Ostend/Middelkerke in the 1950s and 60s

roblegin………..

Absolutely agree with you, afraid todays jets, in fact modern most a/c seem to possess no “soul”, when compared to aircraft of earlier eras…

Planemike

roblegin,
Don’t forget Dan-Air at Luton. Would love to see any BAC1-11,Comet, B727 photo’s of that era.

Slightly off topic but flights / visits to airports seemed much more interesting in the 70’s. My local airport is Luton, and i saw Autair Heralds and Ambassadors (fascinated as a young kid by the small white tail ‘wheel’) then colourful Court Line fleet (including the Beverley) , plus Britannia’s Britannias (and those of Monarch of course), 720b’s, early 737s etc. Most Sundays could see an assortment of Invicta Vanguards, 748’s, Spantax DC-8’s, occasional Viscounts, and on one memorable day in 1972 or 1973, a visit of an Isreali AF Boeing KC-97, 4X-FAT i seem to remember…

Happy days, my Dad has some ancient colourslides which i must scan and put on here sometime, also have some early photos of Duxford around 1975 after a visit (you had to write in to be granted access then)

Hi Rob.
I too did a “flying” holiday which involved a.trip from Southend to Ostend in 1961.
We travelled Newcastle to King’s Cross by sleeper train (which was a sleepless night!) then coach to Southend, Southend-Ostend by British United DC-4 G-AOZK “Golden Fleece” and finally coach from Ostend to Switzerland. But at least we were able to say that we had flown on holiday that year!!!
I saw my first Carvair at Southend that year, G-ANYB plus lots of ex-RAF Prentices and the poor old Aviation Traders Accountant rotting on the scrap heap. Other aircraft doing the Ostend run were Viscount G-ARKH of Cunard Eagle and Sabena Dakotas OO-AWN and OO-AUY.See poor photos below,
Jim
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New here, but have been lurking around for many years and have been fascinated by the level of knowledge most of you have on here.

Im impressed with the photos taken at Ostend as I travelled there twice in the late 60’s early 70’s. The first time was a short flight from Gatwick on board an Airspeed Ambassador, memorable as we were delayed some hours on the return due to engine trouble. I vaguely remember it being around the time of the British Seamens strike, so c 1967 ish.

The second flight to Ostend was on a Carvair from Southend in the summer of 1973. My old man was very good at getting ridiculously cheap holidays, this one was via Southend to Ostend, then coach down through Belgium, Germany and Austria to northern Italy. The Carvair was Big Bill, G-ASKN I believe. The return flight was on a Viscount, which at the time was a big disappointment as the Viscount seemed quite new and a bit boring after the vibrations and smoke of the Carvair starting up!

Happy days, I wonder if I’ll look back on flights on A320’s etc with such fondness in 30 years time?

Success! I’ve at last tracked down the ids of the 2 Spit XIVs – one was SG108,as I thought but the other was SG25,ex-RM927. Both are now in the USA.
I found them at www.warbirdregistry.org which is a great site that gives the histories of several COGEA warbirds as well.
The two Spits were actually on the roof of the Oscar Dewachter Scrapyard with their wings axed off when I saw them.
I always remember with embarrassment that I stopped a postman when I was trying to find them and asked him in my execrable French if he knew the whereabouts of Deux Spitfires sans feuilles,i.e. without leaves,instead of sans ailes”without wings! I’ll never forget the look he gave me!
Jim

I’ve just found this in European Wrecks and Relics (1989) so it seems that SG31 was most definitely not on an Ostend Garage roof in 1961![ATTACH]161359[/ATTACH]
Jim

The two I saw on the garage roof in 1961 were in the light BAF colour scheme,not camouflaged,so it looks as if SG31 was not one of them as I had supposed.
Jim

SG-3

I found a reference to Spitfire XIV SG-3 which suffered engine failure on 22/2/50.

For a large set of 350 Sqd photos see
http://home.pi.be/~braf/350Sqn/350gallery.htm

but not many serials are visible. There is a list of Spitfire serials used while 350 was in the UK, but RN201 does not figure.

re SG-31

According to
http://www.historicflying.com/for_sale.htm

RN201 is a high-back Mk XIV with Rolls Royce Griffon power. It was built at the Keevil dispersal factory in early 1945 and delivered to No. 9 MU at Cosford on 22 February that year. Once the war in Europe was over, RN201 emerged from store and was allocated to No 83 Group Support Unit in July and stayed with this unit until December 1945 when it was allocated to 350 (Belgian) Squadron at Fassberg. In May 1946 it was transferred back to the UK to No 29 MU High Ercall in Shropshire. It was subsequently sold to the Belgian Air Force in February 1948 under the serial number SG-31 and was used again by No 350 Squadron coded MN-L and later by No 3 Squadron as YL-B when it suffered a heavy landing in February 1950. The aircraft was declared as not worthy of repair to flying standard and was mounted on a pole with code GE-A at Beauchevain.

So it seems it was MN-L originally, but bore GE-A when retired at Beauvechain. The decision to use it in 350’s colours must have been later, but someone had the bright idea to code it MN-350 instead of MN-L.
Where did the idea of SG-3 come from? Well, I certainly recorded it as SG-3 in 1959, as did Scramble on the web in 1970 (http://www.scramble.nl/showreports.htm) But, as I said, if you look at my photo, above, of it almost head-on, there is a suggestion of perhaps a “1” after the SG-3 under the wing.

Mark: SG-31

Mark: what was the history of the SG-3 and SG-31 confusion?
I have tried blowing up my scan of my old photo and rotating the canvas: just after the SG-3 there is what might be a number “1”, just aft of the gun ports and outboard of the u/c. I cannot remember what the fuselage marking was. It may have been covered by the large “350” that had been painted on, I think after the aircraft was retired from service.
Laurence

Thanks G-ORDY. I must admit I had not connected the two. Of course, it was G-BSKP, now N201TB.
I add another photo below, which shows the serial SG-3 beneath the wing. I was told that the squadron marking MN-350 was applied in honour of 350. Normally it would have been MN- (with a letter). It was sited just outside the Officers’ Mess at Beauvechain.
Date 28 July 1959.

Yes that ‘SG-3’ under the wing caused a lot of head scratching at the time, but definately SG-31 on internal inspection.

Mark

Beauvechain Spitfire

Thanks G-ORDY. I must admit I had not connected the two. Of course, it was G-BSKP, now N201TB.
I add another photo below, which shows the serial SG-3 beneath the wing. I was told that the squadron marking MN-350 was applied in honour of 350. Normally it would have been MN- (with a letter). It was sited just outside the Officers’ Mess at Beauvechain.
Date 28 July 1959.

Jim: We are getting a bit away from Ostend, but in view of your remark about the Belgian Spitfire XIVs, there was one on a pedestal at BAF Beauvechain in 1959:
SG-3 Spitfire XIV coded MN-350

The Beauvechain Spitfire F.XIVE was – of course – RN201, now flying in the USA with Tom Blair’s collection.

Ah, more Bristol Freighters….. Love those pictures! Thanks!

Tillerman.

I cannot see the Proctors, but we both know they were there.
Nice clouds!
The photo is at long range and low resolution.
Jim, could you send me a hi-res of that picture to my e-mail? Thanks.

Yes,I’m pretty sure it is. I hadn’t recorded a Prentice that day but I often didn’t record aircraft I’d already seen (bad habit!) and I had already recorded OO-OPO on 18th July 1959. The only other Belgian Prentice I have is OO-LUC at Southend in 1961.
Incidentally there are some other aircraft in front of the Meteors and beside the Harvard. They are probably Proctors (from OO-ARJ,K,L,M).
Jim

Jim: in that last but one photo (of the NF11s lined up) there is a Prentice. Is it OO-OPO? I saw it at Le Zoute the previous year, natural metal finish.
(PAC/215, VS613, G-AOPO). Later went to BAF Museum I think.
Laurence

Yes Laurence, G-APAU was in Sabena colours at Ostend on 24 July 1960 as well.
Jim

And more
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G-APLH Channel Air Bridge
G-AOXK DC-4 British United
G-AOUV and G-AIVL Viking 1B Eagle Airways
G-AKTU Viking 1B Air Condor
This must have been the peak time for cross-channel air ferries with a constant flux of aircraft arriving and departing. The passengers arriving weren’t just going to local destinations as many were picked up by coaches for holidays elsewhere in Europe. Ostend was the starting point for myself in various years for holidays in Germany,Switzerland and Austria and some passengers were even going on to Spain from there which always struck me as a bit bizarre!
Jim