Vintage & Classic Aircraft HOMEPAGE
This website, containing information, stories and photos of historic airframes, has been revamped, the idea being to feature even more classic & vintage aircraft material, both civilian and military, preserved or 'in period'. Pilots, spotters, preservationists and armchair aviation enthusiasts all welcome!
If you have anything that you think may be of interest, by all means drop me an email.
Plane-spotting days!
I've been interested in aviation from a young age. Back in the 1970s I'd be a regular up at Manchester Airport (Ringway), or at local airshows (Barton & Woodford), eagerly watching the aircraft doing their flybys. Sadly airshows at both these airfields are no more, although a white RAF B2 Vulcan can still be spied at the Woodford airfield (where it was built by Avro in the 50s) from a distance away.
Manchester Airport has expanded considerably since the early days, when you could still spectate from Piers A and B at classic civvy jets such as the Boeing 707 (eg British Airtours, British Midland), 727 (Dan Air), Douglas DC8, HS 121 Trident (BA), BAC 1-11(BA, British Caledonian etc) and so on. In those days 747s were not a common sight, so diversion days, when London was fogbound, caused great excitement amongst pencil-wielding spotters, as many many heavies from previously unseen airlines would stop over at Manchester.
The plan with Classic Aircraft is to feature the older aeroplanes no longer in regular use, both civilian and military. I hope you find something of interest within these pages!
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Featured aeroplane at Classic Aircraft - De Havilland Comet
The Comet shown above (Canopus) is now on outside display at the Bruntingthorpe airfield, where it has been since 1997.
Since then it has taken part in high-speed ground runs, but for it to fly again, a significant amount of work and support would be required. There are moves afoot to try and restore this aircraft in time for the 50th anniversary of regular transatlantic services between Great Britain and the United States, operated for the first time by a BOAC Comet airliner. This significant anniversary falls in 2008.
Meanwhile at the same airfield, Vulcan XH558 is being readied for airworthiness as I type this.
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