A quick snapshot of LTN activity in the mid 1970s.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/deetee100/12908466514/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/deetee100/12908031495/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/deetee100/9442287975/

Marquis.
 

Short, Beech's UK Distributor ’59-66, licenced Baron as P.D.52, Marquis as P.D.54, Queen Air as P.D.58/64, but abandoned the biz sector in 1962 when an RAF taxi order went to (ex-Bristol) Sir P.Masefield’s BEAGLE as B.206 Basset. Marquis died not so much due to King Air, but to P&W(C)'s customer-friendly orientation on PT-6A. Astazou was not presented to market in the same way. Piper PA-31/42 Cheyennes and Cessna 425 Corsairs did fine below King Air.

Luton in the early 70's with nice views inside the terminal and aerial shots of the airport. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhYU6FR4uaM

Also bad Luton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-HPg5oGlww

Brings back memories, when men went on package holidays wearing jacket and ties!

Foreign Carriers at Luton in Years Gone By...
 

What foreign carriers operated into Luton in years gone by?

When I was a kid in the late 1980's, my parents went through a phase of going on holiday to the former Yugoslavia and booked all their holidays through Yugotours...

In 1988 we flew to Pula on a JAT DC-9, 1989 on a JAT 737-300 and in 1990 to Split with Adria on an A320.

Back then the A320 was just launched and cutting edge!

Did Aviogenex, Yugotours own in-house charter airline ever operate in to Luton? I remember they use to operate Tupolev TU-134, that would have been a treat to see that operating!

Will try and dig out some photo's, sure I took some on the Apron as we boarded and disembarked. I also remember the hexagonal duty free shop in the departure lounge.

"Brings back memories, when men went on package holidays wearing jacket and ties!" As you say, they certainly don't now! I flew into M/C on Sunday pm-lots of T-shirts or vest-type shirts, loads of baseball caps and beer-bellys; what a bunch of scruffs!


And gilesdavies, here's a link to a shot I took forty years ago, of an Aviogenex TU-134A at Manchester: https://www.flickr.com/photos/489750...-a9jc25-93m5SN


They were very common visitors to Manchester back then-and presumably Luton too, so lots of people must have been going on holiday to Yugoslavia back in the 1970s.

One of my favourites used to be the Tarom IL-18s.
You could see them coming from a mile away, was never really sure what they were burning, probably oil.
Then there was Air Spain with the DC8s, red and yellow.Watched one touch down at the middle intersection when landing on 26 , just managed to stop at the end of the runway.To this day I wondered how the seat belts must have felt digging in when the reverse thrust came on.
Happy days

Yes, I remember Tarom's Ilyushin 18s too. Here's a link to the only photo I ever took of one, taxying at Manchester, almost exactly 42 years ago now! https://www.flickr.com/photos/489750...dLbaWm-8HzYgs/


And yes, Air Spain's DC-8s were noisy, colourful beasts. Here's a link to the only shot I ever took of one of these, again from 42 years ago: https://www.flickr.com/photos/489750...-ekQWXo-8WxKhD


But the noisiest and smokiest beasts of all, back in those days, were undoubtedly Spantax's Convair 990As. Sadly, I never photographed one, but perhaps someone else here will be able to post a link to a shot of one that they took back in the 1970s or 1980s? I believe one survives at Palma, allegedly for preservation, but it's not in very good condition. I caught a glimpse of it there in 2000.

I remember an Italian airline flying Caravelles called Altair and I think there was an Israeli airline called I think MAOF flying Boeing 720's. This must have been in the late 70's.

Aviogenex did use their TU 134s into Luton before they 'upgraded' to B737s. Prior to the DC8s, Air Spain used Britannias.

In the late 70s there was also SAS operated quite a lot of flights using a mixture of DC10s and DC9s.

Sterling was another frequent visitor with their Caravelles along with Aviaco.

Now all we see are B737s and Airbuses.

Transavia Caravelles

Balair DC-6s, Condor Flug Viscounts, Sudflug DC-7s, Aviaco Caravelles, Spantax Coronados, CP Air DC8s, Conair 720s, Inex-Adria DC-9s, Hispania Caravelles, Tabso IL-18s, Tarom IL-18s, and that's just pre-1980!

MAOF & Altair
 

LTNman - Noticed you mentioned the above two airlines, both of which I had some dealings with during my time at Luton Airport;

I was with Monarch when MAOF started, leasing two of our B720s and I even spent some time in Tel Aviv working with MAOF.

I was later in Management with Altair when they based a Caravelle in LTN and another in Gatwick.

I was at LTN from 1977 till the mid 80s and during that time was with;
Monarch, Air Bridge, Altair, and Air-Reps.

Great times in those days and plenty of foreign carriers seen there. Eagle Air, Tarom, JAT, Inex Adria, Aviogenex, TAP, Alitalia, Royal Air Maroc, KLM, Sterling, and many more.

DH 86, Napier Icing Research Lincoln, Eland Convair Liner, "rocket" Skeeter, Hunting Percival President, Euravia Connies, Autair Vikings, Helio Courier, Hunting Harrier (!) Hunting P74 ,& 126,Percival Q6 Saab Safir, Cessna 336, BKS Bristol 170's , Ambassadors, Napier/Benson Autogiro, Prototype BAC 1-11.....
and that's just pre-1964!
Just reminded by your LGS6753, Haraka was LGS6456.
Great days!

What was an HP (Hunting Percival, not Handley Page) President? Don't recall that.

Hunting President
 

The President was a civilian VIP version of the Pembroke , only about 3 were built IIIRC.
The Hunting "Harrier" was a small fold-up air droppable vehicle, reminiscent of a Mini-Moke when opened up. Like the Moke its Achilles heel was low ground clearance.
Napier experimented with a modified Bensen Gyrocopter fitted out with spray bars for crop spraying.

NETHERLANDS AT LUTON
 

Two dates which I fondly remember, the first in the late 1960s when Ajax were playing Arsenal in the European Cup, it was a Wednesday morning but cannot remember the exact date, but a mass influx of KLM DC-8-54s and Transavia Caravelles suddenly appeared along with a Fokker F28. I distinctly remember ATC saying that they were expecting a KLM DC-8-63 to appear and it duly did and was a bit concerned about parking it - I think it went on the pond in the end. I know a piece appeared in Flight magazine entitled ´´Netherlands at Luton´´.
The second Netherlands ´´invasion´´ appeared for the 1971 European Cup final at Wembley between Ajax and a Greek side. It was more or less a shuttle service with aircraft of several UK and Dutch airlines going to and fro from Amsterdam over two days with a break in the late afternoon and evening when the match took place. I have a copy of the movements somewhere so must try and dig it out - or maybe get out a bit more!

I worked for Autair 1966-71. I can remember many times when the airfield was absolutely stuffed with diversions usually in the evenings from Heathrow. Lutair/Autair Traffic Department were very keen to encourage this aspect of the business. The main apron would rapidly fill up so that aeroplanes would have to be parked adjacent to staff cars between the Autair and Britannia hangars and along the edge of the taxiway leading to the runway. These were last resorts and ATC would then refuse any further diversions.

I remember one summer evening arriving for night shift to find about six BCAL or was it it BUA BAC 1-11s sitting on the ramp having diverted from Gatwick. The weather was clearing at Gatwick and the crews wanted to get away but were somewhat irked by the shortage of Pushback Tugs and tow bars. Company frequency was very busy for about an hour with whingeing pilots.

The airport was very busy when The World Cup was held in the UK. I may be wrong but I think this was the first occasion when a DC8-63 came to Luton.

Of the many aeroplanes I saw during my time there the most unusual was probably the Reid and Sigrist R.S. 4 Desford, which parked outside our hangar - "Now what on earth is that ?" said Pete Dibley, Autair's Chief Pilot, who was clearly fascinated by it.

There were other strange aeroplanes sitting outside Macalpine's hangar,
Riley Doves, A Mustang that belonged to Keegan, I think it had a turbo engine and then the strange looking Piaggio P.166. which Macalpines used for air taxi work. I remember this creature squatting rather than sitting outside our office on the ramp on numerous occasions - Britannia used to deadhead their crews on it. It was an absolute sod to start and I used to think to myself "You won't catch me flying on that aeroplane!"

Happy and in retrospect, fascinating days.

Haraka - thanks - another gap in my knowledge plugged. Cheers W

Even up to the late 80s, diversions was always a case of take as many as we can until we were full.

I can't remember the record, but often there were about 14 a/c parked on the 9 terminal stands, and several parked one behind the other on the left side of the taxiway behind stands 10 -15.

I think it must have been one of the last big diversion days when every piece of concrete had an a/c parked on it, when Monarch said they needed to bring a B757 in for a crew change complete with passengers. It ended up landing on 26, parking in the 08 turning circle for 3 minutes or so before departing with a new crew.

Happy days, all ended when people who new nothing about aviation started running things, and of course CAT 111 capability.

I well remember Sterling bringing Caravelle's, 727's and I think 757's to Luton. Also, Maersk with their lovely bright blue 720's, Condor with I think, 727's, JAT with a range of types, Cyprus Airways with A310/320's, Transwede MD87's to name just a few.

The one thing Luton lacks a little today is variety of aircraft types & airlines compared to the old days

KLM DC8-63.
I was working in hangar 1/2 at the end of 1979 and came in one morning to find the nose of the KLM aircraft in the hangar. It had diverted in and been parked nose to the doors. Other aircraft were having trouble getting past the tail so it was towed into the hangar to provide clearance.

On hangars:The Eland Convair Liner apparently used to start up in its hangar before galloping out to take-off as it was a bit tight all round......


.

Another favoured parking area when the airport was filling up was the engine run up bay. I have seen a few aircraft crammed in there over the years.

Not forgetting cargo....
 

One of my favourites was Aer Turas. Mixed fleet of Argosy, Bristol Freighter, CL44, Britannia, and my personal favourites two DC7 and a DC4. Oh, and a DC8. Great crews too.

Luton departure board
 

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...ps864ebcbd.jpg

Anyone like to guess the year and the airlines shown on the departure board?

EO 003 to Brussels was the BAC111 G-BNIH used it a few times

BY Britannia
OM Monarch
DA Danair
EO London European
KG Orion
SM Altair ( I think)

Gonna go for 1983/4

Close but I think I can see one mistake.

Actually thinking about it, it was 1987 when London European was rebranded as Ryanair Europe and if I remember correctly the BAC1-11 started the Brussels route then.
Stand to be corrected though.
SM is Altair?

I flew GBNIH for London European Airways for about a month (April '88) which then rebranded as Ryanair Europe and continued operating until Jan or Feb '89. The LTN - BRU route operated five days a week returning the following morning, so the answer to your question LTNman is most likely 1988.

The clue is in the date shown on the monitor. Thur 19/04 makes the year 1984 and London European didn't start flying until 1985.

Crikey LTNman that makes it Euroflite with the J41.
That was short lived , wasn't London European forced to buy them out to start up?

EO was Euroflight (owned by McAlpines at the time)

See:

British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 3102, G-BLDO, McAlpine Aviation / Euroflite

Looks like my reply crossed with Falcon 666's and I mean Euroflite! (its been a long time!)

London European Airways - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

According to wikipedia the DoT awarded Euroflite and London European the same route license so London European bought them out.

I seem to remember that in the winter of 1983/84 the Euroflite 15:30 service to Brussels was the last Luton departure of the day.

At some point a Bandeirante was used, but due to failing memory I can't remember what year!

It must have been before the Jetstream as the flight originated from East Midlands.

That jogs a few memories. They also served Cardiff and Bristol until taken over by London European

Quote
At some point a Bandeirante was used, but due to failing memory I can't remember what year!

Yes I flew to Brussels and back in the Bandit and, as stated, it had come from (and was returning to) East Midlands. The outbound flight can't have been economic (my bag and I were the whole payload).
Also can't remember which year, but certainly pre-1984.

The former Court Line / Autair hangar seen as the left hand hangar in the photo is now being demolished to make way for a new Apron for Signature. A little piece of Luton Airport history will soon just become a memory.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...psd1fee410.jpg