London Airport - Heathrow in the 1950s & 60s

This page is under construction!

This page may not be completed and may only display partially correct information. Please use the discussion page before making any changes.
Last updated on 15 October 2020.

London Airport - Heathrow in the 1950s & 60s DVD Cover .

Documentary (2006)

Starring:
Howard Asbridge (Narrator)

If you enjoyed our London Airport – Heathrow in the 1960s/70s DVD, you’re going to love this second look at vintage LAP, because it goes back as far as the 1950s. We used a completely new collection of full-colour cine film and authentic sound, to bring aircraft like BOAC and Pan American Stratocruisers alive once more.

Some of the vehicles are almost as interesting as the airliners. There’s a scene on Pan Am’s ramp with Strats and DC6Bs, that’s full of early 1950s vans and trucks dashing about – wonderful stuff.

Several of our cameramen worked airside and could therefore get the best shots and catch some of the rarer visitors. It’s impossible to list them all here, so do have a look at the on-line Factsheet, but my favourite has to be an Air Jordan DC6, or is it the LTU DC4?

The variety is amazing; take Constellations for example. We have Skyways, South African, TWA and Air Ceylon L749s, Lufthansa, KLM, Capitol, Flying Tiger and Air France L1049s, TWA and Trans Atlantica Argentina L1649s.

From the 1960s, there are great airside shots of the British Eagle fleet, a snowbound Heathrow in the winter of 1963, Cubana and Trans Continental Britannias, Air France and SAS CV990s, the actual crash-landing of a BOAC 707 with its nosewheel retracted, the wreckage of the BKS Ambassador crash, VC10 crew training and many other airliners, including:

Iberia Bristol Freighter. Dan Air and Skyways Yorks. KLM, SAS, FAA, Swissair & Pan Am DC7s. BEA fleet in original colour scheme. Eagle and Cunard Eagle Vikings. Air Safaris Hermes. LOT and Malev IL14s. de Long Corporation YC97. Martin 404s, Viscount and CV440 executive transports. Air France and Kuwait Viscount 700s. Nigerian VC10.

Also from this series:
Avion Video Series

Douglas Dakota

Last days at London Croydon Airport.

Douglas Dakotas of Transair Ltd.

Douglas Dakota of Transair Ltd.

Douglas Dakota IV

Registration G-AMZG, c/n 44-77084 ex RAF. Sold to Transair Ltd in April 1953, then to Olares Developpment Co. of Jersey in August 1959. Sold abroad (Iceland) in June 1966.
Seen at London Croydon Airport.

Reg.G-AMZG Douglas Dakota IV of Transair Ltd.

Another C-47/Dakota in the far background.

Reg.G-AMZG Douglas Dakota IV of Transair Ltd.

De Havilland DH104 Dove 6

G-AMDD, c/n 04292. Bought new by The Shell Company of the UK Ltd in August 1950, sold to Executive Air Transport Ltd in December 1960, then to Marchial Plant and Engineering Company Ltd in June 1962. Sold to Swaziland in September 1968.
Seen at London Croydon Airport.

Reg.G-AMDD De Havilland DH104 Dove 6.

Airspeed AS.65 Consul

Registration G-AIKT, c/n 4356. First registered in September 1946 as Airspeed owner. Sold to Marquess of Londonderry in November 1946. Sold to Ulster Aviation Ltd in September 1947 , then to Wirral Airways Ltd in July 1949. Sold to Air Enterprises Ltd in June 1951 and operated until August 1954, then sold to Louis Newmark Ltd. Sold to Derby Aviation Ltd in June 1958. Written off from use in February 1963.

Airspeed AS.65 Consul of Louis Newmark Ltd.

Dove 6 already seen above behind.

Airspeed AS.65 Consul of Louis Newmark Ltd.

Percival Proctor 5

Percival Proctor 5.

Various Aircraft

London Airport in the 50's , renamed London Heathrow in the mid 60's.
1 - Avro 685 York C.I of Skyways Ltd of London.
2 - Boeing 377-10-32 Stratocruiser of B.O.A.C-British Overseas Airways Corporation.
3 - Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Douglas DC-3.
4 - Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Douglas DC-3.
5 - Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Douglas DC-3.
6 - Avro 685 York.

Various aircraft.

Avro 685 York C.I and Boeing 377-10-32 Stratocruiser.

Various aircraft.

Douglas Dakota

Douglas Dakota of British European Airways.

Boeing 377-10-32 Stratocruiser

Boeing 377-10-32 Stratocruiser of B.O.A.C-British Overseas Airways Corporation.

Airspeed AS.57 Ambassador 2

Airspeed AS.57 Ambassador 2 of British European Airways.

Taking off in front of another busy part of the airport in the far background.

Airspeed AS.57 Ambassador 2 of British European Airways.

Various Aircraft

1 - Unidentified Aircraft.
2 - Airspeed AS.57 Ambassador.
3 - Vickers Viscount.

Various aircraft.

Various Aircraft

1 - Vickers VC1 Viking .
2 - Douglas Dakota.
3 - Lockheed Constellation.

Various aircraft.

Lockheed L-749 Constellation

Lockheed L-749 Constellation of TWA-Trans World Airlines.

Convair 340-48 & Douglas DC-6B

KLM's Convair 340-48 to the right.

Convair 340-48 of KLM-The Flying Dutchman/De Vliegende Hollander and Douglas DC-6B of PAA-Pan American World Airways.

Douglas C-47A Skytrain & Douglas DC-6B

KLM's Douglas C-47A Skytrain to the left.

Douglas C-47A Skytrain of KLM-The Flying Dutchman/De Vliegende Hollander and Douglas DC-6B of PAA-Pan American World Airways.

Douglas DC-6B

Registration N6521C, c/n 43521. Delivered new to PAA in March 1952. Sold in September 1968 to Panama as FAP-501 from Fuerza Aerea Panamena, then HP-641 owned by Inair Panama.
Tail fins of B.O.A.C's and PAA's Boeing 377 Stratocruiser in the background right.