Dublin Airport Historical Movements

This month saw some interesting visitors.  The Alitalia 747s were on charter flights to and from Rome for the canonisation of Blessed Oliver Plunkett.  The Dutch Navajos were in connection with the kidnapping by the IRA of industrialist Dr Tiede Herrema, who was eventually traced to Monasterevin and released with only minor injuries. Article Alidair Viscount N501TL was a very nice catch.  Photo I think it could not be placed on the UK register because of equipment differences and so it was disposed of to Far Eastern Air Transport the following year. History of Viscount c/n 353  What is also interesting about this aircraft is that it crashed in Indonesia in 1980 while in service with Bouraq.  The cause was traced to failure of an elevator trim tab and subsequent separation of the right elevator.  When a detailed review of the 1968 loss of Aer Lingus Viscount EI-AOM was carried out in 2001/2, the Indonesian accident was among those cited as indicative of ...

Not such a detailed listing here, to avoid being too repetitive.  I'm sorry, though, that I didn't take details of the based and very common visitors , which would give a better flavour of the movements seen.  However many days provided pretty lean pickings, with just a small number of non-Irish or UK aircraft to be seen.  I see that I noted one Air Corps Vampire on an overshoot, the type being on the verge of withdrawal as the Fouga Magisters arrived (my first sighting being of 215 on the 11th). The Seaboard DC-8 on the 27th was my first sighting of one of these on the ground and they were not common visitors to Dublin.  (They were very regular at Shannon, though.) 1 September N806WA         DC-8-63CF   World 2 Sept ember 58-6972          VC-137B         USAF 89MAW 167              ...

Here's another month's selection, with a representative picture of what was to be seen. 2 August EC-ARC          DC-8-52         Aviaco EC-BQZ         DC-9-32         Iberia EI-ASM           B707-351C     Aer Lingus (leased from Zambia Airways in their basic livery,      ex-9J-AEB) Photo as 9J-AEB G-ASEC         HS125 N403PA          B707-321B    Pan Am N8731              B707-331B     TWA N4867T          DC-8-63CF   TIA 3 August OO- STB          B727-29C        SABENA (o...

3 July 1975 EC- CGP         DC-9-32                      Aviaco EI- ASO            B707-349C                 Aer Lingus (returned from lease to BCAL but was leased out again to Zambia Airways in mid-July, as 9J-AEC) G-AOYN          Viscount                     BA G-APEY          Viscount                     BA G-AZNB          Viscount                ...

The advent of the summer saw a considerable increase in activity and, in the days before low-cost carriers, students and holidaymakers mostly travelled on charter flights.  The US supplemental carriers tended to use callsigns based on their registration, so the World DC-8 on the 13th would have been calling "World 805".  My visits to the airport were not that frequent, but here are a couple of days on which a variety of movements were seen. 13 June 1975  201                  Dove                           Irish Air Corps G-ATIG             Herald                          British Island Airways (B...

4 May I-DABA           Caravelle        Alitalia, operating for SAM Photo in 1979 8 May EI- ASL            B737-248C    Aer Lingus (just delivered) G-AOHK         Viscount         British Airways G-AOYP         Viscount         British Airways G-AOYS         Viscount         British Airways G-APEG         V953F Merchantman British Airways Cargo – BE3332/3335 Great photo at LHR G-ARPL         Trident 1C      British Airways G-AZRD         Cessna 401B G-AZVS     ...

It is worth mentioning that the North Apron held three long-term residents : N7777G   L-749A     VP-BDF   B707-321  C6-BDG   B707-321 The 707s had been operated by Bahamas World Airways. 3 April G-AVFK    Trident 2E         British Airways G-AVNG    Beech 80          Travel Air G-AWZA   Trident 3B         British Airways N37777     Boeing 720-022 - seen here at Miami the previous year as HP-685  5 April EC-BIR      DC-9-32              Iberia N4869T     DC-8-63CF        Trans International 6 April G-AXOY     V952 Vanguard   Invicta 12 April 93              ...