Ibiza Beach Landing 1968
 

A friend recently told me of her first holiday trip to Ibiza in 1968, by Caravelle from London (She thought LHR) to Barcelona and then by "small noisy" aeroplane which flew low and made a beach landing on Ibiza which she said was the only way to fly there at the time.
I was a bit sceptical but she was absolutely insistent about those details, (they're pretty specific and not the sort one would be likely to get wrong) and that it was a sand strip right on the beach right next to the sea.
Wiki says Ibiza airport opened in 1958 so I'm rather puzzled.

Anyone able to shed light on this, on that beach strip and perhaps the aircraft used?
Or maybe it wasn't Ibiza, Menorca or some other island perhaps?

Ideas?

The only Caravelle accident in Ibiza that springs to mind was in 1972 when an Iberia flight from Valecia hit a mountain.

In 1968 an Air France Caravelle crashed in the sea off Nice.

Huh? He's not asking about Clarabelle accidents, he's asking about a strip used by small, apparently prop-driven airplanes.

Ibiza Airport c/o Wiki

The airport was first established as a temporary military airport during the Spanish Civil War, and remained open after the conflict for use as an emergency airport. In 1949 the site was used to operate some domestic and international tourist flights, but was then closed in 1951.

It was not until 1958 that work commenced to re-open the airport in reaction to the rapid development of the tourist market in the Balearic Islands, particularly in neighbouring Majorca. The airport was reopened on 1 April 1958 with the first destinations during that year including Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid.

So, one of the first destinations from Ibiza was Ibiza?!!!!

It wouldn't have been Menorca. The 'old' aerodrome at San Luis was in use from 1947-69 as the island's airport, then operations moved to the new 'Mahon' airport at San Clemente and the Real Aero Club de Mahon took over San Luis aerodrome.

The new airport used to be a delightful little place - you could sit outside with a pallofa on the terrace bar right next to the apron waiting for friends to arrive. But now it has been extended and expanded and has lost all its charm, I gather.

Iberia started operating the Caravelle in 1962; however, by then Es Codolá airport had been upgraded with a tarmac runway.

Between 1958 and 1960, the 'small noisy aeroplane' which used to operate between Barcelona and the dusty airstrip at Ibiza was probably the Bristol 170 operated by Aviaco:



Or perhaps an Iberia DC-3; services from Ibiza to Barcelona and Valencia also started in 1958.

Jet aircraft started flying direct to Ibiza following runway extension in 1962.

Thanks Beagle, it took a while to get any signal through the noise! That is helpful. I guess her dates are the thing that's scrambled and the aircraft would certainly fit the bill.

From the picture the ground certainly looks sandy, and is that the sea in the background? Was the apron that close to the coast? If so it might well have been recalled as a beach runway.

Ibiza airport is very close to the Mediterranean, particularly at the western end of the airport, so could very probably seem like a 'beach' airport:

Ooops - sorry all, must have read it in a rush! Mind you, I now wonder what sort of accidents "Clarabelle" got up to!

Didn't they have to blow up a brand new beach side hotel at the end of the runway about 40 yrs ago cos of the danger to aircraft?

I think Aviaco used Herons to Ibiza from Barcelona ,too which might tie into the size part of the memory
AviationCorner.net - Galera de fotografas - Fotos de aviones
.... the B170 was supposedly memorably noisy, though
Some amazing ex-Axis stuff on this photosite

ibiza beach landings
 

Yes they did blow a hotel up at cala den bossa near the end of the runway local story has it that local business man built hotel with out permisson told him to take down did not so they blew it up charged him to take what was left of hotel did not so got thrown in to jail and left hotel as a reminder to others.Remember this i belive was around 74/75 also speaking to a old work collegue remembers in the late 5os/60s flying to ibiza via palma and then had to catch a light aircraft as runway was not big enough .Also states was given a glass of brandy as a inflight drink to settle nerves?