From the LIFE magazine photographer Peter Stackpole ‘Airline Stewardess Essay’ prototype DC-8 N8008D….probably 1959

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=airline+stewardess+essay+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dairline%2Bstewardess%2Bessay%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1436%26bih%3D713%26tbm%3Disch&imgurl=b3b56486ebaaad35
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=airline+stewardess+essay+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dairline%2Bstewardess%2Bessay%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1436%26bih%3D713%26tbm%3Disch&imgurl=0975374b2dc3cdb2
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=airline+stewardess+essay+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dairline%2Bstewardess%2Bessay%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1436%26bih%3D713%26tbm%3Disch&imgurl=50eb7916b6f757d9http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?q=airline+stewardess+essay+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dairline%2Bstewardess%2Bessay%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1436%26bih%3D713%26tbm%3Disch&imgurl=a33c8048eaf7ebc4

The Caravelle was build by Sud Aviation (Sud Est) as the sE-210 and the prototype used a drogue chute on landings.

I never saw a Caravelle use a ‘chute but they were used in service

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-France/Sud-SE-210-Caravelle/0716050/L/

And I believe Aeroflot Tu-104s did also
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraft_genericsearch=&airlinesearch=&countrysearch=&specialsearch=&daterange=&keywords=TU-104+parachute&range=&sort_order=photo_id+desc&page_limit=15&thumbnails=

Some of yours(not all) are also tagged Air Nikon Collection and the large size is only 800 pixels wide which must be what Airliners.net was accepting in those days (before Broadband, I suppose)…nowadays it accepts widths from 1024 to 1600…I’ve moved to uploading at 1400 pixels ,since I got back into uploading last Christmas, because my laptop is 1440….I’m enjoying your photos and texts

VeeOne….re your VC-10 section….it may have been quieter inside (than the 707/DC-8), I don’t know but I doubt it was quieter outside…. It definitely didn’t fly ‘further’…it couldn’t fly a payload UK-US West Coast which the 707-300B (fan-jets) could do from 1962 which was part of the reason BOAC were ‘allowed to purchase some 707-336Bs and Cs (the initial BOAC 707-436 purchase was the larger Intercontinental model but fitted with RR Conways, briefly the most economical engine on the 707, but they were delayed because the ARB insisted on tail mods) ….but the VC-10 was a hit with the American market for BOAC because it was excitingly different. The history of the 707 or VC-10 wrangle at BOAC goes back to the Vickers VC.7 which was stupidly cancelled by the Govt when the prototype was well advanced, but that’s part of a bigger sadder story

Bit of internet glue 🙂
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=108976&highlight=warden

The An-8 was a neat thing….
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=tashkent+source:life&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtashkent%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26biw%3D1436%26bih%3D713%26site%3Dimages%26tbm%3Disch&imgurl=2830944b1838b229

Well I suspect you had slightly more access than most but I agree that it was a whole lot easier in the 70s and with a bit of local knowledge even photographers who didn’t have an airport job could do OK. I worked behind Field’s hangar in the early 70s so had good access to LHR South
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Pan-American-World/Boeing-707-321B/0933825/L/&sid=ce73d95e20e6970d3b5ca73dcb0716af

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?album=5381
The top of the Air India earthmound was a good perch but you were lucky to get half-an-hour before being chased off!
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-India/Boeing-747-237B/0775444/L/&sid=aaffd420564f89229b2ab1974cb317ed
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Pan-American-World/Boeing-747-121/1866744/L/&sid=ce73d95e20e6970d3b5ca73dcb0716af

and the perimeter road was minimally fenced and semi-accessible Southside
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Libya—Air/Lockheed-C-130H-Hercules/0731452/L/&sid=3550638990796cef83246ed994fa6727

Well in the 1970s and early 1980s Heathrow wasn’t such a security monster. There were many places to go and photograph around the outside and you could still take photos from the Queen’s Building and the top of the Car Parks. Also you could go into the cargo area, down the end by the BAA admin and see cargo aeroplanes taxying up to take off on 10R. Photographing interesting aeroplanes at LAP was fun back then and I was mostly interested in the airlines’ liveries (although I was a civil pilot myself).

My partner and I went to LAP a while back to try out a camera and I was dismayed to see how few places we could stop and take photos. He liked it because he was new to the airport and its constant activity but I saddened me that what was once a superb place to spend a sunny afternoon with a camera has become more secure than a military airbase.

I wonder if the new batch of airliner photographers at LAP know what they missed?

Sarah