A gleaming gold executive jet Boeing 727-21 N727LA on finals to runway 27L at London Heathrow
Funair executive jet Boeing 727-21 N727LA is seen on final approach to runway 27L at London Heathrow. Apparently an old Pan Am bird π N358PA from 1967, and also apparently still flying!!!
Memories of a mis-spent youth π
By 1986, when I took this shot, I had been making regular forays to my home airport of London Heathrow for ten years... and in that time, my photography had developed from using a primitive Kodak Instamatic (1976-77), through a short period with a borrowed secondhand 35mm (1978-79) to, firstly a secondhand Zenith E + 300mm telephoto lens (1979-80), via a temporary replacement Zenith EM (1980), to my first brand-new camera - a shiny black-bodied "Moscow Olympics" special Zenith TTL, with which I took this photo :)
The summer of '86 - aged 24, and with a new job working in urban ecology, I had less spare time to visit my old haunt of Heathrow airport. However, after getting my old negatives scanned, it appears that I did make a few forays with my Zenith TTL and 300mm telephoto lens. By this time, I had abandoned Kodachrome 64 as a tad too expensive, and was using Kodacolor VR100 or 200 print film.
So over a relatively short period, one August evening in 1986, I shot 20 frames and managed to capture this huge variety of aircraft and airlines:
3x Tu-154s Aeroflot (2 frames), Malev & Balkan
3x B707s TAP cargo, NAC cargo, TMA cargo (2 frames)
2x B727s Pan Am & VIP
2x Airbus Egyptair A300, Swissair A310
1x B737 Aer Lingus
1x B747 JAL (2 frames)
1x TriStar BA
1x BAC1-11 Dan Air
1x F-27 Luxair
1x Saab 340 Manx
1x G2 VIP
Gives you an idea of what Heathrow was like back in the good old 1980s π
N358PA c/n 19260 - Boeing 727-21 was delivered new to Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) in May 1967 and was originally named 'Clipper David Crockett'. The aircraft was one of around 24 that were rotated between the United States and Germany for use on the Internal German Services (IGS) The aircraft flew for 14 years with Pan Am, but in 1981 with the arrival of Boeing 737s and more Boeing 727-200s from National Airlines, the aircraft was sold and converted to executive jet configuration. The aircraft flew as N727SG, N727LA and N727GP between 1981 and 2007. By then already 40 years old, the aircraft was retrofitted with new engines, winglets, new avionics etc. and still flies today as VP-BAP - amazing π
Taken with a Soviet made Zenith TTL camera and 300mm lens, using Kodacolor VR200 print film. Scanned from the original negative without restoration.
You can see a random selection of my aviation memories here: www.flickriver.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/random/
A gleaming gold executive jet Boeing 727-21 N727LA on finals to runway 27L at London Heathrow
Funair executive jet Boeing 727-21 N727LA is seen on final approach to runway 27L at London Heathrow. Apparently an old Pan Am bird π N358PA from 1967, and also apparently still flying!!!
Memories of a mis-spent youth π
By 1986, when I took this shot, I had been making regular forays to my home airport of London Heathrow for ten years... and in that time, my photography had developed from using a primitive Kodak Instamatic (1976-77), through a short period with a borrowed secondhand 35mm (1978-79) to, firstly a secondhand Zenith E + 300mm telephoto lens (1979-80), via a temporary replacement Zenith EM (1980), to my first brand-new camera - a shiny black-bodied "Moscow Olympics" special Zenith TTL, with which I took this photo :)
The summer of '86 - aged 24, and with a new job working in urban ecology, I had less spare time to visit my old haunt of Heathrow airport. However, after getting my old negatives scanned, it appears that I did make a few forays with my Zenith TTL and 300mm telephoto lens. By this time, I had abandoned Kodachrome 64 as a tad too expensive, and was using Kodacolor VR100 or 200 print film.
So over a relatively short period, one August evening in 1986, I shot 20 frames and managed to capture this huge variety of aircraft and airlines:
3x Tu-154s Aeroflot (2 frames), Malev & Balkan
3x B707s TAP cargo, NAC cargo, TMA cargo (2 frames)
2x B727s Pan Am & VIP
2x Airbus Egyptair A300, Swissair A310
1x B737 Aer Lingus
1x B747 JAL (2 frames)
1x TriStar BA
1x BAC1-11 Dan Air
1x F-27 Luxair
1x Saab 340 Manx
1x G2 VIP
Gives you an idea of what Heathrow was like back in the good old 1980s π
N358PA c/n 19260 - Boeing 727-21 was delivered new to Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) in May 1967 and was originally named 'Clipper David Crockett'. The aircraft was one of around 24 that were rotated between the United States and Germany for use on the Internal German Services (IGS) The aircraft flew for 14 years with Pan Am, but in 1981 with the arrival of Boeing 737s and more Boeing 727-200s from National Airlines, the aircraft was sold and converted to executive jet configuration. The aircraft flew as N727SG, N727LA and N727GP between 1981 and 2007. By then already 40 years old, the aircraft was retrofitted with new engines, winglets, new avionics etc. and still flies today as VP-BAP - amazing π
Taken with a Soviet made Zenith TTL camera and 300mm lens, using Kodacolor VR200 print film. Scanned from the original negative without restoration.
You can see a random selection of my aviation memories here: www.flickriver.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/random/