Thanks for the link boeing_eng. Not a website I've been to before and it looks like a goldmine of information!

cj no problem as have found a photo of Barton in the Clay airfield.

Probably via this link which has some information and a photo? :-
https://forum.keypublishing.com/show...eds)-Aerodrome

If you know where to look, two of the hangars still exist on the industrial estate, but they are unrecognisable as hangars today, as they have been re-cladded for use as industrial units.

My one and only flight from Luton Airport was on the 2nd June 1973 on board a brand new Court Line Aviation Lockheed Tristar bound for the Paris Airshow.

I have two very vivid memories of this flight. First the taxi to the runway seemed to go along a cliff edge. The aircraft stopped short of the runway waiting for a landing aircraft. From my window seat I could see a huge factory in the valley way below and remember thinking that I would not feel safe working there. Secondly, the loud 'sawmill' sound of the engines at take-off power. A truly magnificent experience for the time.

I am certain of the date as it was the day before the Russian TU144 crashed. I had returned home and just sat down to watch Raymond Baxter present Airshow when the crash happened.

Sounds like you took off to the East, runway 08. Yes, it's a steep drop down to the Vauxhall factory - still going, rather smaller than in the 70s, these days building only vans.

Thats the one that the HS125 hit after takeoff from 08

The 125 accident was in 1967 and it was performing a training departure on runway 26 - very sad
https://aviation-safety.net/database...?id=19671223-1

A few years ago at Stopsley fire station I saw a wall photo of what I think now was a Canberra but my mind might be playing up. The new control tower was in the background and this Canberra had crashed or made a wheels up landing.

Anyone care to speculate whether I have lost the plot?

G-KAXF Hawker Hunter 25 Jul 1999. The pilot was Rod Dean.

https://assets.publishing.service.go...pdf_501264.pdf

Rod was on his way back to Cranfield, where he had permission to land out of hours, after leaving the RIAT show. On arrival he couldn’t get the left main gear down. Deciding it was preferably to crash somewhere that had fire cover, he opted to divert to Luton and his first call to Luton Approach was ‘can’t get the left main gear down, 20 mins fuel remaining’ which concentrated the mind of the Luton Approach controller on a busy Sunday evening!

He landed with the nose and right gear extended. The aircraft had wing tanks and the left one detached and caught fire. The aeroplane ended up on the grass, Rod hopped out and made the seat safe. It was moved after a couple of hours and then after temporary repairs flew out a week later with the gear down.

I was Manager ATS at the time but on leave, working as a volunteer at RIAT! I was leading a convoy of balloonists out of Fairford when my mobile rang. It was the Airport Duty Manager who didn’t need to call me. All I heard was ‘wreckage all over the runway’. With 80,000 people streaming out of Fairford all ringing their mums to say when they would be home it was a while before I could call back and find out what had really happened.

Rod tells a good story about it and it is mentioned in his book.


https://i.imgur.com/1gNQpMG.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/IuOWxKR.jpg

Pics by Chiltern Air Support.

The 125 accident happened just after everyone had gone home for the Christmas holiday so fortuantely no one was in the factory. Vauxhall had from Christmas to New Year holiday and they called in an army of tradesmen who rebuilt the end of the factory during the Holiday. !!

Rod Dean was the speaker at last month's meeting of the Milton Keynes Aviation Society. He recounted the story of the Hunter at Luton, complete with pictures as posted by vintage ATCO. A very interesting and informative lecture.

What happened to the Hunter after the accident?

Still flying.

http://www.militaryaircraft.de/pictu...3_0134_800.jpg

The first CL Tristar flew from Palmdale in several legs stopping at various NA airport and "hot swopped ' CL pilots to get in the required number of sectors for licence endorsement.
The second Tristar flew direct from Palmdale to Luton. Originally the Tristar was for the European traffic but CL also had the hotels in the Caribbean so that route was looked at by Lockheed. In those days before the current nav rules most long range routes were 4 engined aircraft so the perfomance was predicated on 50 % of powerplants inop ! A problem for Tristar as they required 2 engine out senario !!

A family member flew to the Caribbean on a courtline tristar. They went to stlucia they said the flight was great so much room believe courtline operated the tristar in a 350 seat operation for the Caribbean route .Even the hotel was called Halycon .I also had a work mate who told me he went on a clarksons holiday nearer to home Mediterranean but in this case the Tristar was backed to the rafters.

Wasn't there a sister airline in that neck of the woods that was somehow linked to Courtline.

yes OU had hotels in ANU nd UVF (plus the bahamas?)

the a/c routed via gander or azores?