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By: - 15th April 2014 at 19:37 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The first one looks like Heathrow but as for the others - Southend maybe? It's the Bristol that makes me think that.
By: - 15th April 2014 at 20:00 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The PAA Stratocruiser is definitely landing at Heathrow. Behind it are the BEA maintenance hangars, which would have been very new when the film was shot. That building became TBE in BA days.
Hunting Clan and Bristol 170s were to be seen at Heathrow too, but I don't think the other shots are there. I'm not sufficiently familiar with Southend to say one way or another. Heathrow did have a similar 'Passengers and Friends' enclosure during the tent era, and possibly for some time after, but it must have been bigger, and the fence is wrong. There were some low white buildings like that at Heathrow in the early days, but none in the right place to be used as the film depicts.
By: - 15th April 2014 at 20:15 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
hi,
I was taken to Heathrow to meet relations coming in on a PAA Stratocruiser in I think 1952 or 53. I remember waiting in a Nissen hut or similar and then going out and seeing their plane being unloaded 20/30yds away.or that's how it seemed.
regards
jack...
By: - 16th April 2014 at 00:13 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The first one is Heathrow, but the other three look like Northolt, which is where BEA operated from before they moved into Heathrow.
By: - 16th April 2014 at 02:15 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
do not think the Bristol is at Southend ad there seems to be some high ground behind.
By: - 16th April 2014 at 08:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The other feild isn't Northolt. Again the fenced enclosure is wrong. Also, if you were looking towards the high ground, across the main runway, the high ground isn't high enough, and you'd be able to see hangars and/or the RAF buildings (Officer's Mess, etc.)
The last shot shows the couple apparently leaving the 'terminal' building, walking towards a petrol pump. I can't believe that doesn't narrow the possibilities dramatically.
By: - 16th April 2014 at 08:49 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
One of the passengers seems to have a TWA bag, and photo 2 shows a Dove and, perhaps, a DC-3. Does that help, together with the "Hunting" steps?
By: - 16th April 2014 at 17:51 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Definately Northolt for the other photos. Images 2 and 3 show the distinctive grass circular feature by the apron. You can see it in the attached photos with the hill in the background.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]227427[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]227428[/ATTACH]
By: - 18th April 2014 at 00:30 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Many thanks for the Northolt identification. Well done.
By: - 18th April 2014 at 20:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I'll have to accept it is Northolt then!
The BA Archive photo in post #9 dates from 1946. The film must have been shot between March and October 1954, because it's only between those dates that Hunting Clan had a presence at Northolt. There was apparently a round/oval enclosure by the apron at Bovingdon (Hunting's base, and also used in several feature films), but it doesn't seem to have existed in 1954 according to this aerial photograph:
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~pep1/full%20pics/arial1954.jpg
Can't comment further on that, as I've never been there. I did used to live a little over a mile off the threshold of Northolt's runway, so thought I knew the skyline, but I guess my best memory is from the flat roof of that house, which gives one a rather different perspective. The thing that had me sure it must be somewhere else, though, was that petrol pump in the fifth picture. Yesterday I found a photo in the archives that shows several trucks parked between the white prefab terminal buildings, so I suppose refuelling them there is plausible.
Those steps in the third picture still have me puzzled though. At that time Northolt was BEA's main base, so although they didn't operate anything that needed steps until a bit later it's entirely reasonable that they'd have steps on hand for other airline's DC-4/DC-6/ etc., and there are plenty of pictures that show them. Hunting Clan didn't get their Viscounts until 1955, by which time the film was already in the cinemas and they'd already moved from Northolt to Heathrow.. Seems odd for them to have their own steps at an airfield that isn't heir own base when they have nothing in their own fleet that would need them.
By: - 18th April 2014 at 21:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Yup, photo #2 and #3 is definately Northolt. You can just make outline of Harrow-on-the-Hill just to the right of the starboard wingtip of the Bristol and the old gasholder at South Harrow a bit further over.
Posts: 38
By: matheson - 15th April 2014 at 19:27
These shots are from the film 'Tiger by the Tail' which was released in May 1955 and I wonder if they show views at Heathrow?
