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Birmingham Air Terminal

Vivienne14

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
Staff member
I don't remember this office near the Civic Centre, but some members may have used it. It opened for business in 1951. Viv.

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Viv, I remember the Air Terminal. My Dad pointed it out to us from the bus. It must have been the No. 7 going to Portland Road although I think we would have got off in Broad Street. My main memory is thinking that Dad must have got it wrong as there was nowhere for the planes to land! How long was it there for?
 
Lady Penelope said:
Viv, I remember the Air Terminal. My Dad pointed it out to us from the bus. It must have been the No. 7 going to Portland Road although I think we would have got off in Broad Street. My main memory is thinking that Dad must have got it wrong as there was nowhere for the planes to land! How long was it there for?
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We must have had the same convoluted brains, I remember it as well and yes from a No 7 bus and Dad saying it would be a boon (whatever that was, the only boon I knew came in the Robin Hood films) to anyone working in town as this was the future and we would soon all be doing a lot of air travel, because the planes would get bigger and it would become cheaper, and even though I was a fifteen year old knowall grammar school boy, I wondered where they would land and take off from, of course in the comic strips they could go straight up, but I was yet to invent the 'flying bedstesd' and its successors. He was an optimist my dad and of course always right. However here's an add on for Radiorails, Old Mohawk or one of the other corporation transport knowledgeables. Is this where the JOJ Leyland single decks started from for the Airport route?

Bob
 
My cousin, who lived in Middlesex, still talks of the time he and his family came up to visit and whilst we were walking in King George V park a Gyrocopter took off from Elmdon airport and flew just above our heads.
 
I remember seeing it but it was not convenient for me and when I needed to fly from Elmdon in the 1950s I used a taxi to the airport and a taxi back.
 
I tried to find a photo of the Leyland Olympic buses on the air transfer route. This, from a Flicker account shows one of the buses on ordinary service in the late 1960's. There were five of them (2261 - 2265) JOJ 261-265. Apparently the first 2261 had less seats for use on the airport service in order to stow luggage.
iu


These buses also served the airport from the city air terminal. This bus exists and can be seen at the Wythall Museum.
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A regular service from the terminal to the airport commenced in 1949 using pre WW2 single deck buses which had been returned to service after ambulance use during WW2. In 1950 the buses featured here took over the service.
Also in 1949 new type of ticket issuing machines were trialled and phased into operation in 1952. This replaced the familiar ticket rack and bell punch (ding! remember?) on all routes - except the airport service which retained the older system until January 1963!
 
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Radiorails said:
I tried to find a photo of the Leyland Olympic buses on the air transfer route. This, from a Flicker account shows one of the buses on ordinary service in the late 1960's.
iu


These buses also served the airport from the city air terminal. This bus exists and can be seen at the Wythall Museum.
vjoj245.jpg


A regular service from the terminal to the airport commenced in 1949 using pre WW2 single deck buses which had been returned to service after ambulance use during WW2. In 1950 the buses featured here took over the service.
Also in 1949 new type of ticket issuing machines were trialled and phased into operation in 1952. This replaced the familiar ticket rack and bell punch (ding! remember?) on all routes - except the airport service which retained the older system until January 1963!
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Thank You. Another rememberance just been jerked, I remember the pre-war single deck Daimlers starting the Elmdon service and I remember now Easter Holidays 1952 (seems like only yesterday) catching the half cab JOJ Leyland single decker to the airport for some spotting with one of the railway spotters from Snow Hill who had gravitated to aeroplanes. I know the fare was dearer than the normal buses and the bus did stop once to pick up the only people on it with suitcases, the rest were apparently people who worked there. The next time I saw the airport bus it was the last of the Leylands and full front. Somewhere in one of the many books on BCT there is a picture of the prewar Daimlewr on the service, but I cannot track it down.
Bob
 
jukebox said:
Boon was a British television crime drama starring Michael Elphick! 1986-1995
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Remember that show as well, but somewhere in the dimness is the TV series of Robin Hood and they were always granting or begging a boon. Actually it was always somebody after a favour. It sort of went ....I crave a boon my lord.

Bob
 
I added a small amount of info, bus details, to previous post.
It seems that the original 1949 departure point was Queens Drive; it was moved to Easy Row, alongside Baskerville House in October 1951.
The original older buses Bob refers to were (53) AOP 53 of 1935 and (38) BOL 38 of 1936 both Daimler COG5's.
 
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Thanks for reminding me where 'boon' came from Bob. We've just done the Richard Greene, Daniel Boone, Pat Boone etc. roundabout conversation. I knew boon sounded familiar but couldn't think why. Back to topic now before we get the sack!
 
Radiorails said:
I added a small amount of info, bus details, to previous post.
It seems that the original 1949 departure point was Queens Drive; it was moved to Easy Row, alongside Baskerville House in October 1951.
The original older buses Bob refers to were (53) AOP 53 of 1935 and (38) BOL 38 of 1936 both Daimler COG5's.
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Can one of the map geniuses, or genii, please map the bus stop and the Civic Centre, there must have been some sort of link between the two, if the new building opened in Nov 1951 and the bus stopped moved in October 1951. Reverting back to the journey from town to the airport, although it only had one stop, it was no quicker for most of the way than the normal bus, as we followed route buses and could not overtake because of the narrowness of part of the route, once away from narrow roads it was interesting to see people put their hands out at bus stops and the bus whizz by. Thanks for identifying the Daimlers, by the way like your new Avatar, can I have an identity of the bus please?

Bob
 
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Devon General AEC Regent III, of 1952, with the shapely bodywork lines associated with Weymann.
Car No. DR 661, NTT 661. Vehicle is in the possession of the Devon General Omnibus Trust.
 
That was the photo I had hoped to find Vivienne. JOJ 261 was the airport bus, it was the first of the five. The photo shows the bus in the original departure point of Queens Drive.
 
The airport bus went from the civic centre air terminal all the way to outside Elmdons old terminal, whereas there was no corporation ordinary service right to the airport terminal, so it was a boon for passengers with luggage not wanting to pay taxi prices.
The nearest ordinary service was the No 58 which terminated at the Arden Oak terminus, still a good mile from the airport. There was the Midland Red X68 or 159 to Coventry which would drop you off at the top of the drive to the airport by the airport hotel, but this would still need a 5 minute walk to the terminal. Not a good way to start your journey, especially if it was raining. This was the case until at least 1965, perhaps later.
I used to call in at the air terminal in Birmingham during the early 1960s and ask for timetables and route maps from the BEA, Aer Lingus desks, they were always obliging to a young schoolboy. I also used to trawl my way round the other airlines travel desks in the city centre, TWA, Pan Am, Air India and others usually in the Colmore Row area, asking for any literature to satisfy my interest, always found them obliging, used to come home with a carrier bag full. Wish I had kept them all, there worth a few bob now from collectors. Happy days:)
 
I refer to my post 11 which states that the airport buses, from 1949 until late 1951, ran from Queens Drive; the photo in post 16 illustrates that quite well. Late 1951 saw the new city terminal opened and the re-location of the buses starting point.
Until the last two days of June 1951 Arden Oak was served principally by trolleybus route 94, then superseded by bus route 58.
 
Bob Davis said:
Can one of the map geniuses, or genii, please map the bus stop and the Civic Centre, there must have been some sort of link between the two, if the new building opened in Nov 1951 and the bus stopped moved in October 1951. Reverting back to the journey from town to the airport, although it only had one stop, it was no quicker for most of the way than the normal bus, as we followed route buses and could not overtake because of the narrowness of part of the route, once away from narrow roads it was interesting to see people put their hands out at bus stops and the bus whizz by. Thanks for identifying the Daimlers, by the way like your new Avatar, can I have an identity of the bus please? Bob
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To answer Bob about the location. Between Baskerville House and Easy Row there was first a service road where the bus used to stop. Then the Air Terminal and then Easy Row. If you were in the same place today you would fall down onto Paradise Circus. Although operated by BCT this bus route never had a route number so I don't know who held the service licence. It could have been held by the airport and the buses run 'on hire'. I expect it was licensed as an express service rather than a stage carriage service as it was operating non-stop across the city boundary into Midland Red territory
 
DavidGrain said:
To answer Bob about the location. Between Baskerville House and Easy Row there was first a service road where the bus used to stop. Then the Air Terminal and then Easy Row. If you were in the same place today you would fall down onto Paradise Circus. Although operated by BCT this bus route never had a route number so I don't know who held the service licence. It could have been held by the airport and the buses run 'on hire'. I expect it was licensed as an express service rather than a stage carriage service as it was operating non-stop across the city boundary into Midland Red territory
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David
Thanks very much, there was a conductor aboard and we were issued Birmingham Tickets and I seem to remember there were two tickets (Childs) to make the fare as it was higher and more expensive than the normal fares and although the bus was not very full, we were told that really we should not be doing what we did and we had to come back on the Midland Red that picked us up at what I seem to remember was called Stonebridge...a pub and I think the Midland Red came from Meriden, but unfortunately unless you or another BHF member know better, nowhere can I find in any of my Midland Red books any MR route details. I do remember it seemed a very long walk from the airport to the bus stop.

Bob
 
Bob, the Midland Red route that passed the Airport entrance on the A45 was the X68 from and to Leicester, and the 159 from and to Coventry I think, both went the same route from Birmingham to Coventry(Pool Meadow) via Stonebridge and Meriden.
It pulled in at a stop at the top of the airport entrance by the airport hotel, and also over the other side of the A45 dual carriageway by the lodge house to Elmdon park for the trip back to Brum, no more than a few minutes walk from the airport terminal. You did not have to walk all the way to Stonebridge which is a good 3 miles away!
 
Elmdon Boy said:
Bob, the Midland Red route that passed the Airport entrance on the A45 was the X68 from and to Leicester, and the 159 from and to Coventry I think, both went the same route from Birmingham to Coventry(Pool Meadow) via Stonebridge and Meriden.
It pulled in at a stop at the top of the airport entrance by the airport hotel, and also over the other side of the A45 dual carriageway by the lodge house to Elmdon park for the trip back to Brum, no more than a few minutes walk from the airport terminal. You did not have to walk all the way to Stonebridge which is a good 3 miles away!
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Now you tell me, where were you when I needed you, but thanks anyway. What is interesting now is the X bus that actually runs around the road on the airport perimeter
Bob
 
Ass recorded previously the bus service to Elmdon began on 2/5/49 from Queens Drive then on 30/10/51 from the the area described by David Grain. Initially the destination blinds of the pre-war Daimler COG5's read SPECIAL with a radiator slip board proclaiming ELMDON AIRPORT. They had roof boards, either side which read Air Services Bus New Street Station - Elmdon Aiport. By the time the new city terminal was in operation the newer Leyland Olympic buses, into service July 1950, were on service. They also had the roof boards but now read City Air Terminal to Elmdon Airport. The destination blind read Elmdon Airport, but no service number. As it was a limited stopping service that might be the omission of a route number.
During winter 1961/2 the route was not operated with BCT abandoning the service on 5/1/63 when a private operator took over the service. When WMPTE took over the areas buses they commenced a route to the airport on 30/3/73 and it gained a route number of 993. The city terminal was near the Holiday Inn in Suffolk Street.
 
I can confirm that the X68 ran on the same route as the 159 as far as Coventry as I used both services on my 5 shilling childs day anywhere tickets on the Midland Red
 
DavidGrain said:
I can confirm that the X68 ran on the same route as the 159 as far as Coventry as I used both services on my 5 shilling childs day anywhere tickets on the Midland Red
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David
Was the 159 a single decker or a double decker, I have a feeling that the bus we caught was an old DHA single deck.
Bob
 
Up to the mid 1960's. it seems, Midland Red route 159 Birmingham - Coventry via Meriden was a double deck service. Fast improved rail services between the cities hit the Red and many services were subsequently saloon operated. The long distance X routes were generally saloon operated and limited stop. Even the longest of the Midland Red routes - X96 Shrewsbury - Northampton passed near the airport on its journey from Birmingham to Coventry.
 
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I only remember X68 and 159 as double decker's in the 1960s. Used to catch either of them to Coventry from the Wheatsheaf Sheldon, then a short walk up the hill from Pool Meadow to the square by the Godiva statue to catch a Coventry corporation No 17 to Baginton airport. Funny how you remember these things, even after 55 years!
 
My post, 24, in this thread suggests that the service did not operate during the winters of 1961/2 which also suggests that the information that I have to hand meant that it did run during the 'summer' periods (whenever that was ;)) of those years. The service was finally abandoned by BCT in January 1963. The extended route mentioned I believe never happened as the service was taken over by a private coach operator as detailed in the earlier post who would not have been constrained by agreements between BCT and B&MMO.
 
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