Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
#1787792
Moira wrote:Hiya,
Confused and struggling with dates :
I do remember taking a flight from Beauvais to Lydd in May '77 but getting mixed infos on the web. Has anyone else ever flown that route those dates or am I getting gaga ?
..and it was called the Silver Arrow..

I flew Lydd - Beauvais in 1975 and it was Dan-Air at that time, using a Viscount. The fun bit was watching the cabin staff trying to serve coffee on such a short flight - one chap was given his drink when we were on final to land!

We actually had a ticket from London Victoria to Paris and back, the rest was done by coach. No idea if they had a name for it.

NB If it only took two cars, it was a Bristol Freighter, if it took three it was a Superfreighter and the Carvair took four or even five(?).
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By Kittyhawk
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1787802
My father in law who is 91 flew for Silver City on the Bristol Freighters.

I recall one of the few remaining ones was shipped back from NZ a couple of years ago, for restoration. Has anyone any news if that is progressing? The last flying one met an unfortunate end at Enstone.
#1787812
Wardair used Bristol Freighters in Arctic Canada, and one is preserved at Yellowknife:

http://www.explorenorth.com/nwt/images/ ... -4323.html

..and Eastern Provincial used Carvairs in Newfoundland&Labrador

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=59564&start=21
By Dave A
#1787816
Ref the 'Silver Arrow' service:

Guest wrote:... The silver arrow consisted of a BAC111 operating to Le Touquet from Gatwick (frequently outside controlled airspace under VFR) whereupon, the pax would be transferred onto a waiting train at the (now disused) Le Touquet airport station, for a 2 hour trip into Paris Gare du Nord.


The first time I flew my wife, who had been an air hostess on those very same 1-11's in the early '70's, to Le Touquet, she was delighted to see the single track railway line that still sits in the tarmac on the apron.
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#1787874
Kittyhawk wrote:I recall one of the few remaining ones was shipped back from NZ a couple of years ago


"Designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, a total of 214 Freighters, and its passenger variant the Wayfarer, were built and used by airlines and air forces across the world. This Freighter was ‘saved from the scrapheap’ and brought home from New Zealand in 2018 by our volunteers and hundreds of generous donors. The aircraft is one of only 11 Bristol Freighter’s remaining in the world and now the only one in the whole of Europe!

Thanks to your support, the Freighter is being safely stored and its condition assessed by the Aerospace Bristol team.

The plan is for the Freighter to be safely housed inside the new Conservation in Action workshop, for volunteers and apprentices to undergo work to conserve the aircraft for the future."

https://aerospacebristol.org/vision

Rob P
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#1787876
In my days as an Airfix kit bodger I never ceased to wonder that Silver City Airways had managed to recruit crew for their Superfreighters, who, if we assume Manfred von Richthofen* was of normal size, appeared to be 12ft tall and probably weighing in around 45 stone.

Rob P

*For it was undoubtedly he in my little red focker
By Hooligan
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1787988
If you want to see a Wayfarer on film, "Man in the Sky" (also "Decision Against Time") starring, apart from the Bristol, Jack Hawkins in best unbelievably stoic form, wrestling with his stricken aircraft overhead Wolverhampton Pendeford Aerodrome. Gripping? Ummm, I suppose so, in a typical "I don't know, I just don't know" British drama style of the 1950s. Also a young Donald Pleasance hits the silk towards the end. Worth a watch...
kanga liked this
#1788004
Just the mention of the Freighter's name evokes old memories. As a schoolboy in the fifties I still recall the distinctive sound of the engines and the silver bulbous shape passing overhead. They were, or at least seemed, lower than anything else and certainly louder. The last one that I saw was displaying at Duxford having just been brought back to the country and restored to flight. The year has disapeared into the mists of time.

Carvairs I recall sometime later when I owned a boat based at Southend and they were a regular sight. Sometimes check flights often carried out over the Maplin Sands, when the military allowed, and other times on scheduled flights.

Both of them once seen never forgotten.
By Hooligan
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1788008
I recall seeing one of the 1980s Instone Airlines at Stansted, the other overflying Biggin Hill at a couple of thousand feet (magic!), early '80s I guess. Last time I saw one was one of the above in 1996, repatriated again from Canada and amongst the parade of vintage airliners celebrating Heathrow's 50th. It was written off in a take off accident at Enstone several weeks later - I believe bits are still dumped there...