I spent three years in the late 1980s living in Plymouth. I made infrequent visits to Plymouth Airport, where Brymon was the only airline.
They were an interesting operator though, as due to the short runway at Plymouth they were the only UK operator of the Dash Seven. They operated a number of flights each day on a triangular route Plymouth - Newquay - Heathrow - Plymouth, with the other aircraft in the fleet being dedicated to oil support services out of Aberdeen. In this photo, G-BRYC is on her way to the runway for a crew training flight with G-BRYB watching:-
[/url]G-BRYC by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
They also had a small fleet of Twin Otters. They operated services from East Midlands - Birmingham - Gatwick and from Plymouth to Gatwick (via Exeter), the Isles of Scilly, Jersey, Morlaix, Guernsey and, as in this photo, Cork:-
[/url]G-BIHO by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
In 1987 Brymon became one of the first airlines (the other was British Midland offshoot Eurocity Express) to start services from London City airport. This was appropriate, as the airline had done much to prove the concept for the airport by landing one of its aircraft on a disused dockside before the airport was built. However, with London City open, the airline had to increase the numbers of Dash Seven aircraft in its fleet, and before new aircraft could be sourced permantly, the airline leased this City Express aircraft:-
[/url]C-GGSX by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
I very much enjoyed my time in Plymouth, but it wasn't the best place to be for anyone interested in the airline scene, so I soon started to visit other airports, including Exeter. Jersey European was the based carrier - here is Bandeirante G-BHJZ waiting for its next service:-
[/url]G-BHJZ by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
Here is F-27 G-JEAB in a May 1988 photo. AB was the first Friendship in the airline's fleet, and was attracting much interest as it had yet to enter service. I wonder if many of the people who had come to see her thought the airline would be still going so strong in 2011?
[/url]G-JEAB by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
The other main airline at the airport was Air UK who operated a fleet of Friendships on services to the Channel Islands such as G-BCDO:-
[/url]G-BCDO by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
There were (and still are) often interesting aircraft visiting the airport for maintenance or storage purposes such as Air Europe Express 3-30 G-BJFK:-
[/url]G-BJFK by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
And Harvestair DC-3 G-AMYJ. YJ didn't look too healthy in this photo with no props but, following the collapse of Harvestair, she was rescued from the scrapman by Air Atlantique who kept her flying for a few more years and she now enjoying her retirement at the Yorkshire Air Museum:-
[/url]G-AMYJ by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr][/img]
Exeter also attracted charter flights which saw some jet action, such as JAT DC-9 YU-AHL:-
[/url]YU-AHL by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr/img]
However, in 1989 the airport hit the big time, with the launch of transatlantic services to Toronto. The service was operated by short lived DC-8 operator Crownair, but a weekly Toronto charter remains a feature of the airport each summer, and this is the first flight arriving on 28 June 1989:-
[/url]C-FCRN by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
Apologies for posting a military aircraft on a civil board, but XV191 visited Exeter in support of the Falcons Parachute display team. After the parachutists had jumped and 191 waited for the parachutists to return, one of the crew members got out and invited the people on the spectator balcony onto the aircraft, where we were shown round:-
[/url]XV191 by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
I visited Bristol when I could as well. Flights to Toronto were provided from Bristol by Odyssey International. They lasted a bit (but not much) longer than Crownair before they were taken over by Nationair, which was a pity in view of the attractive colour scheme on their 757s:-
[/url]C-GAWB by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
Bristol also boasted a based charter operator in the shape of Paramount who operated a fllet of MD-80s such as G-PATA:-
[/url]G-PATA by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
Inter European were based just across the Seven Estruary in Cardiff, but operated a number of services from Bristol. Here G-BNGL is just about to leave Bristol on a stormy day to Faro:-
[/url]G-BNGL by IndiaEcho Photography, on Flickr[/img]
I hope the photos are of interest.
Regards,
Neil
