Dublin Airport Historical Movements

The beginning of the airlines' summer schedule saw two new operators at Dublin, after many years of only very limited operations by European flag-carriers. Swissair commenced a daily service from Zurich, which arrived mid-evening and departed back to ZRH at around 0730 the next morning. Sabena commenced a Brussels service, which arrived at about 0800. This was probably not ideal for Irish passengers travelling to Brussels for business, as it would realistically be late morning before they would get to the city of Brussels, but nonetheless the airline would serve Dublin for quite a number of years. The French Gazelle was a company demonstrator and had been at Baldonnel on a sales visit to the Irish Air Corps. This would lead to orders for two Gazelles, the first of which was delivered in August 1979. It is interesting to note the ubiquity of the Piper Aztec for air taxi work; on the 8th I recorded three UK examples - and this was not unusual.  The charter flights and also the BA Tri...

The 1st saw the arrival of a second B-25, following N9455Z which had turned up the previous day. N9115Z would spend a few months parked on the North Apron alongside its sister-ship, before leaving on 17 May.  It survives and is undergoing restoration at East Kirkby following many years on display in the RAF Museum at Hendon. The Aero Uruguay 707 on the 6th was probably a maintenance visitor; it is recorded as becoming CX-BJV in March 1979 so it may have left under that new identity. It would visit many more times in the course of the 1980s, under a number of subsequent identities. Staying with 707s, EI-AMW had finished a lease by GPA to Iran Air and was now flying for Air Algerie.  The basic Iranian scheme was retained, with Air Algerie titles. The visits by Irish Air Corps Cessnas (or "Reims Rockets" as they were often known) may have been in connection with Aer Lingus's contract to do work on the Avionics in the Irish Fouga Magisters.  A short hop VFR from Baldonnel wa...

This quiet winter month saw just a few visitors of interest. Highlights were the two French Navy C-47s, these being intermittent visitors until their retirement in the mid-1980s. The Montana Austria Boeing 707 on the 26th was an addition to the company's fleet, which hitherto had consisted of just two 707-138Bs. An ex-Wardair aircraft, it would have an interesting future.  It  was seized by the US Justice Department after a drug smuggling incident in May 1981 and later became a USAF C-137C, serial 85-6973 . It was later heavily modified as a Grumman JSTARS aircraft and reserialled 00-2000. It flew with the 128th ACCS Georgia ANG at Robins AFB from 2003 to September 2019. It has been preserved at the Museum of Aviation at Warner Robins since July 2023. A most unusual arrival on the 28th was a B-25 wearing WW2 USAAF colours, following use in the making of the movie "Hanover Street" .  It would be parked at Dublin for over two years, effectively abandoned by its owners. I...

This mid-winter month was brightened up by the sizeable amount of traffic generated by the Ireland-France rugby international.  As the only scheduled flights between Ireland and France at the time were Aer Lingus's Paris services, the great majority of French fans travelled by charter flights, large and small.  The Caravelle was still quite prominent, but the type would become less common within a few years, especially as noise and economic factors led to the retirement of the earlier RR Avon-powered variants.  As can be seen, smaller types such as Navajos were also seen, presumably coming from regional parts of France.     Towards the end of the month, two of the veteran C-47s of the French Navy visited on a training mission and my recollection is that I saw these parked on the ramp after dark, looking well under the floodlights. Serial "36" was originally a USAAF aircraft, 42-23936, and had operated in North Africa and Europe in WW2. After French service...

The month saw some interesting visitors, particularly around the busy Christmas period.  The two Super King Airs on the first were heading for Greece and Egypt respectively.  The registration SU-AYD is worn by a Falcon 20 and has been for many years, so I am unsure what Egyptian marks this aircraft actually adopted on delivery. SU-BAX c/n BB-353 is a possibility.     The 707 on the 17th, N433MA, was undergoing flight testing following several years parked at Dublin after collapse of Bahamas World Airways. As can be seen, there were a number of charters and hire-ins over the few days coming up to Christmas, this reflecting the nature of air travel at the time, with no scheduled low-cost operators and a fairly limited route network between Ireland and European cities.  The two Airlift DC-8s on the 6th and 24th respectively were a fairly rare sight at Dublin, though this carrier was regularly seen at Shannon.   1 December G-BBGU       ...

The onset of winter and my own more limited opportunities to document activity see this report a good deal shorter than previous ones.  Items of note included the British Airways BAC 1-11-500 on the 1st and very frequently thereafter. This was on lease from Cyprus Airways and my recollection is that it operated the early evening BA824/5 service almost without fail for weeks on end, albeit this was always in the hours of darkness, given the time of year.  The two TWA aircraft on the 10th were Heathrow weather diversions; the 707 was a freighter and so was not one otherwise to be seen at Dublin, while the TriStar was still wearing its delivery colours, the "twin globes" livery which was being phased out from the mid-1970s on. 1 November C-FNOR           Gulfstream II D-CCHS           Learjet 35  G-AXFE           King Air B90 G-BFWN         BAC 1-11-537  ...