For the aviation fans

[bertusras]

Goodness those SAA 747's are pretty.

[kosmonooit]

Spotted a VC10 there in British Airways livery, must have been the closing days of that bird.

 

Also looks like a UTA DC8 there?

 

When the SAA 747 first arrived here we went for a flip thanks to some family connections, I have a slide of me standing in the engine nacelle that i will have dig deep to find.

Edited April 2, 2020 by kosmonooit

[Bateleur1]

Goodness those SAA 747's are pretty.

 

I quite like the livery of those days.

[kosmonooit]

I quite like the livery of those days.

Unfortunate choice of colours though

[Bonus]

Nice pics Bonus

 

I also lived nearby and during school holidays or weekends we used to cycle, sometimes hitchhike our way to the terminal and go to that outside viewing balcony and stare at the planes.

 

My old man used to work on the opposite side in that small hangar (red arrow) on the Bonaero Park side for a small private airline. I used to love sitting there on some tall steps watching the jumbos take off in a northerly direction over Kempton park... sometimes it looked like they were not going to lift off in time...road runners we called them

 

Avna.JPG

 

My neighbour worked in one of those hangers too and I'd go with him at the weekends sometimes to bring in the evening flight after it landed from Nelspruit. If I remember correctly he was the chief engineer. The company was called Air Lowveld - they had a couple of Beech 99's. Like you, I used to sit and watch the big guys taking off - with only a wire fence between me and the runway. What a noise! And the smell of burnt fuel! Amazing.

 

There was actually a big electric gate that opened and closed between the main airport and the apron that these hangers sat on. I remember thinking (as you do when you're a teenager) that when the gate opened I could run all the way accross the grass and runways to the main terminal building if I wanted to!

 

This same neighbour - Steve Bell - build his own house in Van Riebeeck park and it had a balcony that looked over towards the airport. He could sit and watch planes landing from there. If they were landing from the south we'd often see a 747 come in, then disappear behind maintenance buildings and then see a flash of the top of the tail as it passed gaps between buildings after it was down, racing along the runway.

 

Happy happy memories.   

[Bonus]

Oh that SAA 747 SP brings back memories.  First time I flew an airplane was in that on the 17 hour flight to Austria.  I was 9 years old.  Flew on my own.  Was the adventure of a lifetime for me then.  Still remember that takeoff.  Sitting at a Window seat (just behind the wing) on the left of the aircraft looking out when they opened the throttles.  Couple of seconds later I was gradually being pulled back into my seat.

 

I flew on an ex SAA 747-SP when it was painted and flying for Air Namibia. We did LHR to FRA, FRA to (WDH) Windhoek and finally WDH to JNB. It was a long flight but I loved it. A lot of the flight was day-time and we did hours and hours over various deserts! Fantastic.

 

On that flight I managed to get into the cockpit for 10 mins (those were the days!) with my video camera. It was a German crew, very freindly. One day I'll dig out the pics and video!

 

A beautiful plane. One of my favs :-)

[Bonus]

Numbers are too grainy to see, but one of those SAA 747s could be Zs-SAS, ie Helderberg.

 

She was commissioned into SAA 1980, crashed ‘87.

 

 

Except for one, all of the other SAA 747 are SP models.  Helderberg was not a SP

 

The Helderberg was a 747-300 Combi wasn't it? Cargo and Peeps. A tragedy that is still surrounded in mystery . . . .

[Bateleur1]

The Helderberg was a 747-300 Combi wasn't it? Cargo and Peeps. A tragedy that is still surrounded in mystery . . . .

 

Correct.

[Bonus]

Spotted a VC10 there in British Airways livery, must have been the closing days of that bird.

 

Also looks like a UTA DC8 there?

 

When the SAA 747 first arrived here we went for a flip thanks to some family connections, I have a slide of me standing in the engine nacelle that i will have dig deep to find.

 

Possibly two DC8's side by side? I don't see a VC10 anywhere though?

 

I remember lots of the European airplines using those DC-10's.

 

Look fior the slide!

[Karooryder]

I flew on an ex SAA 747-SP when it was painted and flying for Air Namibia. We did LHR to FRA, FRA to (WDH) Windhoek and finally WDH to JNB. It was a long flight but I loved it. A lot of the flight was day-time and we did hours and hours over various deserts! Fantastic.

 

On that flight I managed to get into the cockpit for 10 mins (those were the days!) with my video camera. It was a German crew, very freindly. One day I'll dig out the pics and video!

 

A beautiful plane. One of my favs :-)

My first ever flight was on a 747SP when I was 15: a school choir tour to Europe and we flew into Munich. The airframe  - later known as Maluti - was retired a while after and incidentally is now on display at Rand Airport. Amazing aeries!

[Bonus]

My first ever flight was on a 747SP when I was 15: a school choir tour to Europe and we flew into Munich. The airframe  - later known as Maluti - was retired a while after and incidentally is now on display at Rand Airport. Amazing aeries!

 

I believe that is the same frame that was leased to Air Namibia - so we've been on the same plane.

 

When I worked in Wadeville I'd often drive and sit outside Rand Airport museum at lunchtime and eat my sandwiches just looking at the 2 big ones. 

[SwissVan]

My neighbour worked in one of those hangers too and I'd go with him at the weekends sometimes to bring in the evening flight after it landed from Nelspruit. If I remember correctly he was the chief engineer. The company was called Air Lowveld - they had a couple of Beech 99's. Like you, I used to sit and watch the big guys taking off - with only a wire fence between me and the runway. What a noise! And the smell of burnt fuel! Amazing.

 

There was actually a big electric gate that opened and closed between the main airport and the apron that these hangers sat on. I remember thinking (as you do when you're a teenager) that when the gate opened I could run all the way accross the grass and runways to the main terminal building if I wanted to!

 

This same neighbour - Steve Bell - build his own house in Van Riebeeck park and it had a balcony that looked over towards the airport. He could sit and watch planes landing from there. If they were landing from the south we'd often see a 747 come in, then disappear behind maintenance buildings and then see a flash of the top of the tail as it passed gaps between buildings after it was down, racing along the runway.

 

Happy happy memories.

 

Small world , my old man also worked for Air lowveld (before air lowveld they were called Avna airlines and based in Dundee northern natal where we lived before moving to Joburg, and then later for Comair in the bigger hangar closer to those metal gates.

I remember Steve, short English or Scottish chap with a white beard. There was another engineer as well called Don, surname fails me.

[kosmonooit]

These pictures belong to a Flickr user by the name of David Brooklyn. Not brilliant quality, but good enough!

 

I believe they were all taken at ORT (what was then Jan Smuts Airport) back in 1978. I used to cycle there to watch planes around that time, so I was really pleased to find these.

 

 

Happy airplane memories! 

BA VC10 if I am not mistaken

 

 

from google

 

http://www.concordespeakers.com/images/assets/vc10-2.jpg

[Bonus]

BA VC10 if I am not mistaken

 

 

from google

 

http://www.concordespeakers.com/images/assets/vc10-2.jpg

 

Yes. Sorry man - my eyes are on lockdown!

[Bonus]

Small world , my old man also worked for Air lowveld (before air lowveld they were called Avna airlines and based in Dundee northern natal where we lived before moving to Joburg, and then later for Comair in the bigger hangar closer to those metal gates.

I remember Steve, short English or Scottish chap with a white beard. There was another engineer as well called Don, surname fails me.

 

Yep - that was Steve Bell.

 

Scottish chap, a little over 5ft tall I guess, white hair and beard that made him look older than he actually was. Really nice guy. I stayed with him and his wife Mary for a month once.

 

Drove a yellow Fiat 128....

 

I don't remember the other engineers - but I was generally only there out of hours. I do remember meeting one of the pilots one evening back then. Spoke with an accent which I thought at the time was maybe French. Tallish guy with a moustache. He was nice as well.   

 

As I said, happy memories . . .  :-)

[Bateleur1]

I see Lufthansa have a few repatriation flights going today.  Saw a A350 on its way to Windhoek and two 747-8 on the way back from South America (Brazil and Chile).  My wife mentioned a SA news report that SAA will start flying back some Germans to Germany starting today some time.  NZ also gave the green light to allow foreigners to be flown out of NZ so I expect Germany to start collecting the 12 000 odd oaks stuck there as well.