Dublin Airport Historical Movements

This month saw continued variety on the airliner front, with Aer Lingus again hiring-in extra capacity to meet some of its commitments.  These included Boeing 727-100s of Pan Am, which had a number of the type based in West Germany to operate Internal German Services (known as the IGS), because flights to and from West Berlin could be operated only by carriers from the Allied Powers (the USA, UK and France).  These 727s also operated connecting flights to London. These were not common visitors to Ireland so it was noteworthy when they appeared in Dublin. The Irish-registered 707 on the 2nd had been Aer Lingus's first of the type but was disposed of in 1972 after the airline's frst 747s had joined the fleet. By 1978 it was owned by lessor Guinness Peat Aviation and was operating with Iran Air, the Islamic revolution in Iran still being some months in the future. Another 707 of note was N425MA on the 24th; my recollection is that this was in connection with work that had begun t...

The summer months continued to see some interesting general aviation visitors, including a Spanish Cessna 172 and a French Super Cub - the flight to Ireland must have been quite a journey for them and their crews.   The Polish Mi-2 helicopter is the only example ever to have visited Ireland and a contemporary report in "Flight" magazine said that it was in the UK and Ireland as part of a farming machinery sales campaign. In Britain it was used to carry spares to farmers across East Anglia.   Whether this stimulated sales of Ursus Bizon equipment is not known! The Mi-2 was built solely in Poland, by PZL-Swidnik, with 5,497 examples made.   SP-SWG survives in a museum in Germany, albeit wearing false Aeroflot markings. Airliners of note included the El Al 707 - a real rarity for Dublin - and Evergreen International DC-8, which I think was operating for Aer Lingus. Also, the Tarom Tu-154s which I recorded on the 6th and the 20th represented relatively rare appearances here...