Southend 1998-99, scanned negatives

[andygolfer]

more scanning completed! this time from southend 1998 & 1999. I was the Resident Engineer on a large construction project at Southend and when I got a moment I popped along to the airport to see what was around and sometimes i remembered my camera - I wish I had taken it more often but in those days of film I didn't carry it as an almost permanent appendage.

Variable quality I'm afraid but some sights you won't see nowadays so hopefully that will make up for the poorer ones....

Southend had several B.707s either visiting for maintenance or in long term storage and sadly for some aircraft it was a one way trip African registered aircraft seemed to be quite popular. This was before the runway was extended and departing aircraft usually went via Ostend or other fairly close airports where they took on the necessary fuel for the ir journey home

EL-RDS
southend 1998 EL-RDS B.707 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

P4-FDH was around for a long time and was stored on the old cross runway perilously close to the scrapping area, at least it had it's back to the scrapping area so as not to see it's relatives dis-membered, I think it escaped and at one time there were 3 or 4 707s parked there
southend 1999 P4_FDH B.707 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

4K-AZ3 was another long term inmate which finally ended it's days at the hand of the scrapman in 2002 without ever flying again
southend 1998 4K-AZ3 B.707 Azerbaijan Airlines by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

5N-MXX of Merchant Express, this one flew on for several years after it's summer holiday at southend, I've found a pic of it on jetphotos still operational in 2005, sorry about the shadow in the bottom right corner it was taken through a fence and in pre digital days that was a bit hit and miss!
southend 1998 5N-MXX B.707 Merchant Express by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

now some other types...
this 737 with nothing more that Malaysia above the door was there one day when i had my camera, I can't make out the reg unfortunately it's something like 9m-CHC but i can't trace it - any offers please?
southend 1998 B737 private (Malaysia) by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

ATR.72 G-BWDB, Gill airways , I've got some pics of this several years later operating with Aurigny
southend 1998 G-BWDB ATR.72 Gill Airways by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and there were a few biz-jet visitors, I managed to get a pic of this one VP-CIS
southend 1998 VP-CIS Citation Ce.525 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

southend 1999 G-OLDZ King Air Gold Air by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

Peach Air operated 737s at that time and they often dropped in for maintenance
southend 1999 G-SBEA B737 Peach Air by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and Sabre did likewise with their 727s, they had 3 ex. Dan air ones. I think this is G-BNNI.
southend 1998 B.727 Sabre (believed to be G-BNNI) by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

a cr*p photo but a unique aircraft, the sole Conroy Cl.44 languished at southend for 2 or 3 years, at this time wearing 4K-GUP of Azerbaijan airlines, it was then re-registered with First International of Nigeria and last I heard it was stored at Hurn (anyone able to confirm that please?)
southend 1998 4K-GUP Conroy CL.44 Azerbaijan airlines by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

this was Southend's largest ever arrival or at least at that time, Tristar EI-COL came in for storage in August 1998 ( as i drove past the morning after it arrived I could see this large tail sticking up above the railway line so dived in for a look and got a bit of a surprise to see this dominating the pan but sadly it was a one way journey
southend 08-1998 L.1011 EI-COL by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr
I saw it doing engine runs a couple of times during the winter and hoped to witness it's departure but then rather ominously it moved to the north side scrapping area and my worst fears were realised as one lunchtime I heard a loud crunching noise from the scrapping area and saw it's tail end dropping to the ground - the beginning of the end, a couple of weeks later and this was all that was left...
southend 03-1999 L.1011 EI-COL by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

the Heavylift Belfasts were a regular sight for many years but by 1998 their days were limited, I'm not sure which one this was or if it continued operating after I took this photo...
southend 1998 Shorts Belfast, Heavylift by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

if it was this one it certainly had flown for the last time, early 1999 in the scrapping area
southend 1998 Shorts Belfast, Heavylift on dump by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

and it wasn't the only inmate there..
southend 1998 BAC 1-11 5N-HTH on dump by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr

there were several other notables that i didn't manage photos of , a couple of Nigerian IL.76s came in for avionics mods with a company on the north side I saw one land and it sat in front of the terminal while my camera sat at home and then it was out of photographic view for the rest of it's stay. Also there were occasional An.24s (or they might have been 26's - I can't remember) came in with boat crews to do an exchange with those who had finished their stint and of course i didn't have my camera with me at the right time, how I wish I had but still I saw a few nice bits and pieces.

hope you like the pics - and the stories. C&C (and the reg of the Malaysian 737) welcome
Andy

[mach one]

you used to get some very interesting aircraft at southen back in the day

last year we were looking at a shorts belfast in the museum at cosford and we were saying that it has similar lines to the new Airbus A400m bar the tail plane

[PorkScratching]

Thanks for those Andy, I would drop in a Saarfend now and again back then and saw a few of those lovely old a/c. The CL-44 is indeed at Hurn. A couple of years back there were plans to make it airworthy and fly it to Australia (I think), but there were problems (corrosion IIRC) and it hasn't flown yet.

[Grass73]

Nice selection, Andy.

The Hold Trade Air is 5N-HTC, ex EI-ANE of Aer Lingus. They acquired all four EIN 1-11s in 1991, but sadly they didn't operate them for long.

To be pedantic the "Nigerian IL-76s" were actually Algerian Air Force.

Niall

[LondonEye]

Thanks Andy, another batch of interesting pictures. How I wish I took more photos of those Belfasts.
Niall is right about the Algerians. I noted 7T-WIV on 17-7-99 and 7T-WIE on 18-8-01. Maybe someone knows of other visits.
Almost right on the B737. It will be 9M-CHG cn27456, now registered N999FJ and happened to be at Luton back in November.
Pete

[andygolfer]

Thanks Pete and Niall and yes I remember now they were Algerian Air Force and now that you've quoted the regs I remember the one that sat in front of me was 7T-WIV, thanks and apologies for my bad memory. I'm sure I saw a second one as well but can't remember it's reg , may well have been WIE as I was still going there semi regularly in 2001.

thanks Niall re the BAC.1-11 reg, I quoted that from memory and the history was interesting, didn't realise it was of Aer Lingus heritage and finally to Pete for the B.737 which has solved that mystery.

Andy

[Cessna954]

Very interesting pictures Andy. Whilst it's sad to see decaying airliners it is typical of the 70's and 80's where it appeared to me they would sit idle for many years before finally being scrapped. That's compared to the present day, say Kemble and St Athan, where they appear to process them quite quickly in comparison. I was fortunate enough to get a full airside tour of Southend in 1990, courtesy of the Ops Manager at BAF, and have some photos of the idle aircraft of that time - mainly Viscounts and BAC 1-11s.

Thanks for posting, I do like a B707 picture or two.

Cessna

[andygolfer]

in the late '70s and early '80s when I worked for the part of Anglian Water (Essex Rivers Division) which became the Environment Agency when AW was privatised we were responsible for the brook which ran under the taxiway into the northside and along the northern boundary to the golf course and I did an improvement scheme to the brook around the taxiway which involved quite a bit of land surveying and then management of the construction, our access was via the northern gate and round the taxiway and were always told to give way to aircraft - a bit logical really! It was always interesting there but sadly I didn't take many photos, wish I had taken more now.
A nice little perk of the job! - a bit like my time at Exeter airports when I worked for a survey company, I surveyed the whole airport including the runways and taxiways, quite nice being beside the runway watching the movements, normally the tower warned us when an arrival wad due but they forgot once or twice but I usually had one eye on the approach more in the interests of spotting than personal safety