Thai, Alitalia, Air Ceylon, Finnair, Air Canada.....

The 707 is the king of this game.

The smell of kerosene, squeal of Darts, roar of Conways and crackle of my air ground radio, atop the high Queens building terrace, on balmy June care-free days, will stay with me for ever.

707 as I recall:

Regulars: Alia, BA, Pan Am, TWA, BWIA, Varig, Aerolineas Argentinas, Qantas, SAA, Air India, Singapore, Iraqi, El Al, Nigerian, TAP, Saudi, MEA, TMA, Egypt Air, Kuwait, PIA, Bangladesh Biman, BMA, Sudan, Ethiopian

Occasionally: Air France, Sabena, Aer Lingus

The odd exec aicraft - N108BN is one I recall which I think is now owned by a Mr Travolta?

Depends how many years ago it was. Could have been the previous BA or the current SAS livery. Qatar operated A320 series into Heathrow a few years ago as well.

Yes, such fond memories of the old Queens Building terrace. Spotter heaven, as was the perimeter road until they put up black plastic sheeting 3/6 feet of the ground on the wire fences around the best viewing sections to stop all the parking to view. We had to fight our way into work!

I must have seen the Flying Dutchman, or been breathing in too much kerosene!

...Kenya Airways, Iran Air, Tarom, JAT, RAM, Olympic, THY, Cyprus Airways, Libyan Arab...

Arem. THe aircraft I referred to was a VC10 - Ghana Airways. Maybe there was another similar incident with a 707

Well the report mentions the grey colour of the topside "blending into the runway", so it doesn't sound like the Landor Pearl Grey-cum-off-white.

But yes, it was the QTR A319s that sprang to mind, I can't think of any others that fit that description at LHR.

Assuming that's the case, it narrows down the timeframe considerably, so the incident would almost certainly have been between May 2014 and November 2015.

And of course the occasional VC-137!

arem,

I agree. I'm pretty sure it was a 707-436.

I remember a BOAC Boeing 707 having nose gear retraction problems - base training at Stansted was it? It returned for a nose gear up landing on 28R. There had been a history of stiff nosewheel steering on this aircraft. Having jacked it up, dropped the nosewheel and towed it off to Tech Block A, detailed investigation found that something had been installed incorrectly on a recent maintenance check.

I suspect it's actually the April 2000 incident involving a BMA A321 (so blue, not grey) and a BA 747 that the OP meant.

The BMA was on the brakes at the 09R threshold when the BA went around, passing over the A321 at approximately 120' AGL.

Aircraft Incident Report 1/2001