A few from the 60s and 70s

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Member for

18 years

Posts: 857

Just scanned these in from the archive. The airliner shots are from Manchester, August 1969, and the An-2 is from Hullavington mid-1970

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Member for

19 years 7 months

Posts: 1,772

That final scan of the AN-2 at Hullavington brought back memories of that World Aerobatic Championship event.

The day we attended it POURED down with rain - it was unrelenting. I recall that a few hardy pilots demonstrated their skills but the awful weather proved quite a challenge throughout the public open day.

The area into which the public were herded to view proceedings was not full of the facilities we're used to these days at air events - it was all rather basic. The public toilets comprised chemical Elsan type buckets and privacy was afforded by sacking strung up on string between poles. Now primitive as that may sound it was not an uncommon method used at public events up until then, as it was cheap and easy to construct.

The problem at Hullavington was the volume of rain in each downpour. I remember that after the worst one hearing a large cheer go up. Looking around I found it wasn't directed at a pilot but at some poor chap who was sat on the loo but was now revealed to everyone as the sacking had sagged with the weight of the rain. :o Poor sod!

Today's events are a little more civilised. :)

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,324

Scouse,
Please tell me that you have some high quality shots of the Yak 18PM that is visible in the AN-2 shot!!
Finding periodic shots of the Yak 18PM is proving to be more than a little difficult!

Member for

16 years 9 months

Posts: 1,323

Thanks for the Dan Air CK photo. Spent many happy hours on the flight deck ,my father was a Captain on them out of Luton and then 727s out of Manchester.