Sir Freddie Laker Dies
Join Date: Sep 1999
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goodby to the best
I shed a tear last night when I hear the news.He was the best.The 5 years I spent on the 707 and DC10 where the best of my life.He is Very sadley missed.
There will never be a nother like him in this life time.
There will never be a nother like him in this life time.
Buzz off with BAF!!
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Essex England
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Gordon Fraser posts a very comprehensive picture of Freddie Laker's
early days.
However I feel it is important to provide a location for his extraordinary beginnings in the 1950's and 60's. It was Southend Airport, Essex.
The airport at Southend, Essex was a repository for 250 Percival Prentices acquired by Freddie and Aviation Traders from the RAF. These were an unmissable sight to anyone passing the airport, stacked in various states
of repair along the northern boundary.
Southend Airport provided the young Freddie Laker with his start in aviation.
From Prentices, to Carvairs, to the ATL Accountant (his idea for a turbo-prop DC3 replacement).
Hopefully the airport will recognise his contribution in due course.
early days.
However I feel it is important to provide a location for his extraordinary beginnings in the 1950's and 60's. It was Southend Airport, Essex.
The airport at Southend, Essex was a repository for 250 Percival Prentices acquired by Freddie and Aviation Traders from the RAF. These were an unmissable sight to anyone passing the airport, stacked in various states
of repair along the northern boundary.
Southend Airport provided the young Freddie Laker with his start in aviation.
From Prentices, to Carvairs, to the ATL Accountant (his idea for a turbo-prop DC3 replacement).
Hopefully the airport will recognise his contribution in due course.
It was Freddie Laker's flair and innovation that permitted me to fly over the Pond for the first time in 1977.
I have always been an admirer of his intelligence, charm and entrepreneurial flair.
RIP.
I have always been an admirer of his intelligence, charm and entrepreneurial flair.
RIP.
Join Date: Jul 2000
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Laker's Skytrain, my first experience of Transatlantic air travel. A flightdeck visit on the DC10 enroute MAN/JFK. Sitting for hours and hours looking at GAZZC waiting to go home in the midst of the US controllers strike. The desire for a career in aviation was born there and then amogst the bickering parents and screeming kids (I must be mad, nothings changed since then!)
Sometime later as a naive 18yo I sent a grubby fiver to the save Laker fund. I remember getting a ten pound voucher for the new launch Laker Holidays in return....Never had the chance to use it!
Well, I guess Sir Freddie had a little to do with where I am now so hats off but................................I'd like my fiver back!!!
What a guy....RIP
Rgds
The Moss
Sometime later as a naive 18yo I sent a grubby fiver to the save Laker fund. I remember getting a ten pound voucher for the new launch Laker Holidays in return....Never had the chance to use it!
Well, I guess Sir Freddie had a little to do with where I am now so hats off but................................I'd like my fiver back!!!
What a guy....RIP
Rgds
The Moss
Death Cruiser Flight Crew
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I've just brought a logbook down from the shelf. It reads:
05/11/81 B737-2K9 G-BMON SELF (FOs Name) GATWICK PALMA 1.54 Remarks:
Sir Freddie Laker
He hitched a ride down with us to his beloved boat. He was in fine form and at one stage got on the PA at the front of the cabin and announced "Hi everybody - I'm Fred Laker and you're flying on Britain's second-best airline!"
Cheeky devil - and of course a couple of months later, Laker went bust. Decades on, I found myself flying a DC10 with ex-Laker flight engineers, one of whom was on virtually the last flight back from New York when Fred thought he'd sorted out the bank loans, but he hadn't.
A great character - and he chortled when I told him that my previous boss in aviation had been his old sparring partner, the late Mike Keegan.
05/11/81 B737-2K9 G-BMON SELF (FOs Name) GATWICK PALMA 1.54 Remarks:
Sir Freddie Laker
He hitched a ride down with us to his beloved boat. He was in fine form and at one stage got on the PA at the front of the cabin and announced "Hi everybody - I'm Fred Laker and you're flying on Britain's second-best airline!"
Cheeky devil - and of course a couple of months later, Laker went bust. Decades on, I found myself flying a DC10 with ex-Laker flight engineers, one of whom was on virtually the last flight back from New York when Fred thought he'd sorted out the bank loans, but he hadn't.
A great character - and he chortled when I told him that my previous boss in aviation had been his old sparring partner, the late Mike Keegan.
Gnome de PPRuNe
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Ach, nice guy, well deserving of the accolades. Cheers Freddy, you were first and foremost an Aviation enthusiast par excellence.
Oh, Come on guys and girls he wasn't that shiny! Seem to remember that he underpaid his crews and after A.N. Other refused to work a day off, next call from Sir Freddie. "Um I understand you do not want to work for me any more!"
Having said that he was one of the greats in aviation and set the ball rolling for skytravel for all & generally a great boss.
My Condolances to his family and I am sad in his passing, and he invented the ATL98 which flew faster than Mr Douglasses original.
Having said that he was one of the greats in aviation and set the ball rolling for skytravel for all & generally a great boss.
My Condolances to his family and I am sad in his passing, and he invented the ATL98 which flew faster than Mr Douglasses original.
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He was one of those entrepeneurs people seemed to enjoy working for - unlike some of the unpleasant characters running the industry today.
I loved the stories of his unconventional behaviour. Apparently he caught an employee nicking tyres from the tyre store in the hangar at Gatwick. Freds solution? Put the guy in charge of the tyre store. Saved the guy and saved the tyres too!
Interesting reading the Times obituary. His Dad left home when he was four. Sir Freddie had a very strong relationship with his Mum. Something in that probably.
R.I.P. a great character.
I loved the stories of his unconventional behaviour. Apparently he caught an employee nicking tyres from the tyre store in the hangar at Gatwick. Freds solution? Put the guy in charge of the tyre store. Saved the guy and saved the tyres too!
Interesting reading the Times obituary. His Dad left home when he was four. Sir Freddie had a very strong relationship with his Mum. Something in that probably.
R.I.P. a great character.
IcePack: "I seem to remember that he underpaid his crews".
Obviously you worked for Fred before I did for I certainly do not remember being underpaid.
In fact, when I joined Laker I also had a Britannia contract in my bag and the Laker pay was much better.
Obviously you worked for Fred before I did for I certainly do not remember being underpaid.
In fact, when I joined Laker I also had a Britannia contract in my bag and the Laker pay was much better.
Would be nice to have a contemporary aircraft painted up in the old Skytrain livery for a while as a tribute. Virgin is the obvious candidate, wonder if SRB could have a think about it.
Branson said in Fortune (March 2005):
The person who had the biggest impact on me was Freddie Laker. He had been an aviator involved in the Berlin airlift and had made his money flying goods into Berlin at the end of World War II. He started a low-cost airline [Laker Airways, in 1966] that flew over the Atlantic. He was forced out of business by British Airways. I don’t know whether I would have gone into the airline business without seeing what happened to him. He was a very charismatic figure. He was taking on the big guys. He would fly his own planes. He created a lot of excitement.
“At the time, I was running a little record company; I was about 17 years old. The first time I met him was some years later. I was thinking about setting up my own airline. He gave me this advice: ‘You’ll never have the advertising power to outspend British Airways. You are going to have to get out there and use yourself. Make a fool of yourself. Otherwise you won’t survive.’
“The other advice he gave me: ‘They [British Airways] will use every trick in the book [against you]. When that happens, three words matter. Only three words, and you’ve got to use them: Sue the bastards!’
“I suspect if I hadn’t sued British Airways [in 1992], Virgin Atlantic wouldn’t have survived. And if I hadn’t used myself to advertise the airline, then it also wouldn’t have survived.
“I named one of my airplanes after him: the Sir Freddie.”
The idea of a Branson tribute in the form of a Skytrain Livery on one of his a/c is excellent. And given the bearded ones penchant for publicity, must have crossed his mind.
The person who had the biggest impact on me was Freddie Laker. He had been an aviator involved in the Berlin airlift and had made his money flying goods into Berlin at the end of World War II. He started a low-cost airline [Laker Airways, in 1966] that flew over the Atlantic. He was forced out of business by British Airways. I don’t know whether I would have gone into the airline business without seeing what happened to him. He was a very charismatic figure. He was taking on the big guys. He would fly his own planes. He created a lot of excitement.
“At the time, I was running a little record company; I was about 17 years old. The first time I met him was some years later. I was thinking about setting up my own airline. He gave me this advice: ‘You’ll never have the advertising power to outspend British Airways. You are going to have to get out there and use yourself. Make a fool of yourself. Otherwise you won’t survive.’
“The other advice he gave me: ‘They [British Airways] will use every trick in the book [against you]. When that happens, three words matter. Only three words, and you’ve got to use them: Sue the bastards!’
“I suspect if I hadn’t sued British Airways [in 1992], Virgin Atlantic wouldn’t have survived. And if I hadn’t used myself to advertise the airline, then it also wouldn’t have survived.
“I named one of my airplanes after him: the Sir Freddie.”
The idea of a Branson tribute in the form of a Skytrain Livery on one of his a/c is excellent. And given the bearded ones penchant for publicity, must have crossed his mind.
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Or now that the original "Spirit of Sir Freddie" is no longer part of the VS fleet, he could consider naming one of the new birds coming on stream in a similar manner. I think it would be a nice touch!
Buzz off with BAF!!
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Gordon Fraser. Percival Prentices
I think the idea was that they would be offered as 4 seat "executive"
light aircraft once refurbished, but the market just did not materialise
and most were reduced to scrap.
However my first ever flight was in one of these Prentices at Southend
around 1959/60.
I can also remember the Accountant regularly flying over my home
on flight tests, and I also flew on the Carvairs when crew training was
in progress. "40,000 rivets in loose formation!"
I think the idea was that they would be offered as 4 seat "executive"
light aircraft once refurbished, but the market just did not materialise
and most were reduced to scrap.
However my first ever flight was in one of these Prentices at Southend
around 1959/60.
I can also remember the Accountant regularly flying over my home
on flight tests, and I also flew on the Carvairs when crew training was
in progress. "40,000 rivets in loose formation!"
Scourge of Bad Airline Management!
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A very nice obituary of Sir Freddie in today's Daily Telegraph.
In it, Prince Philip, who was a friend of Sir Freddie's, wrote the following clerihew, which I thought was rather apt:
"Sir Freddie Laker
may be at peace with his maker
but he is persona non grata
with IATA."
RIP.
In it, Prince Philip, who was a friend of Sir Freddie's, wrote the following clerihew, which I thought was rather apt:
"Sir Freddie Laker
may be at peace with his maker
but he is persona non grata
with IATA."
RIP.
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My old man worked briefly with Sir Freddie in the late forties before returning to his own home in California. Dad had fond memories of the man. I never "met" him, but I can testify to a previous remark that he was a "hands on" boss. I had just arrived back from Naples on a Laker charter flight at Gatwick, the cabin crew expecting it to be their last sector of the day. As the door opened there was Freddie, not on a publicity trip, but having a quiet word with the crew asking them to work an extra sector replacing another delayed aircraft. OK, it made it difficult for them to say no; he was at least prepared to roll up his own sleeves rather that delegate his bad news to that crew. (I can only guess that the answer was "yes, boss, no problem!")
ND
ND
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Thats sad news indeed.For anyone who lived through the 70's and early 80's Laker was a break with the established order. A chance for some of us to get a step into commercial jet flying. Ryan Air,for all its miss givings offers similar breaks but Freddie,unlike the knacker that runs Ryan Air, was pure class!!!!!
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Hey Cpt. Greaser
As a self respecting knacker, I take it as a grave insult to be compared with Leo Hairy Camey. Withdraw your slur immediately you scoundrel or I shall be forced to challenge you to greyhound courcing at dawn. (Hey Vinny, any chance I can borro Smoking Girl!!!)
Ps
Need some milk for the baby
As a self respecting knacker, I take it as a grave insult to be compared with Leo Hairy Camey. Withdraw your slur immediately you scoundrel or I shall be forced to challenge you to greyhound courcing at dawn. (Hey Vinny, any chance I can borro Smoking Girl!!!)
Ps
Need some milk for the baby
Last edited by Ryan_not_fair; 11th Feb 2006 at 22:45.