G-ARRA Boeing 707-436 of British Airtours taxies for a runway 26 departure at London Gatwick

The Boeing Collection
From a collection of some 500 Boeing slides that I've had scanned from my archives. Hope they will provide some enjoyment and nostalgia from a bygone age.

G-ARRA - one of the old Rolls Royce Conway engined British Airtours Boeing 707-436s is seen here taxiing for a runway 26 departure on a busy day at London Gatwick. The aircraft was operating flight KT888. This was the heyday of charter operations at Gatwick, and looking through my photo-log for the day, I had already used up 10 frames of my roll of Kodachrome 64 :) In the foreground are Britannia Airways Boeing 737 G-BFVB, and a glimpse of the tail of a BA BAC 1-11.

Just to show the sheer variety of aircraft to be seen in those days, here is a list of the previous 10 frames that day:

C-GRYN Boeing 707 Ontario World
G-WIND Boeing 707 Tradewinds
N1035F DC-10 Air Florida
I-TIGE DC-9 Itavia
SE-DBP DC-9 SAS (one of the short ones)
G-AVBW BAC 1-11 Laker
5B-DAN CL-44 Cyprus Airways
N623US Boeing 747 Northwest Orient (2 shots)
OH-LSD Caravelle CTA
and the next shot was exotic:
HK2015 Boeing 707 Avianca Columbia :)

So there's 10 airframes - 7 different types - 10 airlines :)

G-ARRA c/n 18411 Boeing 707-436 was originally delivered to BOAC in Feb 1962, and the aircraft was part of the BOAC fleet for the next nine years. In Apr 1974, it was assimilated into the newly formed British Airways fleet and in 1976 it was transferred to British Airtours, the charter subsidiary of BA. Between 1976 and Nov 1980 the aircraft operated for Airtours, but in Mar 1981 the aircraft was sold to EAS Europe Airlines. Two years later the aircraft returned to the USA as N4465D with Coastal Airways. Sadly, on 14th Oct 1983, the aircraft crashed and burned at Perpignan.

British Airtours operated a large fleet of 15 Boeing 707s, mostly 'hand-me-downs' from parent company British Airways. The charter and inclusive leisure tour subsidiary of British European Airways started operations in March 1970 as BEA Airtours using De Havilland Comet 4B jets, which were supplemented in 1971 by Boeing 707s. At this time first charter flights to North America and the Caribbean were undertaken. In 1974 BEA became British Airways and BEA Airtours changed its name to British Airtours. In the late 1970s and 1980s British Airtours operated fleet of Boeing 737s and Lockheed Tristars transfered from its parent British Airways. When British Airways acquired its chief rival British Caledonian in April 1988, British Airtours brand was dropped and new airline Caledonian Airways was formed to provide inclusive tour charters for British Airways.

The Conway engined 707 fleet comprised:
G-APFB, G-APFD, G-APFF, G-APFG, G-APFH, G-APFI, G-APFJ, G-APFK, G-APFL, G-APFO, G-ARWD, G-ARRA, G-ARRC, G-AVPB

Taken with a Soviet made Zenith E camera and 300mm lens.

You can see a random selection of my aviation photos here: flickriver.com/photos/heathrowjunkie/random/

Taken in: UK / England / Mole Valley / Gatwick (show map)

Taken on: June 19, 1980

Tags:

LGW

London

707

British Airways

British Airtours

Boeing 707

G-ARRA

737

Boeing 737

Britannia Airways

G-BFVB

BAC 1-11

londongatwick « less

Sets appears in: • Gatwick in the 1980s • Aviation Scene 1980 more » • Boeing 707 • British Airways « less

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