Dublin Airport Historical Movements

A month of substantial activity, with summer charters at their peak.  Maersk Air operated a short series with F27s.  There were a number of Shannon diversions, I think because of disruption of the fuellers' service there.  The CAF CC-130 was a rarity for Dublin at the time, as was the Southern Air machine, though both were very regular sights at Shannon.  Much more exotic was the Imperial Iranian Air Force Hercules , on a horse transport flight.  Also of note was the World Airways 747, making the first visit of a 747 for that carrier and the first appearance at Dublin of the convertible 747-200C variant. 1 August D-ABIW                 B727-30 EC-ATP                 DC-8-52                AO EC-CFA       ...

This listing covers only part of the month, as I was away on holiday for a couple of weeks.   The summer peak saw continued charter activity, many of these flights carrying student s either from or to Ireland for educational and/or recreational purposes!  Where I have a note of flight numbers, I have included these.  With a lot fewer airfields in the country than there are now, several European general aviation visitors were to be seen visiting Dublin, which was a lot more GA-friendly in those days. 1 July EC- CTR          DC-9-34          AO G-BAVX         Herald              BMA N448PA         B707-321C    Pan Am OH-LSC         SE210            ...

With the summer holiday season in full swing, charter flights were to be seen in some numbers.  DC-8s and 707s were the main equipment for the long-range operators and for Aviaco, which was almost the only Spanish charter carrier to be seen in Dublin during this period.  I remember the CP Air DC-8 on the 27th being delayed for several hours, but it was worth waiting for!  The carrier's orange, red and bare metal livery made for a striking sight. Boeing 720 N1776Q was noteworthy, as it had been Aer Lingus's first jet, delivered in 1960 as EI-ALA.  The two Viscounts of Swedish operator Skyline were former British Midland examples.  SE-FOX returned to that carrier in 1978 but was withdrawn from use at East Midlands and eventually broken up.  SE-FOY also later returned to BMA and was restored as G-BAPF, in which guise it flew for many more years, including service with the garishly-marked Hot-Air.  It then survived for many years as a training aid at the ...

Not the most exciting of months, though my lack of records of interesting traffic may have been influenced by approaching exams!  Aeroamerica's assorted Boeing 720s, plus their sole BAC 1-11, provided the interest on the maintenance front.  N302AS was a former Alaska Airlines example acquired as a spares source, and Ralf Manteufel captured it arriving at Tempelhof some weeks later, on its final flight.  Photo at THF Eagle Air (Arnarflug) was a new operator and would last for several years.  TF-VLA was its first 720 and a pure-jet example which had last been operated by Air Viking, a short-lived Icelandic airline. 1 May D-ABEA         B737-130       LH                   EC-BYM         DC-9-32         IB       ...