Having spent this evening perusing Peter Campbell’s record of aircraft movements at Shoreham in the period 1946-70 (pub. Cirrus Associates, 1996), I found myself thinking that if a small GA airfield like Shoreham kept records of aircraft movements, isn’t it likely that larger commercial airports would do the same. That set me searching for records of aircraft movements at London (Gatwick) Airport in the period 1958 onward. However I could find no trace of such online nor any reference to such being available in published form or even in archives. Surely at an airport like Gatwick movements would have been recorded and those records would have been preserved. Can anyone shed any light on this?
By: avion ancien - 15th December 2019 at 12:06
Thank you, gentlemen. Woking is rather a long way from where I am, the GAS website seems to have shuffled off this mortal coil and the LHR/LGW movements website is rather ‘information light’ for even the 1970s. But it was a nice thought that I might be able to refresh my memory as to what I saw in the many hours that I idled away at Gatwick in the sixties and the seventies.
By: farnboroughrob - 15th December 2019 at 09:34
Yes they were recorded, however they wern’t always kept. Back in the 40’s-60’s airports nationally were mostly run by the Ministry of Civil Avation, MCA. They did record movements but mostly only kept them only for 5 years. When I was reasearching Blackbushe (MCA airport 1947-60) I found nothing. However some of LGW , and LHR movements books from around 1960 onwards can be found in the Surrey History center in Woking, or could 10 years ago. The Gatwick Aviation Society has a very complete record from 1958 I believe available fi you are a member?
By: longshot - 15th December 2019 at 01:24
Air Pictorial logged first-time aircraft visitors at Gatwick from 1958, I believe. There are records from about 1970 at http://www.lhr-lgw.co.uk/ I believe there are some Gatwick records at the Surrey History Centre (Guildford?)
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December 14, 2019 at 9:28 pm