London Heathrow in the 1960s

A heavy overhaul requires a complete strip down of the aircraft, as witnessed by the interior of the Trident Two.

The cockpit of the Trident Two.

With a full complement of Tridents BEA was converting surplus Vanguards to Merchantmen freighters, and at the time of our visit G-APEL was in the maintenance base.  This aircraft was delivered to BEA as a V953 Vanguard on the 7th October 1961 and named Leander.  It was converted to a Merchantman in October 1970. It was sold to Europe Air Service in August 1976.  It crashed at Toulouse on the 29th January 1988 whilst in the service of Inter Cargo Service as F-GEJF. 

Comet 4B G-APMA was also in the base at the time.  The Comets had not quite been relegated to BEA Airtours yet.

The first of the Comet 4Bs, manufacturer's serial number 6421, this aircraft was delivered to BEA on the 20th December 1959 and named Sir Edmund Halley.  It was broken up at Heathrow in July 1972.

• return to early aircraft and airport index

Main Index