Old bird - new scheme 😎 and now, you can listen to the melodic sound of the Rolls Royce Dart in my SoundCloud recording 😍

Gatwick in the 80s - a view from the Roof Terrace
In the 1970s and 80s, Gatwick had a dedicated viewing terrace on the roof of the only terminal building. It was used by flyers, relatives and plane spotters alike, and it even had a café and fountains! It enabled quite a panoramic view of the airport.

I captured this smart looking Virgin Airways Vickers 802 Viscount G-AOHT as it taxied past the viewing area to the stand at London Gatwick. Surprisingly, the aircraft only had another year of flying life left before retirement and eventual scrapping at Southend. In view is the Shell Oil base and tankers plus in the distance the newly created biz jet park, with two Learjets, a Cessna Citation and Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter in view.

The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner.
The Viscount was well received by the public for its cabin conditions, which included pressurisation, reductions in vibration and noise, and panoramic windows. It became one of the most successful and profitable of the first postwar transport aircraft; 445 Viscounts were built for a range of international customers, including in North America.

Type 802 First production variant of the 800 series for British European Airways with Dart 510 engines and either 53 or 57 seats, 24 built, first delivered in February 1957. More info on the Viscount here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Viscount#Specifications_(Type_810)

G-AOHT c/n 168 - Vickers 802 Viscount - delivered new to BEA in June 1957 named 'Ralph Fitch', flying with them until April 1974 when the airline merged with BOAC to form British airways. Continued to fly with them until 1981, when the aircraft was then leased out to various airlines, as ZS-SKY with Aqua Avia Society, and as G-AOHT with Bouraq Indonesia, BAF, Euroair, and finally Virgin Atlantic Airways - returned to BAF in 1986 and withdrawn July 1987. Broken up around March 1991.

And now, you can listen to the melodic sound of the Rolls Royce Dart in my SoundCloud recording, which includes two Viscounts passing over my house on runway 23 approach to London Heathrow back in 1979. Link here: soundcloud.com/sound-vision-10193594/aviation-archive-1?s...

31m 45s - 43m 23s - Heathrow 23 approach *** live ATC & aircraft recordings with next door’s dog & local birds :) ***

‘IA237’ - Iraqi Airways B707 YI-AG?
‘Oman 2’ - Sultan of Oman VC-10 A40-AB
‘AI193’ - Loftleidir DC-8-63CF TF-FLC (Leased to Air India)
‘AT916’ - Royal Air Maroc B707 CN-RMC
‘?’ - unknown B707
‘BA192’ - BA Concorde G-BOA?
‘Manx307’ - Manx Airlines Viscount G- ?
‘RJ051’ - Alia Royal Jordanian B707 JY-?
‘BD423’ - BMA Viscount G- ?

Taken with a Soviet made Zenith TTL camera and 300mm lens, using Kodacolor CP100 print film. Scanned from the original negative without restoration.

You can see a random selection of my aviation memories here: www.flickriver.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/random/

Taken in: UK / England / Mole Valley / Gatwick (show map)

Taken on: August 1, 1986

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Camera: NORITSU KOKI EZ Controller (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	NORITSU KOKI EZ Controller
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 24.1 (Windows)
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