‘Scene’ at the East Midlands Airport. Wide Bodied Freighters on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

Whilst passenger services have plummeted because of the Covid-19 pandemic, freight traffic has rocketed.

 

Not surprisingly then, this blog illustrates freighters.

 

Many thanks go to friend John Beastall who provided all the identification and operational details.

 

Readers seeking further details of particular aircraft are recommended to Google the aircraft registration. e.g. G-CLBA. 

 

I then go to ‘www.airfleets.net'

 

G-CLBA ‘Cargologicair’. Boeing 747-428ERF.

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New in 2004 registered as F-GIUD to ‘Air France’.

 

 

 

 

C-GYAJ ‘Cargojet’ Boeing 767-35EERF.

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New in 1992 registered as B-16605 to ‘EVA Air’ (Taiwan).

 

It has since had spells with both ‘First Choice Airways’ and ‘Thomson Airways’ registered as G-PJLO before joining ‘CargoJet’ (Canada) in 2014.

 

Pictured parked at DHL’s facility.

 

 

 

 

N342UP ‘UPS Airlines’ Boeing 767-34AF ‘Worldwide Services’.

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

UPS = ‘United Parcel Service’.

 

New in 2011.

 

 

 

 

OY-SRO ‘Star Air’ Boeing 767-25EBDSF.

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New in 1986 registered as B-1623 to ‘EVA Air’ (Taiwan).

 

It joined ‘Star Air’ (Denmark) in 2006.

 

 

 

 

G-TUIN ‘TUI Airways’ Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

on Dennis Basford’s railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

New in 2017.

 

At the time I took the image, G-TUIN and G-TUIM were employed as freighters due to the lack of work for passenger aircraft due to Covid-19.

 

‘Scene’ at Bruntingthorpe Airfield Part 2 on Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

For Part one of this feature see blog dated 30 January 2016.

 

Located South of Leicester, the present Bruntingthorpe Airfield opened as RAF Bruntingthorpe in 1942 and in its service days served both the RAF and the USAF.

 

These days it serves a multitude of purposes ranging from storage facility to a flight test centre.

 

Several times a year some of the veteran aircraft that are based there are allowed to perform a fast taxi down the runway and at the point of becoming airborne, their throttles are closed and instead of taking off, they come to a gentle halt.

 

It might sound frustrating, however the attending enthusiasts (and there are many) are treated to the sight and sound of multi engined aircraft at some speed.

 

Not as good as seeing the aircraft in the air maybe but the next best thing.

 

Apart from the ‘performing’ aircraft there are also a wide range of static types a few of which are ‘scene’ here.

 

The SEPECAT Jaguar GR-3A was an Anglo French attack aircraft being a collaboration between ‘Breguet' and the ‘British Aircraft Corporation’.

 

Originally conceived as a jet trainer, it developed into a supersonic strike aircraft with a tactical nuclear capability in addition to its more conventional weaponry.

 

Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

XZ 382 SEPECAT Jaguar GR-3A.

 

It first flew and was delivered to the RAF in March 1977. 

 

It arrived at Bruntingthorpe during 1988.

 

 

Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’ 

8-MV ‘French Air Force’ Dassault Mystere IVA.

 

Built as Constructors No. (CN) 85, the Mystere was a transonic fighter bomber.

 

Powered by a French built derivative of the Rolls Royce Tay engine and armed with 2 30mm cannon.

 

The type also served with the Indian and Israeli Air Forces seeing action with the Israeli’s against Egypt in 1956.

 

Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’ 

 

XJ 494 ‘Royal Air Force’ De Havilland  DH110 Sea Vixen FAW 2 (Fighter All weather).

 

It first flew as a FAW 1 in March 1959 and delivered in April of the same year.

 

With 29 new build FAW 2’s and 67 FAW 1’s upgraded between1962 and 1964, it was powered by 2 Rolls Royce Avon 208 engines and armed with either Matra rocket pods or Red Top of Firestreak missiles.

 

Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

XX 889 ‘Royal Air Force’ Blackburn (later Hawker Siddeley) Buccaneer S2B.

 

Built in 1974 and delivered to 15 Squadron (Sqn), RAF Germany  in December 1974.

 

In 1982 it went to 208  ‘Sqn’ at Lossiemouth.

 

Between then and March 1994 when it was retired it served with  237 OCU and ’12 Sqn’ where it was painted in the pjnk colour scheme in preparation for its use during Operation Granby in Iraq.

 

Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

22+35 ‘German Air Force’ Lockheed F104G Starfighter.

 

At the time of writing, it was engineless but the search for a suitable one continues.

 

Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

ZD 610 ‘Royal Navy’ British Aerospace Sea Harrier F/A.2

 

Built in 1985 for the Fleet Air Arm as a Sea Harrier FRS.1.

 

Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

5X DAD ‘Olympic Airways’ Boeing 747-221B’.

 

Carrying partial ‘Olympic Airways’ (OA) livery was new as 9V-SQI to ‘Singapore Airways’ in August 1979 before moving to ‘OA’ in 1985.

 

The 5X-DAD currently carried is a Ugandan registration.

 

Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’

 

ZA 326 ‘Royal Air Force’ Panavia Tornado GR1P.

 

Built in 1983 and used exclusively as a trials machine, the aircraft is currently being restored to fast taxi condition.

 

Painted in what is known as the ‘Raspberry Ripple’ livery which denotes an aircraft based at RAF Boscombe Down and flown by the ‘Aircraft and Armaments Experimental Establishment’ (A&AEE) that was based there.

 

Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’ 

 

XR 713 ‘Royal Air Force’ English Electric Lightning F.3

 

Seen in the colours of No. 111 Squadron (Sq.111).

 

Delivered to  ‘Sq 111’ in January 1965 . It later served with No.s 14 and 15 Squadrons together with the Lightning Training Flght before retirement to RAF Leuchars where it was displayed for some years.

 

It then moved the RAF Wattisham Station Heritge group from whom it was acquired in 2014 by the ‘Lightning Preservation Group’ at Bruntingthorpe.

 

Dennis Basford’s ‘railsroadsrunways.blogspot.co.uk’ 

 

XM 365 ‘Royal Air Force’ Hunting Percival Jet Provost T3.

 

It was delivered to the RAF in August 1959 and eventually served with No’s 1, 2 and 3 Flying Training Schools before being put into store in 1998. 

 

It was sold to ‘Global Aviation’ as G-BXBH in 1993. Passing through various owners, the registration was cancelled in 2002.

 

It came to Bruntingthorpe in May 2010 for restoration.

 

 

‘Scene’ at Manchester International Airport (MIA).

There was a time when taking photographs from the top of the car parks was easy. That unfortunately is no longer the case.

 

However it is still possible, just.

 

An overview of the line up at Terminal 3 

 

From front to back we have a ‘Thomson’ Boeing 737-800. A ‘Virgin Atlantic’ Boeing 747 -400. A ‘Thomson’ Boeing 787. Then another ‘Thomson’ 737 and finally a ‘Thomson’ Boeing 767.

 

G-VGAL

 

A Boeing 747-443 of ‘Virgin Atlantic’ (VA). it first flew on 05/04/2001 and was new to ‘VA’.

 

G-OBYE

A Boeing 767-304 new to ‘Britannia Airways’ the forerunner of ‘Thomson’ dating from 23/02/1998.

 

Since then it has had spells with ‘Garuda Indonesia’, as G-OBYE and ‘Thomson’ group company ‘Arkefly’ in Holland as PH-OYE.

 

G-KKEV

A De Havilland Canada DHC-8-400 of ‘Flybe’ which was new to the airline in 2008.

 

Initially registered as C-FOUU whilst on test it should have become G-ECOD which was not taken up so acquiring the registration it carries today.

 

EI-REJ

An ATR 72 built as OH-KRA in 1989 for ‘Kar-Air’ a regional operator in Finland.

 

It moved to ‘Aero Airlines’ of Estonia as ES-KRA in 2005.

 

It gained its current registration in 2006 and went on to work for ‘Aer Arran’ and ‘Euromanx’ before coming to ‘Air Contractors’ who are primarily a freight operator in 2009.

 

It has since moved to ‘ASL Airlines Ireland’.

 

G-LSAB

A Boeing 757-27B dating from 1988 making it 27 years old!

 

Not surprisingly, it has been around the block (maybe the world as well) a few times.

 

New to ‘Air Holland’ as PH-AHF. Then with ‘Sterling Airways’ as OY-SHF followed by ‘El Al’ as 4X-EBF. Back to PH-AHF with both ‘Air Holland’ and ‘Martinair’ before going to Turkey with ‘Air Anatolia’ as  TC-ANN. 

 

Further registered as TC-FLC with ‘Fly Airlines’ also in Turkey before finally coming to ‘Jet2 in July 2005.

 

EI-EVD

 

A Boeing  737-8AS new to ‘Ryanair’ in January 2012.

 

N919FD

 

A Boeing 757-23ASF. Seen in the livery of freight carrier ‘Federal Express’ (FE).

 

Originally G-IEAB with ‘Inter European’ then with ‘Air Aruba’ with the same registration. Re registered as G-LCRC for use by both ‘Airtours’ and ‘My Travel’ before being stored by ‘FlyJet’ as G-FJEA.

 

To ‘FE’ in January 2008.

 

G-GDFJ

 

A Boeing 737-804 of Jet2. New to ‘Britannia AB’ (BAB) as SE-DZI. ‘BAB’ was the Swedish arm of the UK’s 

‘Britannia Airways’ and like its UK partner, it became ‘Thomson Airways’ in 2006.

 

It joined Jet2 in 2012.

 

G-ZBAO

 

An Airbus A321-200 of ‘Monarch Airlines’. New to the airline in May 2014.

 

G-JZHA

 

A Boeing 737 8K5 working for ‘Jet2 holidays’.

 

Built for ‘Hapag Lloyd’ of Germany in 2001 as D-AHFY. It moved to ‘TUIfly’ also in Germany with the same registration in 2007. 

 

‘TUIfly’ being the German part of the ‘TUI’ group who amongst others owns ‘Thomsonfly’ in the UK.

 

It came to ‘Jet2’ in January 2015.

 

A6-EDK

One of the reasons I had gone to Manchester was to see the arrival of the ‘Emirates’ Airbus A-380. Here it is and it was on time to the minute.

 

 

 

‘Scene’ at Manchester International Airport (MIA) 1

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.