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Elmdon Airport

DavidGrain said:
I remember doing a survey of business travellers at Birmingham Airport in 1970. I think at that time Air Anglia flew from Birmingham to Norwich with an onward connection to Stavanger. It amused me to see the Air Anglia check in operator ask one passenger to stand on the baggage scales as they were weighing the passenger as I think it was only a small aircraft on the service.
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It’s mandatory to weigh passengers individually on aircraft below 5700 kgs all up weight. The Piper Navajo that AA used was below this weight
 
Penns said:
It’s mandatory to weigh passengers individually on aircraft below 5700 kgs all up weight. The Piper Navajo that AA used was below this weight
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They'd make me buy two tickets if weight was that important!
 
Lloyd said:
They'd make me buy two tickets if weight was that important!
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No they wouldn’t but calculated actual or average weights used on larger aircraft or more correctly ‘mass’ and also balance ( C of G position) is crucial to safe flight and a load sheet has to be prepared for every public transport flight and must be checked and signed for by the commander before flight. A copy of this load sheet must be left at the departure aerodrome.
 
Penns said:
No they wouldn’t but calculated actual or average weights used on larger aircraft or more correctly ‘mass’ and also balance ( C of G position) is crucial to safe flight and a load sheet has to be prepared for every public transport flight and must be checked and signed for by the commander before flight. A copy of this load sheet must be left at the departure aerodrome.
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The C of G is critical to the aircraft balance. By weighing thy may have you sit in a different position to archive the correct balance. Gross over weight is another subject.
 
oldMohawk said:
I had my first flight in an airliner in 1960 which was a BEA Viscount. We went to Elmdon one Sunday morning and flew up to Glasgow ... we were impressed!
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On this flight I had previously mentioned, it was half full and there were about eight of us and we sat at the back of the aircraft. We were settled in our seats when the flight attendant told us that the captain wanted us to sit near the wings for balance reasons. Once we had reached top of climb we could move back because the autopilot (or pilots) could trim for the rearward C of G.
 
I mentioned earlier in the thread about a flight in 1977 to the USSR but now add what happened on an internal flight.
oldMohawk said:
On Sunday 10th July 1977 I had to go on business to Russia and with the Cold War on I was not too pleased. At Birmingham Airport I got on a British Midland Short 360 for a nice slow flight to London Heathrow.
Short 360 at Birmingham
View attachment 117910
At LHR I boarded an Aeroflot Ilyushin 62 and flew to Moscow.
Ilyushin 62.
View attachment 117911
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Having spent a two days in Moscow sorting visa problems we were taken to an airport not used by foreigners and boarded an old Tu134 airliner. I decided to sit by a window to look at the scenery when the lady flight attendant shouted at me, grabbed my arm and pulled me from my seat to an aisle seat. A Russian sitting nearby whispered in english that foreigners were not allowed to sit in window seats on internal flights. As we started moving I discovered that my seatbelt clasp was broken and moved to another aisle seat. This caused the flight attendant to again shout at me but I was glad I had a working seatbelt when we hit very severe turbulence and panels fell from the cabin ceiling.

After an 600 mile flight to Kuibyshev (now renamed Samara) the plane stopped some distance from buildings and our luggage was pulled out and dumped on the tarmac. A small bus arrived but only for Russians and we were left standing near large jets starting their engines and moving. Wondering what to do, we started walking towards the buildings when another small bus arrived and took us straight out of the airport for a 70 mile drive to a city named Togliatti.

Flying was interesting in those far off days ...:grinning:
 
oldMohawk said:
I mentioned earlier in the thread about a flight in 1977 to the USSR but now add what happened on an internal flight.

Having spent a two days in Moscow sorting visa problems we were taken to an airport not used by foreigners and boarded an old Tu134 airliner. I decided to sit by a window to look at the scenery when the lady flight attendant shouted at me, grabbed my arm and pulled me from my seat to an aisle seat. A Russian sitting nearby whispered in english that foreigners were not allowed to sit in window seats on internal flights. As we started moving I discovered that my seatbelt clasp was broken and moved to another aisle seat. This caused the flight attendant to again shout at me but I was glad I had a working seatbelt when we hit very severe turbulence and panels fell from the cabin ceiling.

After an 600 mile flight to Kuibyshev (now renamed Samara) the plane stopped some distance from buildings and our luggage was pulled out and dumped on the tarmac. A small bus arrived but only for Russians and we were left standing near large jets starting their engines and moving. Wondering what to do, we started walking towards the buildings when another small bus arrived and took us straight out of the airport for a 70 mile drive to a city named Togliatti.

Flying was interesting in those far off days ...:grinning:
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nice story thanks OM is there a part 2:grinning:
 
Phil said:
How many of you remember this, I have to be honest I don't. I never even got to Birmingham Airport until 1973, and then I was only flying to Jersey.

Phil
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It was up near to the gate I believe, close to the Coventry Rd (A45)
 
I was very keen on aircraft between 56 and 63. I spent many hours there, on the outside stairs to the old terminal and even on top of the air raid shelter which was in line with the cross runway and was placed in the trees just across the other side of the Coventry Rd.
 
mw0njm. said:
nice story thanks OM is there a part 2:grinning:
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Yes there is a part 2 which is in a previously locked thread so difficult to quote.
Whenever I see the Elmdon thread I often think about that unusual journey so long ago .... :)
My 1977 visit to the USSR during the Cold War .... to the other side of the Iron Curtain !
At Birmingham Airport the passport staff gave us some funny looks when they saw our Aeroflot tickets and Russian visas. At London Heathrow we noticed a man in a grey suit seemed to be shadowing us as we we wandered around looking for the Aeroflot check-in desk, no one seemed to know where it was. Eventually the man approached us and pointed to another airline's desk and said check in there for Aeroflot. We boarded a Soviet Ilyushin 62 (copy of a British VC10) and a grim faced lady flight attendant glared at us and told us where to sit. We left Heathrow flying across East Anglia (over the US air bases) heading out towards Moscow.

At passport control I apparently gave the wrong answer to the border official which annoyed him so much he forgot to stamp my visa. I soon discovered that without the stamp I could not obtain russian currency or travel inside Russia and needed help from the British Embassy. They were surprised that I had got into the USSR without the stamp and said I would not be able to leave without it.

I was rather worried by now and they pointed to a portacabin and said there was russian man in there working for the embassy and he would help me. He looked at my visa shaking his head but then typed a letter in russian. I looked on as he lit a candle and melted a large blob of red wax on to the letter, stamped it with a seal, put it in an official brown envelope and told me to take it to the Airport, find a high ranking officer and show it to him.

At the airport, I looked for an officer with the most gold braid on his hat and uniform, showed him the letter but he angrily waved me away shouting 'niet'. I stood wondering whether I was in a James Bond film when a young chap sitting at a small desk called me in english and asked what my problem was. He looked at the letter and my passport then opened a drawer to search amongst the largest collection of rubber stamps I had ever seen. He chose one, stamped my visa, smiled and told me to leave the airport as soon as possible. Off I went and the next day travelled 600 miles eastward into Russia but that's another story !

Returning home we flew British Airways and when the Captain announced we had crossed the russian border everyone clapped and cheered. The steward said we all looked in need of large doses of champagne and the flight turned into a merry party.
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The old sign had 16 destinations, the present signpost has just 12 that I have counted. Thanks for your replies. I am sure I had seen the present sign post but could not remember where it was.
 
A Shorts Sterling Bomber at the Austin Aero works based at Elmdon Airport
(Source the World at War supplement)
 

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Covroad said:
A Shorts Sterling Bomber at the Austin Aero works based at Elmdon Airport
(Source the World at War supplement)
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The factory was across the railway from the airport, a wide concrete bridge spanned the two, the remains of which used to be visible on the railway embankments. The factory became a bus bodyworks for Metro Cammell, but closed and was sold just before plans for the National Exhibition Centre were announced.
 
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