When I first visited in the 1950’s, ‘MIA' as it is now it was simply Ringway airport where we lads sat on the grass writing down the registrations only a stones throw from the aircraft.
Only the posh kids possessed cameras, I certainly didn’t. The ladies in the nearby cafe kept us going with cups of tea and bottles of pop.
That has all gone and we have progressed ??? to security fences and razor wire. Still, there are more aircraft these days and I still get the same ‘buzz’ as I did nearly sixty years ago.
There are still some old timers (other than me) ‘lurking’ in the background,
G-AWZK
A Hawker Siddeley (HS) Trident 3B stands at the back of the spectators area. Originally a
De Havilland (DH) project before ‘DH’ became part of ‘HS’ which then went on to become part of British Aerospace (BAe).
A trijet in the earlier models 1 and 2. It had acquired a fourth ‘booster’ engine by the time of the model 3B. You can see it under the flag and above the port engine.
Delivered to British Airways in October 1971 for whom it flew until withdrawal in 1985. Used at Heathrow as a ground trainer it was declared surplus in 2005. Saved from scrapping, it eventually came to ‘MIA’ in bits and was re-assembled and put on display.
D-ABOL
A Boeing 757-330 of German carrier ‘Condor Flugdienst’. The aircraft first flew in April 2000 and has only worked for ‘Condor’.
This is the fuselage stretch version of the 757. The standard model being the 757-200.
A6-EDG
An Airbus A 380-861 ‘The Super Jumbo’ of ‘Emirates’. First flew May 2009 and carried the French test registration of
F-WWST prior to delivery.
‘Easyjet’ together with ‘Ryanair’ have revolutionised the airline business in the UK having adopted the ‘low cost’ business model first introduced in the USA by ‘Southwest Airlines’.
Initially using the Boeing 737, ‘Easyjet’ switched to the Airbus A319 as its standard aircraft and then introduced some of the longer A 320 model.
G-EZWR
An Airbus A 320-214 which first flew in February 2014. It carried the German test registration D-AUBO prior to delivery.
G-GDFC
A Boeing 737-8K2 which first flew in August 1998 and was delivered to ‘Transavia’ in Holland as PH-HZC. During its time with ‘Transavia it was leased to ‘Spicejet’ in India as VT-SPY and to ‘Sunwing Airlines’ in Canada a C-GHZC.
It joined Jet2 in January 2011. Named 'Jet2Cyprus'
D-AIZW
An Airbus A320-214 of ‘Lufthansa’. It first flew in June 2013 carrying the German test registration D-AVVH.
Named 'Wesel'.
G-LSAD
A Boeing 757-236 of ‘Jet2’ which first flew in 1989 as G-BRJD for Air Europe, While with them it also carried the registrations EC-349 and EC-ESC both of which are Spanish.
Whilst on the Spanish register, ‘Air Europe’ became ‘Air Europa’.
From 1991 to 2003 it worked for ‘Air 2000’ and ‘First Choice Airways’ as G-OOOS before becoming SX-BLW for ‘Greece Airways’. It finally gained its current identity in June 2006 when it joined ‘Jet2’.
G-ECOC
A De Havilland Canada designed ‘Dash 8’ of ‘flybe’ taxi’s out for take off.
New to ‘flybe’ in 2008 it had a year with ‘Wideroe’ in Norway as LN-WDU before coming back to the UK.
G-LSAH
A Boeing 757-21B of ‘Jet2’ which first flew in October 1987 as B-2802 for ‘China Southern Airlines’. After a period in store at Guangzhou in 2006, it came to to ‘Jet2’ in 2007.
C-GTSZ
An Airbus A 330-243 of Canadian operator ‘Air Transat’. It first flew in November 2008 and was delivered to ‘Mexicana’ who ceased operating in August 2010. It joined ‘Air Transat’ the following month.
G-OZBX
An Airbus A320-214 which first flew in October 2001 with the French test registration F-WWDM.
Delivered to ‘Air 2000’ as G-OOAU who then became ‘First Choice Airways’.
It then had a spell with ‘Thomson Airways’ as G-OOPU before joining ‘Monarch Airlines’ in March 2012.
G-VXLG
A Boeing 747-41R which first flew in September 1998 and it has spent its entire working life with ‘Virgin Atlantic’.
CS-TRL
An Airbus A320-214 of ‘Orbest’ a Portuguese carrier. The aircraft first flew in January 2009 with the French test registration F-WWBZ and was delivered to ‘Iberworld’ as EC-KYZ. ‘Iberworld became ‘Orbest Orizonia’ which for various reasons became simply ‘Orbest’ a company registered in Portugal.
G-CELG
A Boeing 737-377 which first flew in September 1988 registered VH-CZN for
‘Ansett Airlines’ in Australia. It had a spell from 2002 to 2004 with ‘Region Air’ in Russia as S7-ABD before coming to ‘Channel Express’ ( the owners of ‘Jet2’ )in 2004. Named 'Jet2Turkey.
EI-DWD
A Boeing 737-8AS one of many operated by ‘Ryanair’. It first flew in September 2007.
G-EZDM
An Airbus A319-111 of ‘Easyjet’. It first flew in June 2008 with the German test registration D-AVWU.
