aviation - the past, present and future of flight

Montpellier and Clermont-Ferrand in France.

It operated the routes from its Gatwick

headquarters, together with a new thrice-

weekly service to Bern in Switzerland. The

Swiss airport was too small to handle the

majority of the contemporary aircraft of the

day, but the HS 748 was ideal and served

the city for many years to come.

During 1972, the HS 748 fleet was linking

Bournemouth and Newcastle via intermediary

stops in Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham,

Liverpool, Manchester and Teesside. In the

same year, Jersey was introduced to the HS

748 fleet and then Guernsey. Services to the

Channel Islands came from mainland airports

including Gatwick, Swansea and Carlisle and

a new Luton-Leeds-Glasgow route began.

To cope with the demanding schedules,

more aircraft were needed.

NORTH SEA OIL

Dan-Air also entered the lucrative charter

market, supporting the growing North

Sea oilfields. A single aircraft was sent to

Aberdeen early in 1974 to fulfil a contract

with oil giant Conoco to ferry workers

between Aberdeen and Sumburgh in the

Shetland Islands.

Further contracts were obtained from

other companies and more of the HS 748

fleet and associated crews moved north to

set up home in the Granite City.

Another significant event happened in

October 1974 when the company closed its

Ashford base, switching operations to Lydd

in Kent.

West Germany was served for the first

time in 1974 when a single HS 748 was

deployed to Berlin-Tegel for a scheduled

service to Saarbrücken and weekend

charters to Amsterdam.

During 1975, Liverpool was dropped

from the Link City network in favour

of Manchester. At the same time the

Liverpool–Amsterdam sevice ended which

had run for 15 years. Latterly, it had been

flown by de Havilland Comets to try and

improve load factors, but the lure of several

daily flights from Manchester, by various

carriers, proved too much and Liverpool lost

its only flight to the continent.

Dan-Air’s oil-related support flights north

of the border rapidly evolved into a huge

operation, which in turn meant the existing

fleet of HS 748s could not cope with the

increased demand.

The company, which had a reputation

in the industry for avoiding the cost of new

aircraft and ancillary equipment, scouted the

globe for more HS 748s but the price had to

be right.

In Argentina, seven early production

models were available. They had been

originally delivered to Aerolíneas Argentinas

and in some cases more recently worked for

energy company, Yacimientos Petroliferos

Fiscales (YPF).

The aircraft were delivered to the UK

between December 1976 and September

1977. Capt John Smith, one of Dan-Air’s
      senior pilots, who had been flying with
      the fleet since the early days, assisted in
      ferrying aircraft back from Argentina. The
      ferry flight for G-BEKF (ex LV-HHD) to
      the UK, for example, arrived on April 14,
      1977, and took more than 56 hours. The
      aircraft, unlike most HS 748s, didn’t have an
      autopilot as the routes it has been ordered
      for by Aerolíneas Argentinas were felt to be
      too short to require it.
      Another interesting addition to the fleet,

38 Aviation News incorporating Jets March 2018

Turning onto A stand at Liverpool (Speke) Airport, G-ARAY has just arrived on the airline’s

scheduled service from Amsterdam.

Flights from around the UK to Jersey were among Dan-Air’s more profitable services.

During a summer weekend in the mid-1970s, as many as five of the HS 748 fleet could

be seen on the ground at any one time at the Channel Island’s airport.

The carrier leased G-AYYG – first owned by Howard Hughes – on at least three occasions.

36-40_prop_dan_airDC.mfDCDC.mf.indd 38 05/02/2018 14:20