Hounslow Chronicle - Looking Back - Fly Past

Looking Back: Braking the silence

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

THERE was a time when the only screeching to be heard at Heathrow was the shrill call of owls echoing across the dark fields and shadowy hedgerows of the rural landscape that dominated this part of West Middlesex before the airport arrived.

Flypast: Strange cargo in air race

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

EVEN in 2010, when long-distance travellers are pampered with constant offers of tempting food and drink and a choice of personal entertainment so vast that it would keep a troupe of monkeys amused for a few minutes, such flights can still be bumnumbing tests of endurance.

Flypast: Pathfinder gets his way

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

PICTURE the scene. A December day in 1945 at the partially built London Airport, where work has been going on apace to construct runways, taxiways and aprons.

Flypast: Doomed fairey was 'bus of the air'

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

WHEN the prototype Fairey Rotodyne clattered into Heathrow on a June morning in 1959, in a whirl of excitement, there was plenty of well-founded optimism that this unconventional-looking machine would transform short haul air travel.

Flypast: Dazed on the argonauts

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

UNLIKELY as it seems, there is a connection between passengers who flew in BOAC Argonauts and the audience at a heavy metal concert in the back room of a pub.

Flypast: When take-off so nearly referred to one's clothes

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

SOMEONE came up to me in a pub in Ashford a couple of weeks ago and enquired, with a perfectly straight face: "How do you remember all those facts and figures for Fly Past?"

Flypast: Wherefore art thou Mike Romeo

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

ALTHOUGH they communicate regularly, sometimes several times a day, it's rare for air traffic controllers and flight deck crews to meet face-to-face.

Flypast: The day the DC6 stole the show

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

FOR many of those lucky enough to have been at the Farnborough Air Show in 2008, the most awe-inspiring moment was not watching the latest bit of wizardry from Airbus or Boeing going through its paces, nor the sight of a bit of 21st century military muscle being flexed in the skies above Hampshire.

Flypast: Shifter, higher, stronger

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

IF EVER an aircraft deserved its name it was the Curtiss C-46 Commando.

Flypast: It's flakes on a plane

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

PULLING back the bedroom curtains to discover a deep layer of snow has magically transformed the landscape overnight can trigger some widelydiffering emotions.

Flypast: Fairy godmother Lufthansa

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

THE festive season is lined up on final approach, so to herald its arrival let's conjure up two ghosts of Christmases past with links to Heathrow half a century or so ago.

Flypast: From Staines to Savile Row

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

THE ways in which people were inspired to seek careers in aviation decades ago were many and various.

Flypast: From heroes to socialites

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

IN THIS week of remembrance ceremonies, it seems appropriate to feature an aircraft that played its part in two of the most significant campaigns of the Second World War.

Flypast: The little airline that dared to dream big

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

THEY were the perpetual underdogs of the airways, feasting on scraps of routes rejected by the 'top table'.

Flypast: The whistling wheelbarrow

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

THINGS were never going to be easy for the Armstrong Whitworth Argosy.

Flypast: A rapide rise to fame

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:00:00 GMT

ALL SORTS of important anniversaries have been celebrated this year - from Bleriot's flight across the Channel to the first landing on the moon - but I couldn't let 2009 fly by without paying tribute to an aircraft that not only has an important link with Heathrow but inspired numerous individuals to take up careers in aviation.

Flypast: Art of noise à la française

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:00:00 GMT

YOU could always rely on the French to bring some 'je ne sais quoi' to the comings and goings at Heathrow.

Flypast: The roof where dreams took flight

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

HERE'S a reminder of the wonderful views that used to be on offer from the Queen's Building roof gardens, in the days when spectators were welcomed to Heathrow with open wings.

Flypast: Swintonfield: World's busiest airport?

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

THE motley collection of farm labourers and market gardeners quaffing their pints amid the smoky confines of The Harrow pub at Heathrow, after a hard day in the fields a century ago, would have choked on their beer if anyone had suggested the name of their little hamlet would one day be famous around the world.

Flypast: Saluting those unsung heroes

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:00:00 GMT

BROWSING through the 140 or so Fly Pasts that have been published since November 2006, (I must get out more), I realised there has been a notable omission in the subject matter of the photos.