The DC-8 is actually Loftleider - another Icelandic airline. They were regulars into Shannon.

I remember when Gulf Air was set up - using ex BA VC-10s.

I was at Brize the other day; the RAF still has a few Tristars and VC-10s but they're all under sentence of death owing to age, condition, lack of spares and :cough: cracks :cough:.

One hangar had a Tristar, three Hercules and a C-17: you think the Herc is a big plane until you see a C-17 casting its shadow over one

Seeing a Delta Airlines aircraft at Heathrow back then (1968/69?) would have been very unusual. I presume it was operating a charther or a leased flight of some sort.

Mondays four






Dublins Main Terminal Building....Is it still there?




BOAC Cargo branded 707




Jat DC-9

Dublin's original terminal is most definitely still there. It is now used as an admin building.

That van with the radar dish on the back must be an old GCA van.

I spy a Vickers Vanguard and a Handley Page Herald amongst that lot!!! Oh the joy of PHing!

Couldn't see the point of making the vanguard and the Viscount 800 series. Were there any production similarities besides the Darts?

Hi,
I remember flying on the old Gulf Air L1011's to Muscat during the mid 70's. I remember in particular the trip was the airline equivalent of a number 22bus, stopping at Doha, Dubai, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi (in whatever order...) . We would always fly from lhr,and I recal the old flight board being a huge black sign which the letters would flick round each time a flight was boarding or leaving.....

IIRC back then the Sultan of Omans Royal Flight was a VC 10 which he donated to a UK museum, I'm not sure if GF were using VC10's at the same time, don't recall ever going on one but I was only 5 years old back then.

The GF lockheed had a bar in the first and business class sections, and being a small, inquisitive kid was always allowed into the cockpit to have a look around, crewed by 3 with an engineers array to the right. I recall being told not to touch anything at all, ever. Smoking was also allowed on the flights, as soon as the light went out all you could hear was the flicking of lighters.........

Thanks for the pic of the GF, bout back many fond memories.

Never really understood that either; the Guards' van didn't do anything the Britannia didn't do already, except maybe extra fuselage volume and constant diameter. Competition with BS is one thing, but it must have all been at the behest of BEA; was it some weird BEA/BOAC rivalry thing?

The Britannia was a much older design, emerging out of a transatlantic airliner requirement set out by the Brabazon Committeee during World War 2. It was very late in getting into service due to massive problems with its engines, the Bristol Proteus.

The Vanguard was a private venture by Vickers designed to capitalise on the popularity of the Viscount. The thinking was that with the Viscount selling so well, a BIG Viscount would sell even better. There was nothing wrong with the Vanguard - except for the fact that it emerged in a world where every airline felt it needed to be operating pure jets. It was never going to be able to compete with aircraft like the Caravelle, 727, DC-9 and BAC 1-11.