Phone line restored.
Here’s a few from a trip to Shetland. **** up by ops lead me to jumpseat up to Unst on a Brymon Dash 7 – clearly PAPIs are for wimps, anything showing white on a 2000ft runway is way too high. As I recall, we stopped dead (in a 25 kt crosswind) and turned off straight onto the apron – some machine!
Islander (one of my fave BN2 shots) is at Scatsta (Sullom Voe’s airstrip), Twotter landing at Lerwick (Tingwall)

Don’t suppose you captured any evidence of the brief period in the early-mid eighties when Iberia 742’s would come into GLA from the Canaries

I possibly do have a pic of one somewhere – one of the more impressive ‘oldies’ I’ve come across is a BCAL A310 taxying out for 05 – also several South American Casa 212s on delivery flights. Ones that got away – a batch of ex French Air Force T33s on delivery to Bolivia (?) – all brown, green and dayglo – by the time I’d got to work they had gone after a brief fuelling stop.
However, waiting for BT at the mo!

When I joined, 9 (ish) Twotters, 2 Bandits (mostly ABZ based for the Chevron Unst contract plus ad-hocs), about 6 Islanders (2 each at GLA, KOI & LWK) plus the two 330s and about 3-4 Trislanders.

As the Chevron contract ended, the Trislanders were mostly sold, as were some of the Twotters – the remaining Twotters came to GLA (replacing the BN3s on the West Coast routes). The Bandits lingered at ABZ for a short time doing ad-hocs before being sold (pics of them to come). The 330s were replaced by 360s. Islander numbers have remained similar over the years.

What transformed LC’s fortunes in the mid-80s, was the move of the BFS services to BHD (it was not possible to compete head-to-head with the BA 748s to BFS using Sheds or Otters) – all of a sudden the aircraft were jam packed. More importantly were the award of route licenses to do MAN from EDI (initially) then GLA – hence the F27(s). The Sheds/F27s used to fly these big triangles between GLA/EDI, BHD and MAN all day, with real good loads.

Which is about when I left. I think the 146s were bought on the presumption of getting GLA/EDI-LGW licenses, which sadly never happened…and then we were into all that Manx/Euromanx stuff with ATPs, where I lost the plot – you probably know more about that than me!

Not, strictly speaking, Loganair, or even civil, but all GLA mid 1980s.

1. The Turbo-Mallard (?) – used to come over from Canada in the summer, spent much of its time round the west coast and popped into GLA occasionally.
2 & 3 – the guy who ran Air Charter Scotland (Geoff Rosenbloom I think) bought this Venom when the Swiss auctioned them. The idea was to run it as an airshow act, but nothing came of that during its stay at GLA
4 & 5 – the best westbound delivery I ever saw through GLA – Sea Fury VX302.

Life’s a beach….all at Barra, roughly 1984-86

Last one of G-BGPC, involved in the accident at Islay……RIP Chris.

The Varsity did have a modest bomb bay. WJ903 went to the Dumfries museum initially, and the nose is now at AeroVenture, Doncaster…according to Mr. Ellis’s Wrecks & Relics.
(and note the ‘confuse-a-spotter’ registration taped beneath the military serial!)