Timz From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 6468 posts, RR: 8 Posted (6 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 18 hours ago) and read 2059 times:
From a 1953 book:
"A unique lighting beacon is part of the airport equipment. This is made up of thirty-six fluorescent tubes eight and one-half feet long which shine like electric eels in the darkness. They flash out London Airport's identification letters five times a minute. The beacon has been seen by pilots at a distance of twenty miles."
Did this beacon rotate? Did it flash "LON ... LON ... LON" or "L ... O ... N ..."? Or did it flash the Morse for LON? Were the pilots alleged to be able to "read" it from twenty miles? How long did it last?
Philb From Ireland, joined May 1999, 2915 posts, RR: 14 Reply 1, posted (6 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 1920 times:
I made my first visit to London Airport (LAP) in the Spring of 1956. From memory this beacon was situated close to the then long haul terminal at was was known as London Airport North, close to the A4 road and where the Visitor Centre was until fairly recently.
The letters flashed were in morse and, from memory were LAP.
CV580Freak From Bahrain, joined Jul 2005, 1033 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (6 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 1823 times:
Never saw this flashing sign but did see the a sign on a gasometer tower in Southall saying LHR with an arrow to stop aircraft trying to land at RAF Northolt.
One day you are the pigeon, the next the statue ...
Shamrock350 From Ireland, joined Mar 2005, 6111 posts, RR: 15 Reply 3, posted (6 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1783 times:
Quoting CV580Freak (Reply 2): Never saw this flashing sign but did see the a sign on a gasometer tower in Southall saying LHR with an arrow to stop aircraft trying to land at RAF Northolt.
CV580Freak From Bahrain, joined Jul 2005, 1033 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (6 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1765 times:
That's the one, massive LHR.
I think it was an Air India flight that landed at Northolt by mistake (not sure what type or when) but they had to strip it out to get it to take off !!!
True or an urban legend - not sure
One day you are the pigeon, the next the statue ...
Shamrock350 From Ireland, joined Mar 2005, 6111 posts, RR: 15 Reply 5, posted (6 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 1759 times:
Quoting CV580Freak (Reply 4): I think it was an Air India flight that landed at Northolt by mistake (not sure what type or when) but they had to strip it out to get it to take off !!!
True or an urban legend - not sure
Not sure about Air India but I do think a KLM aircraft maybe a Fokker 100 landed there once, not sure it was a mistake though.
I live right under the approach for Northolt and the aircraft are pretty boring, the most exciting being a BBJ, The queens Bae-146 which goes past almost daily or Titan Bae-146 which landed there a few months ago.
CV580Freak From Bahrain, joined Jul 2005, 1033 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (6 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 1724 times:
I remember going spotting there when I was a lad, took hours to get there and then you sat on the grass for hours awaiting an arrival or departure and on some days you saw nothing apart from a couple of US military aircraft way over the other side of the field..........
One day you are the pigeon, the next the statue ...
JetJeanes From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 1415 posts, RR: 1 Reply 9, posted (6 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1634 times:
Does anyone remember the brown building in the late 60,s or 70s?? Vagrants from the rail yard often sought shelter there
in the evening hours,and some odd fellow was killing them and stacked them up like firewood near the top floor for a couple of years. Didnt the killer pass away or had a heart attack before any Judgement on him was past???
Philb From Ireland, joined May 1999, 2915 posts, RR: 14 Reply 10, posted (6 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1541 times:
Quoting Shankly (Reply 7): Not Air India, but a Pan Am 707 in 1960.
Correct. The aircraft had to be stripped of galleys and seats and most removable parts not necessary for safe flight to fly out of Northolt to LHR.
Quoting Carduelis (Reply 8): Actually it was written on the gasometer AFTER the event, in a moment of sarcastic British humour!
It was after the event but it had nothing to do with humour. There were two very similar gas holders, one on approach to Northolt, one to Heathrow 28 R. which were visible once established on a westerly heading over Central London. In the early 1960s the ILS at LHR on 28R wasn't always what it might have been and was regularly out of service for maintenance and "upgrading". If the weather was bad, GCA was used but, generally, a visual approach was selected and the gas holder was a reference point at a given distance from touchdown against which height could be checked to confirm a reasonable glideslope.
The Pan Am 707 wasn't the first to pick the wrong gas holder but it was one of a very few aircraft to actually land and the most difficult to extract. After the landing, each gas holder had the airport name and runway heading, plus an arrow painted on top to avoid confusion.
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