Macedonian Aviation DC3s/Doves -1970s

Hello,

I worked for M A way back in the dim and distant past… I was one of your hosties, recruited in SEN but then based fora while in the Skean Dhu hotel at Aberdeen airport. Some fond memories of slightly horrified passengers wondering if the DC3 would get them to the Shetlands, and then seeing the guys arriving by helicopter from the rigs,
running to the pub before boarding in Lerwick, v v worse for their few hours of dedicated drinking. However they were great guys mainly, and I loved the short time I was there… sadly no photos.

Joanne Great to read your post as l am Roger Collins the founder of Macedonian Avition at Southend in 1971/1972 and my chief pilot was Harry Chang I sold out the business to a Ralph Goldstraw and if you were based in Aberdeen then it would have been under his control. There is a little info of the early days of my website www.twsg.co.uk and click on the headin ‘Aviation’

Memories of Macedonian Aviation

I formed Macedonian Aviation in the early 1970s with the purchase of Lulsgate Air Services Dove G-APZU followed by the acquisition of DC3 G-AMPO from BAC Filton. Another 4 DC3s were added to the fleet and we operated out of Southend and Aberdeen. I am collating a history of my ownership of this small but unique airline and seeking any recollections, comments or photos of this era.
For the past 14 years I have owned under BBC Air the ex Queens Flight Devon (VP961) G-HBBC

Hello,

I worked for M A way back in the dim and distant past… I was one of your hosties, recruited in SEN but then based fora while in the Skean Dhu hotel at Aberdeen airport. Some fond memories of slightly horrified passengers wondering if the DC3 would get them to the Shetlands, and then seeing the guys arriving by helicopter from the rigs,
running to the pub before boarding in Lerwick, v v worse for their few hours of dedicated drinking. However they were great guys mainly, and I loved the short time I was there… sadly no photos.

Roger Byron-Collins and I became good friends whilst his father Arthur was stationed with 78 squadron flying Twin Pioneers in Khormaksar Aden between 1960 and 1962. I have followed his career in dealing with ex military housing over the past 35 years and his involvement in Aviation. He loved his Doves and Daks and here is some information about his history in this sector.

Roger Byron Collins wished to obtain a PPL when he was just 17 years old and decided shortly after he started his course at Denham airfield Uxbridge that it was only for professionals as he nearly had a nasty accident on landing. However he always maintained an aviation interest being the son of a former RAF aircrew officer who served in the RAF from 1939 to 1982. His father, Arthur flew Devons at RAF Northolt flying the then prime minister Harold Wilson and this prompted Roger into buying his first Dove 6 G-APZU c/n 04511 at the ripe old age of 24 from Lulsgate Aviation Services of Bristol airport. Initially he leased it to McAlpine Aviation at Luton and it was placed on their Air Operator’s Certificate for ad hoc charter work and passengers at that time included the Jackson Five and the Osmonds. Shortly afterwards he was approached by Harry Chang, a pilot of the then recently collapsed ‘troop carrier’ airline, Lloyds International who had available two contracts with Conoco and The Ford Motor Company. The first was to move offshore oil rig workers around North Sea ports and the second to convey spare parts for the recently introduced Ford Capri between Dagenham and Dusseldorf. With these contracts Roger secured a loan from his bank and formed Macedonian Aviation, a subsidiary of his London based property company Macedonian Securities Ltd and immediately established their first base at Southend airport. Roger went before the Civil Aviation Committee in the summer of 1972 to obtain their own AOC and the CAA chairman at the time was Lord Boyd-Carpenter and when it was granted he passed comment that “Mr Collins must be one of the youngest persons in aviation history to be awarded with an AOC”.

Dove G-APZU was relocated to Southend and Roger purchased the ‘workhorse’ of BAE Filton a Dakota DC3 G-AMPO cn 33186 in 30 seat configuration which was used to fly the engineers working on Concorde production between Bristol, Filton and Toulouse. Dove G-APZU went into service for passenger charters from Luton and Southend in the October with several flights to Hamburg,Copenhagen and Oslo. G-AMPO was put through a pre-service check with Dan Air at Lasham and re sprayed at Eagle Air Services at Leavesden, as was the Dove. The Dakota crew underwent training with Dan Air at Lasham and it paid many visits to Gatwick and Southend during this period. However in September 1972 G-AMPO undertook a very eventful trip. Roger’s business partner married an Indian diplomat’s daughter at the Anglican Church in Beirut, Lebanon and a wedding party of 25 guests flew out on an MEA scheduled flight from Heathrow. The day after the wedding Palestinian Terrorists murdered Israeli athletes at the Olympic games in Munich. The Israelis retaliated by attacking and besieging Beirut Airport which was closed and there were no scheduled flights to get the guests out of Lebanon. Roger telephoned his pilot Harry Chang who said he would take the Dakota from Gatwick to extract the party. Harry Chang knew Beirut airport well and advised the guests to remain on the beach by the airport which he would overfly and once he had landed to run to the aircraft and they could embark. Some 12 hours later after refueling at Genoa and Brindisi G-AMPO landed at Beirut airport escorted by Israeli military aircraft. The entire 25 wedding guests climbed over the perimeter fence and sprinted for the aircraft which did not shut down and it took off again within minutes for Nicosia Cyprus with the Israeli escort. The wedding party and reception continued their celebrations at The Dome Hotel in Kyrenia ( before the island was divided). The wedding guests returned to the UK with Cyprus Airways and Roger and the crew returned in the Dakota 2 days later to Gatwick via Genoa.

Later in September 1972 after completion of crew training G-AMPO returned to Southend to commence operations. On November 5th it took its first paying passengers to Amsterdam. The Dove G-APZU finally arrived at Southend on November 24th. Over the winter season the Dove operated a multitude of charter fights to Belgium, France, Germany and Holland. Finally the Dove G-APZU was sold to Shackleton Aviation in February 1973. By the spring 1973 G-AMPO was busy flying almost daily to Jersey, Ostend, Brussels and Saarbrucken. On May 3rd 1973 it flew a service to Groningen – Bergen – Birmingham – Brussels – Southend. By the summer that year the Dakota was working flat out on regular flights between Coventry – Jersey, Birmingham – Cologne, Southend – Castle Donnington – Stornoway. It also undertook many flights for Intra Airways. In November and December it was flying to Brussels, Calais, Cologne, Coventry Exeter, Geneva, Glasgow, Lisbon, Malta, Marseilles, Newcastle and Saarbrucken. During these months it was carrying various car components for the Ford Motor Company and transferring gold bullion for the UK Treasury to and from Germany, Belgium and France. In December 1973 Macedonian commenced oil rig support business for the first time and as a result the Dakota was then relocated to Aberdeen in connection with this contract. With this massive increase in work load Macedonian looked for more DC3s to buy and in March 1974 they purchased from Jersey, British Island Airway’s last 3 Dakotas. The first 2 aircraft G-AMHJ c/n 13468 and G-AMRA c/n 26735 arrived at Southend March 8 1974. They were in a convertible cargo/passenger configuration and were moved to Aberdeen on April 27th 1974 for transportation of crews and equipment to Sumburgh on the Shetland Islands. Dakota G-AMPO arrived in Aberdeen also in April but was moved back to Southend that spring for services to Amsterdam, Belfast Gibraltar, Hamburg, Hurn, Heathrow, Le Havre ,Lisbon, Ostend, Rotterdam, Saarbrucken and Teeside. Then in September the third ex BIA DC3 G-AMSV c/n 32830 arrived at Southend. In April 1974 Macedonian Aviation acquired the former Dutch Limburg Airlines route from Rotterdam to Le Havre replacing their Fokker Friendships with Dakotas. Then during summer of 1974 Roger was hearing that the oil companies were going to insist on turboprop operations so he opened negotiations to acquire 3 Aer Lingus Viscounts and 6 Air Canada Viscounts or 3 Eastern Provincial Heralds. These negotiations were not successful and having appraised the cost of running a turboprop operation which he was sure would not be profitable he sold the entire Macedonian Aviation as a going concern. On November 6th 1974 all the aircraft returned to Southend and the new owners were unable to raise finance to support turboprop operations by the end of the year they ceased all flying. The aircraft went to Humber Airways followed by Eastern Airways who operated the Heathrow – Norwich – Humberside scheduled service.

Roger went without another aircraft until 1995 until he acquired his second Devon/Dove VP961 G-HBBC c/n 04211 constructed at Hawarden in 1948 and was the former personal aircraft of HRH Prince Philip in which he learnt to fly twins whilst with the Royal Flight. HRH piloted this aircraft on 67 flights and Roger reintroduced it to him at RAF Northolt in 1998 and he commented on such a wonderful restoration and brought him many happy memories.

As a back up for it’s operations he purchased an ex RNAS Sea Devon XK896 G-RNAS c/n 04473 built 1956 originally at HMS Heron RNAS Yeovilton. Both Doves were based at Bristol Filton until 2002 when he relocated G-HBBC to Compton Abbas. G-RNAS was stolen from Filton and ended up in a quarry at Chepstow being used by a diving club. In 2001 Roger also acquired 4 Cessna 150 and 172s which were leased to Compton Abbas airfield for flying training.

Macedonian Aviation DC3 Escape from Beirut under fire – 1972

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.Macedonian Aviation’s G-AMPO’s claim to fame was in September 1972 when it was used to rescue a group of 25 British guests including Macedonian’s MD who were attending a wedding celebration in Lebanon from Beirut airport. The guests had flown out to Beirut on a scheduled MEA flight and after a few days the massacre of the Israeli’s athletes at Munich Olympics took place. Immediately Lebanon came under attack from Israel and Beirut airport was a focused target. Macedonian’s MD phoned his chief pilot, Harry Chang in the UK to explain their predicament. Harry Chang immediately fuelled up G-AMPO and flew the aircraft from Gatwick, refuelling again in Brindisi, Italy. He landed the aircraft on the perimeter track at Beirut airport due to bomb damage on the main runway. Harry Chang knew Beirut well and advised the passengers to shelter in beach huts right by the perimeter track. The aircraft initially did a low pass over the beach so the people being rescued would clearly see the Union Jack on G-AMPO’s fuselage, The engines were not shut down as the passengers scrambled aboard and after a rapid take off amidst gunfire the aircraft was escorted away from the airport by two Israeli fighters who provided an escort to just outside Nicosia, Cyprus where the passengers were dropped off. The wedding reception continued at the Dome Hotel Kyrenia with much relief and gratitude. One of the passengers rescued was a Daily Express reporter who commissioned the well known aviation artist John Young to capture in a oil painting their flight from Beirut which is shown here.

A very poor picture of a Macedonian DC3, hiding behind a BAF Viscount, in 1973. I’m in the photo, small lad with a bad haircut, having just returned from a short flight from Ostend. The flight to Ostend was on BAF Carvair G-ASKN.

Macedonian Aviation DC-3
G-AMRA
May 18, 1974
Lympne
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swbkcb/3644178561/sizes/o/in/photostream/

G-AMHJ
09.1974
Southend
http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/605/9sengamhj.jpg

Macedonian Aviation Southend and Aberdeen, Tony Odell

I formed Macedonian Aviation in the early 1970s with the purchase of Lulsgate Air Services Dove G-APZU followed by the acquisition of DC3 G-AMPO from BAC Filton. Another 4 DC3s were added to the fleet and we operated out of Southend and Aberdeen. I am collating a history of my ownership of this small but unique airline and seeking any recollections, comments or photos of this era.
For the past 14 years I have owned under BBC Air the ex Queens Flight Devon (VP961) G-HBBC

Roger long time no see, last time I saw you was at Watford Gap Services where I returned your Espada and took the Mustang convertable back to London. Do you hear from Richard Enders anymore.
Ralph Goldstraw and I added the further 4 DC3’s mid 1973 purchased from British Island Airways, we sold the Dove as soon as we took over Macedonian operating the DC3’s out of Aberdeen moving Conoco rig crews up to Sunburgh in the Shetlands. After a number of differences with Ralph I left Macedonian at the end of 75 and moved down to South Wales. The airline folded shortly afterwards leaving all the crews out of work for Xmas, one of the reasons I left.
G-AMPO I last heard was rotting on the runway at Coventry airport, the rest of the ex BIA planes were being operated by Air Atlantique out of Coventry. Glad to hear that you are still involved with planes, I must say for the most part I have fond memories of my time with Macedonian. Sorry I have no photos of the planes.
Best wishes,
Tony Odell

Macedonian Aviation DC3 and Doves

Thank you for your help – it has been 36 years since I sold the airline so
collating info is difficult. You may want to look at www.welbeckestate.com
and click on Aviation. Roger

Nigelrob
There are three pictures at
http://www.abpic.co.uk/results.php?q=Macedonian+Aviation&fields=all&sort=latest&limit=10
Hope this helps
G-APDK

I have a very poor photo of one of the DC-3s, taken at Southend in 1973. its in the background behind a BAF Viscount. Theres a few on here with Southend connections who will probably have lots more information than me.