I remember the Tarom IL18s coming into Luton in the 60s and 70s they looked like they hadnt been washed in years.
Leif
Ah yes the student exchanges, I have seen pics from the historians at EGGW, looked pretty crazy with 3 Il-18's on the deck. Actually back in 1999 we had YR-IMZ visit albeit in a white colour scheme, and I recall Luton resident & Air Britain photographer Mick Williams recount that this particular beast had not visited Luton since 1989!!! (on the Tarom Student Exchange). This was to be our last PAX Il-18 Visit to the UK.
actually it was my first insight into prerhaps females from behind the Iron Curtain weren't all 120kg weight lifters with hairy legs and chests
Ben - I remember one very foggy day having an 18, (Tarom) an Electra (KLM) and a Vanguard (Invicta) parked next to each other on the "Ponderosa" (do they still call the stands on the other side of the taxiway from Britannias "new" hangar that?
DispatchDragon wrote:do they still call the stands on the other side of the taxiway from Britannias "new" hangar that?
Leif
Hi Leif
Yes they do. Only used as Signatures' Bizjet ramp these days, sometimes used to store the occasional impounded airliner too, but they haven't done that for a few years now (I think the last one was a TU-134).
DispatchDragon wrote:...parked next to each other on the "Ponderosa"...
The heritage of that name happen to be because the location is "out in the middle of nowhere" or something along that theme, or was there another reason for the name?
Of course the "Bonanza" contation is where we got it from - But, those stands were the back of beyond in my day - it meant driving from the terminal all around the apron and down to south end to get there.
Ben will bear me out - when you were working aircraft down there you felt like you were the back of beyond....the only things close were the fire station and the old Spittlesea Sanitorium west of MacAlpines (nee Signature) hangar. could get really lonely out there at 0200.
Just to clarify, given the era, was it the students or the planes that hadn't been washed? 
I suffer from paranoid amnesia. I can't remember who I don't trust.
