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Aviation Flashback

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Aviation Flashback

Every picture tells a story! Most pics are scans from Fuji Film Slides.

Here I post photo's taken by myself (Peter Bakema) since 1984, first a simple DDR Praktia camera, later with Olympus and Canan Equipment.

09/24/2025

📸 Amsterdam–Schiphol, 8 August 1984

Boeing 747-124(SF), 4X-AXZ (msn 19735, ln 64), photographed in Avianca Colombia colors while operating for El Al Cargo.

First flight: 17 July 1970
Delivered new to Continental Airlines (N26863) in Aug 1970
Later with Imperial Iranian Air Force (5-291 / 5-8112)
To El Al as 4X-AXZ in June 1977
Leased to Avianca as HK-2400X (1981–82), then returned to El Al
Withdrawn from use and scrapped in Tel Aviv in 1999

A rare example of a transitional livery, reflecting the layered histories of classic 747 operators.

11/11/2024

We go back to Monday, 25 August 1997. Internet was just getting popular but most communication between plane spotters still worked via dial-in Bulletin Boards. On said Monday one of those boards reported the arrival of the one and only Conroy Sky Monster at Amsterdam Airport. As it was supposed to be a night stop I tried my luck and drove the 200 kilometers from my then home town Groningen to Amsterdam. And indeed, it was there, parked at the east ramp (in those days some cargo charters were handled there) in a favorable position for photos. It was my first encounter with this unique aircraft. For some reason it ended up with Azerbaijan Airlines in 1997, having served various other airlines over the years.$

The year after I saw it one more time, now registered as 9G-LCA of First International Air.

Skymonster was originally built as a Canadair CL-44D4 in 1961 (The CL-44 was a development from the Bristol Britannia but only 39 were build of which a significant number was lost in crashes). In August of that year it was delivered to Flying Tiger Line and served with them till 1968. It was sold to Conroy Aviation and got its unique enlarged fuselage and was designated as CL-44-O Guppy. The initial idea was to ferry large Rolls Royce RB211 Turbofan Engines from Belfast to Palmdale in California. The engines would there be fitted on brand new Lockheed TriStar aircraft. Of this plan not much came true and the aircraft was sold to British airline Transmeridian Air Cargo who renamed it "Skymonster", the name that it would stick by from then on.

Out of Transmeridian became British Cargo Airlines in 1978 and in 1982 it was sold to Heavy Lift Cargo. After several years carrying oversized cargo it was put in storage before being reactivated by Buffalo Airways (not the Canadian one!).

As mentioned before it ended up with Azerbaijan Airlines for a brief stint in 1997 before being transferred to Baku Airlines and thereafter First International.

Since 1999 Skymonster is present at Bournemouth Airport and it was reregistered RP-C8023 before reverting to its original registration N447T in 2013. Although threatened with scrapping it survived and sits at the airport as we speak (November 2024). The chances that Skymonster will fly again are about zero in my opinion, but I hope it can be saved and kept in a reasonable condition.

10/30/2024

Another magical place I visited in California was Flabob Airport. Here I got a very warm welcome from the airport manager and was shown around all over the airport. Many interesting aircraft and I was lucky to see a Douglas C-47 (or DC-3 if you want) in action. N62CC "Virginia Ann" made a local test flight and could be photographed taking off, landing and being serviced after arrival.

This C-47 was built in 1943 at the Long Beach Douglas factory and took part in Operation D-Day on June 6th 1944, the start of the allied invasion of occupied Europe in World War II.

After a long career serving many civil operators she was restored in her original D-Day colors and still at the age of 81 years takes the skies regularly!

08/18/2024

Arguably one of the most beautiful jetliners: the Sud Aviation SE210 Caravelle. I was lucky enough to capture some during the early days of my aviation photography career.

Seen on the photo Caravelle 10R D-ABAW of Germania, taxiing out at Düsseldorf Airport after some rain sometime during July 1986, probably on a flight to Palma or another holiday destination.

This Caravelle with construction number 239 flew for the first time in June 1968 and was delivered as D-ABAW to LTU. In 1978 it went to German charter airline SAT. SAT was renamed Germania in 1986, operating in that year a mixed fleet with Caravelles and Boeing 727s. D-ABAW was operated in this outfit only for a few months before being sold to Istanbul Airlines as TC-AKA were it spent one or two years before being withdraw from service. It was finally broken up in 1993.

08/12/2024

Anyone of my (older?) aviation friends interested in aircraft slides: have a look at my current auctions at Airlineslides.com:

08/07/2024

Back in 1985 USAir ordered 40 Fokker 100's, in those days a mega order for the relativ small Fokker company.

The first was rolled out in 1989 in this livery. However, USAir just took over Piedmont Airlines and was in progress of repainting their fleet in a new color scheme. Their first Fokker 100, PH-ZCI (to become N850US) was displayed at that year's Paris Air Show, still in the old livery.

A few weeks later it was delivered in the at that time current livery, so it never saw commercial operations in the outfit shown on my photo.

*** I am selling part of my aviation slide collection, please contact me if you are interested ***

07/17/2024

Look twice! Yes, there is a half car being used to tow the aircraft! Something totally unknown in Europe but daily business at sea plane bases. The front part of a pickup is attached to a trailer and used to tow the aircraft. Many older trucks are modified for this purpose. I never saw it before and indeed had to look twice the first time I saw it.

More info: https://www.thedrive.com/news/seaplane-tugs-are-half-truck-half-trailer

07/11/2024

a recent picture on this page is not what you would expect. However, a photo of the very first Boeing 747 justifies this!
The Boeing prototype is well preserved at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field.

12/25/2023

A classic Boeing 707-300C at Amsterdam Schiphol's East Apron, early 1994, almost 30 years ago when posting.

There is a lot going on in this picture: cargo loading through the main cargo door and even through the rear passenger door! A mechanic is checking the inboard right engine and a GPU and air-starter (?) are connected to the aircraft.

The anonymous looking 5N-OCL still wears the colors of previous operator Heavy Lift with not much effort DONE to give it all a clean appearance. The operator of OCL is listed as "Overnight Cargo", a Nigerian airline of which I can't find much or any info. They operated this airframe from 1993 till 1994 mostly on cargo flights between Africa and Amsterdam and Ostend airport. In those days operating a single 707 or DC-8 for a dodgy freight operation seems to have been feasible. If I look at the cardboard boxes being loaded the cargo would probably have been green beans or live day old chicks. Many of these freight charters were handled at "Schiphol Oost", a place where nowadays you will find expensive private jets.

On 5N-OCL: it was delivered new to Northwest Airlines in 1967 till it was sold to British West Indian Airlines in 1975. In 1983 it ended up in the USA where it served as passenger and later cargo aircraft for several small and long defunct airlines. In 1987 Buffalo Airways (not the Canadian one!) acquired the aircraft and besides operating it for themselves it was leased to various airlines like also Overnight Cargo. After the Nigerian adventure came to an end in 1994 the aircraft was stored and probably scrapped.

- Peter B.

12/24/2023

One of the lesser know aircraft operated in British Airways colors was the DeHavilland Canada DHC-7. During the 1990s British regional airline Brymon Airways operated as a BA franchise and some/most of their aircraft were painted in full British Airways colors.

On the photo G-BRYD seen at Düsseldorf International Airport during the summer of 1994 or 1995. The cleaning team just leaves the aircraft and it is due to return to Jersey on a seasonal scheduled flight.

G-BRYD was delivered new to Brymon in 1987 and stayed with them till 2000. It was sold to Malaysian airline Berjaya Air and was eventually withdrawn from service and stored Subang Airport.

- Peter B.

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