Thanks chaps, a hopper would make sense, but surely the pellets would have been a FOD danger to aircraft before they replaced them with liquid de-icing products ?



SHJ

Very small pellets, all checked out, RAF used the stuff as well. Better than the grit we used before and that had to be a specific size grit. Remember being out near runway early 70s and quite a racket when reversers went out!!

BIA leased a couple of Rombac 1-11s from Tarom for a couple of seasons.They were crewed by Romanian pilots and British cabin crew-mainly freelances.
(My wife freelanced for them-did mainly charters to Milan and a few other Italian cities)

The urea pellets (made from pig's wee, not the other thing) were wetted with a small amount of Konsin (another anti/de-icing agent but more expensive) as they were spread which caused them to dissolve. Urea was pretty effective but it was discontinued in the end because of the amount of ammonia that was being washed into waste water systems.

1964
 

Might that be a Falcon Hermes -cannot think of other fin colours

Looks like a DC- 6 to me.
Falcon went out of business in 1961

What's the grey (?) largish twin front left of the photo ? It almost looks like the love child of a hangar liaison between Hawker Siddley and CASA :)


SHJ

caribou ---

By golly you're right! In my head they didn't start service until the mid 60's, yet it seems they were out and about from 1961 onwards. This begs the question, why would one have been at Luton ? Perhaps a delivery flight after coming over the Atlantic and before heading off to points East ?


SHJ

Digging deep into the archives I have found the ground shot. 107 DHC-4A KAF-C2 (to Kuwait AF as KAF-C2, K-878, 611): del. 15.7.63 so maybe the aerial photo was taken in 1963 and not 1964?

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...psc3462224.jpg

It's position in the colour photo (great shot btw), almost matches with the Hangar behind and the yellow road making equipment can be seen vaguely behind in the B/W overhead shot.


SHJ

I left Luton just after the 1-11 accident in '63. Certainly there were Caribous being ferried through before that date.

The Kuwaiti Caribou looks like it answers the above question.
Another one passing through at the time is featured here.
Possibly the DHC demonstrator on its way to or from the Paris Air Show ?

With regard to the Douglas DC whotsit in the photograph, I would suggest that it is a little small for a DC6 - but just the right size for a DC4 of Rhodesian Air Services.
If you blow up the photo so to speak you can just make out the 'R' on the fin.
This outfit was run by Jack Malloch and you can find much about his antics by searching the internet. I recall seeing him a couple of times at Luton circa 1966-67 usually bringing in a DC4 of one description or another however this photo is from earlier in that decade.

And presumably that is another Caribou right at the bottom left of the photograph,
with a De Haviland Rapide 'type' also sharing space on the apron

OUAQUKGF Ops

Agreed. It is a Rhodesian Air Services DC-4

Air-Britain : Douglas C-54A Skymaster

A urea hopper. How disappointing. For years I told new co-pilots at was the remains of Luton's failed moon shot attempt.

You should have told them it was this heap of rubbish (Urea heap) that this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uriah_Heep_(band) rock group got it's name :)




SHJ

1968

I wonder why the terminal and road where not built parallel to the apron?

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...ps443f5c83.jpg