Charter airline visits to Leeds Bradford, 1960s and 1970s
 

Britannia Airways began using LBA in 1976 but does anybody know which airlines visited prior to this time and what their likely destinations were ? Passenger or cargo. The only one I can think of is the Transavia Caravelle doing trips to the Dutch bulb fields.

I do remember the likes of BIA, Dan-Air, Aer Lingus and Northeast on the scheduled front but not the charter scene.

Thankyou.

Leeds?Bradford charters
 

Martinair Rotterdam DC4/7
Air Links - Argonaut - Lourdes
Dan Air - Ostend - DC3
British Eagle - Viscount - Palma
Autair International - Ambassador - Palma
Treffield - Viscount - Palma
All in the mid 60s

Martin's Air Charter (which later became Martinair) were regular visitors during the 1960s using DC-3s and Convair 440s. Not sure which destinations they served.

Thankyou horatio. Given that Martinair was Dutch their visits are quite likely to have been in connection with the bulb fields.

Leds/Bradford charters
 

Martinair operated Bulb field flights i think for Clarksons
Dan Air operated so called Champagne flights to Paris for short series with the Ambassador.

I've seen a picture of an Ambassador taking off from RW33 at LBA. I can't tell if it's Dan-Air or BKS though. At least it wasn't going to the Netherlands. 'On your left, tulips. On your right, daffodils etc.' I can't imagine anything more dull.

But tulips and daffodils are actually quite colourful!:ok:

wardair 747's and DC-10's were regular summer visitors to Canada

I seem to recall Yugotours Holidays did use LBA for their charters which would be aviogenex TU-134's and inex adria dc9's - can anyone confirm that?

again not sure if aviaco spantax or transeuropa ever came in? (caravelles or DC9)

BKS/Northeast Tridents never came in afaicr - they did charters from NCL LHR MME

Wardair and Yugotours did use LBA rog, but not in the 1960s and 1970s which is the era I'm talking about. Perhaps Pan Adria turned up occasionally before getting in with Inex Adria.

OK ta - just thought that yugotours was at the height of their game in the mid 70's and aviogenex and inex had quite big fleets then - they also used JAT for charters too

first widebody into LBA was in the 80's with wardair and BA 747's although both WD and CP got their 747's very early on and were regulars at LGW and MAN mid 70's

I used to love the occasional one-off specials at LBA, pre-extension -
e.g. Stirling Caravelle OY-SAH, 18/05/78

Transavia Caravelles......bulbfields.......football???

Not sure about Autair Ambassadors to Palma??? BKS to Paris yes and Dan-Air to Beauvais yes! [day trips]

I'm sure there were others, will try and return to the question. I can usually remember fifty years ago with ease!!

Invicta Airways, DC4s used on the bulb field trips and the trips to Lourdes.

BKS for just one season in 1964 using HS748s to Basle off runway 10/28 [no 15/33 at that stage!]

Just what was the big deal with b****y bulbfields fifty-odd years ago ? Must have been a flower power thing; I haven't known such a charter in my twenty-plus years at LBA. A longer runway and more capable jets may be significant here !

Clarksons used to operate these bulb field packages from pretty well every airport in the UK (aside of LHR I suspect); and they also flew similar series in the spring to Beauvais, presumably for short breaks in and around Paris.

In answer to your question, I suggest that the world was a very different place back in the 1960s and 1970s, and these destinations were pretty "exotic" for many of the customers, for whom they were probably their first excursion away from good old Blighty. Out of interest I googled bulb field holidays and cannot find a company offering packages by air on the lines of those that Clarksons used to offer - though the famous Keukenhof bulb fields that were a principal stop are still very much alive and kicking, with the likes of Shearings offering packages by coach.

concur fully with ATNotts

dutch bulb fields tours by air for either a day or short trips were huge business back then in the quiet shoulder period before the summer season kicked off

look at some old photos of RTM and you will see maybe a 10 or more UK charter a/c on the deck

clarksons were one of the biggies but many companies enjoyed the work (same with JER and GCI holidays by air - nowadays the popularity has long waned)

nowadays most bigger and local coach holiday companies (we have 4 down here in west dorset) all offer trips to the bulb fields by coach/ferry from your local town and are usually a sell out

Remarkable. These bulbfield jollies were evidently very much of their time and linked, I should say, to a post-war generation.

some of the first mass package tourism

Sorry for the thread drift - any of the LBA regulars remember the Aer Turas DC-4 that spent quite some time parked up over on 'the pan' after a landing incident. Think it burst some tyres. Mid to late 70's sometime?

They were marketed extensively to groups, Women's Institutes, that sort of thing. Many taking them had not been abroad, or by air, before. It also, being in March/April, formed pre-season work for the charter companies before a summer season that was shorter then. I believe passports were not required. Apart from seeing the flowers, foreign shopping for things not in UK shops in those days was another attraction. The coach took them to tourist trap shops but where £ were accepted. Everyone seemed to come home with Toblerone and Nutella.

Normal operation was with propeller aircraft, Viscounts, Ambassadors, etc, early departure to Rotterdam, only about an hour flying, sit there all day, back in the evening, then position on to the following morning's departure point. Clarksons were the leader, they started using Autair's Vikings from Luton which introduced the two to each other, and the rest was history. Some operators also offered overnight trips, which used the aircraft standing at Rotterdam to make a second round trip during the day.

Beauvais was another Clarksons point, being bussed from there to Paris, and there were other combinations and operators. The loss of the Invicta Vanguard approaching Basel from Bristol in 1973 was just such a day trip, it wiped out a number of women's social groups from North Somerset.