A few shots from Manchester in the 1970's and 80's

[Mike]

CAM and MAM are still printed every year,Amazon seem to be the cheapest place to get them - I've still got my 1964 CAM and loads of others !

[sojo44]

What a fabulous thread. This brings back so many fantastic memories of my 'yoof'. I was born and bred in Gorton where landing 24 aircraft generally took a shortcut over our house. Immediate memories of CP lumps and 10's, the super guppy, wardair lumps and those oh so noisy 1-11s spring to mind. I along with 2 mates used to go to ringway every saturday from around '83 until '87. It was a 10p trip each way on the bus what a cheap day out! I well remember the buzz (and the smell) of being so close to the a/c whilst up on the terraces. We used to sit in the glasshouse as we called it which as mentioned was where the hardcore would sit and yes it took some time for you to 'do your time' and become one of the gang, but once in you'd find out about all the juicy rumours of future arrivals, etc. Nothing changes - eh? That reminds me - Just after you went up the steps to the viewing terrace you turned right and just around the corner on the left was an office. Did anyone else used to look into the office window at the computer screen which shown that day's movements . We would sit on the railings and look at the computer through our bins! Otherwise it was a trip to the shop down in the terminal for a timetable - a different colour every month! I still use those nicknames mentioned - especially lump and pig - not forgetting 'tins' for anything GA. There was a name for the shorts 330s of loganair but i can't remember it - it might have been shed! I well remember the armed police that would appear when an El Al flight came in and who remembers exercise Lionheart (about '85 i think) where there was an absolute shed load of RAF herc movements. Sadly I didn't take many photos back then - I was only interested in 'copping' new reg's and underlining them in the 'CAM'. That view though out across the runway to the hangars with Jodrell bank to the right is one that will live with me forever. I've lived down south since '87 so Heathrow is my local now but those ringway memories are priceless. I really must visit again!

interest thread

brought back a few old memories for there
the old glasshouse it was case of who you now started like as outsider like yourself in the 70s
any of you guys remember any the clubs i was with norwag still have some old mags somewhere p b then cas i think of the top of head around the manchester base .
got a load of old prints will have to dig some out
looks like will have to go out and get a good scanner been looking for a while think this thread has given me the urge to buy one

keep up the good work

[The Cameraman]

What a fantastic thread this is. I started spotting in 1983 when I was 13, at 15 I was allowed to get the 500 bus from Bolton on my own it took an hour and a half to get there and I was nearly always sick. I never had a camera in those days, but looking at all these photo's the memories come flooding back. I love spotting collecting regs and now taking photos and I will always share what I think you would like to see. Please keep this thread running as long as you can as all your efforts are greatly appreciated by me. It's easy now,you turn on your computer and decide to go to the airport or not, but god I remember the excitement as that bus got to the end of Shadowmoss road and you could see what was lining up on the runway. All the best for a fantastic 2011 of spotting...........

Hi Tomo,

I've only found my logs back to 1984 so far. We used to visit from Bromley Cross, north of Bolton by bus. The earliest way was by the 1st service into Bolton, then the 12 to Manchester, then a mad rush over to Piccadilly to get the 44 or 104. If you didn't want to catch the 05:24 bus out of Bromley Cross, you could catch the later one and relax on the 500 but you then risked missing the early morning KLM DC8 departure!

When someone recommends a scanner, I'll get one and keep this thread going!

[Barton Buzzard]

I lived in Bury back in the 70's and I well remember getting a bus into Manchester then the 44 to the airport-was a big adventure back then, a grand day out!
The Emery tube suffered from a c ase of 'incorrect loading' as I remember..the sight of the nose slowly rising was totally surreal, can only imagine what the guys inside were thinking when it rotated!!
And I used to be a member of NorTripAir..I have a newsletter somewhere, the logo was the outline tracing of a 50p coin!!

Ok, here's todays selection-how about some lumps?














And a few 3 holers...












Cheers
Gary

[The Cameraman]

Hi Gary,

ah the Sterlings, I remember going down to Stansted to get those rascals!

Keep 'em coming!

And a nice little capture of a Shorts Belfast in the background!
Regards

Reggie

[skudupnorth]

How mean does that Belfast look ?? if i was the 727 pilot i would pull over 1

[Uzzy]

Good thread...here are a few of mine from the 1980s sorry about some of the quality....but it does not take anything away from the variety we used to see in those days as opposed to todays airbus,airbus,airbus !

[The Cameraman]

Hi Uzzy,

cracking shots and all the better for including my fave swing tail DC6!

Regards

Reggie

[Uzzy]

Thanks Reggie

l have others which l will try & dig out.

Martin

[Uzzy]

A few more from the late 1980s...

[Barton Buzzard]

Excellent stuff Uzzy!

[The Cameraman]

Keep 'em coming!

Regards

Reggie

[Mike]

More please !

[Uzzy]

Some more from the late 80's....
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[The Cameraman]

Hi Uzzy,

thanks for ending on a Twotter!


Regards

Reggie

[skytrain]

Excellent photos Uzzy! Great seeing those Viscounts, 330's and 360's again. I agree with Reggie nice to end on the Twotter, it's a cracker!

Gary - the Orion Air 747 photos were excellent. I remember the media and television interest over the 'flying pig' with it's 'technical delays' and unhappy passengers!!!

I discovered one of my old spotting logbooks from around that era, so here's a log from an afternoon spotting at Man in September 1982...

C-GRYN Boeing 707 Worldways (ex Ontario Worldair)
C-GXRD Boeing 747-200 Wardair
F-GDSG Guppy Airbus Skylink
G-AOYJ Viscount British Air Ferries
G-AXNC Boeing 737 Britannia 'Isambard Kingdom Brunel'
G-AXXH Islander Telair
G-AXXY Boeing 707-336B British Airtours
G-AVMV BAC 1-11 BA
G-AVMU BAC 1-11 BA
G-AWBL BAC 1-11 BA
G-AWYZ Trident 3 BA
G-AWZX Trident 3 BA
G-BAZH Boeing 737-200 Britannia
G-BBMC BAC 1-11-400 BA
G-BBME BAC 1-11-400 BA
G-BBOM Aztec
G-BCDA Boeing 727 Dan Air
G-BCDN Fokker F27 Air UK
G-BCXR BAC 1-11 Monarch
G-BEKA BAC 1-11 Dan Air
G-BGJI Boeing 737-200 British Airtours
G-BGTY Boeing 737-200 Orion
G-BGYL Boeing 737-200 Britannia 'Jean Batten'
G-BJRT 1-11 British Caledonian
G-BJRU BAC 1-11 British Caledonian
G-BMEC Boeing 737-200 Air Europe
G-BMHG Boeing 737 Air Europe
G-SURE BAC 1-11 British Air Ferries (ex Air Manchester)
LN-SUE Fokker F27 BusyBee
PH-DNC DC-9 KLM
YU-AHJ DC-9-32 InexAdria
YU-AHY TU-134 Aviogenex
..and the Intercontinental DC-8 mentioned earlier, RP-C830

Does anyone have a photo of the British Airtours 747 that operated in the mid 80's?

Here's a few more from me, once again apologies about the poor quality. As I mentioned before, these were just taken with an old Kodak Instamatic as I wasn't into photography back then.

Cyprus Airways Boeing 707-123 5B-DAO


British Airways TriStar G-BEAM


British Airways DC-10


I have to say a huge thanks to everybody who has contributed to this thread so far, I never thought for one minute that it would have generated so much interest when I kicked off the thread. The pictures and memories have been fantastic!
Cheers Guys! Keep them coming!

[skudupnorth]

I hope to get my backside in gear and add my stuff to this brilliant thread.It's not just the photo's that are good but the memories aswell, even the task of getting there by bike or bus and where you used to spot are just nice.Keep it coming !!!
On another thought,there must be similar groups from other airports who could share their own memories of the good old days......or are we the only ones with the best airport ???

[blackdog]

We must have been spotting around the same time Blackdog, I was another of those weekend spotters from the mid eighties. I remember those timetables from the WH Smith shop too, in fact I kept a few of them. It's quite interesting to look at them now and see all those long-forgotten names from the past such as Genair, Air Ecosse and Malinair.

So just for those 80's spotters among us here it is....



If anyone wants me to scan in a few pages from the timetable just let me know.

Brilliant!!!!!!!
That's a proper slap in the face memory for me. I used to sit in my bedroom window with a spotters guide, airband radio and binoculars (my mum wasn't too impressed with me being glued to the window in some kind of perv style!!!) and spot the aircraft on approach (7 miles out at that point). I'd write them down then get the reg's from the TAS mag each month. Talking of TAS remember the meetings in the social club and their bus trips? I dragged my dad along a couple of times on a Heathrow trip where in comparison to ringway the amount of aircraft was staggering. I'd reel off reg's whilst his job was to frantically scribble them down - poor bugger!

[The Cameraman]

I hope to get my backside in gear and add my stuff to this brilliant thread.It's not just the photo's that are good but the memories aswell, even the task of getting there by bike or bus and where you used to spot are just nice.Keep it coming !!!
On another thought,there must be similar groups from other airports who could share their own memories of the good old days......or are we the only ones with the best airport ???

Hi Matey,

we don't want to dilute this thread with any other airport, so let's keep is as Ringway only eh.

That's not to stop any new threads being started of course!

Regards

Reggie

[Uzzy]

A few more ! The quality isnt good l'm afraid...Instamatics & bad weather dont go together.

The Caribou was on delivery which stopped briefly for fuel ,as did the first Hercules which l cant indentify....& theres a "trotter" for Skytrain & Reggie !
Again sorry for the quality.

]