Birmingham: Airport Nostalgia

[Ash]

Hi Ash, good to hear from you again and happy New year!

Thanks, looks like I wasn't forgotten!. Happy new year to you too!

Actually I think they were taken earlier than that, possibly around '84 or '85 but I don't know for sure. I know the Tunis Air was a charter (my parents were on it) hence the relative obsession with it in all the photos.

EDIT: I see you moved them to the nostalgia gallery. I was torn between BHX or nostalgia as to which to upload to!

 

[Aviador]

No not forgotten, but mist.

The BHX forum is still building up and it just needs a few more posts each day to reach critical mass so every post is gratefully received.

I think you might be right with the late 80's, I would say maybe 1988/9, it was a particularly busy period for Yugotours.

 

[Ash]

I'll start posting a bit more then, every little helps.
Also I've never seen the ground so scorched in my life! Was the weather better in the 80's or something? 😆

 

[Aviador]

Global warming is old hat now. These days they call it climate change and back in the 80's we were heading for an ice age if I remember rightly so it can't have been that. 😀

It was probably taken late summer early autumn. I think some pictures I've taken in early autumn look similar.

 

[Ash]

But was it NIMBY free? People complain about the noise now, but look at all those JT8D's back then!
Sans hush kit! :shok:

 

[Aviador]

No there were definitely still NIMBYs back then too but back then but I think many UK airports didn't operate throughout the night. I'm sure BHX wasn't 24H during the 80's perhaps somebody can clarify that? Back then there will have been far fewer based aircraft so it wouldn't have been so busy.

 

[Ash]

One other thing I wanted to mention, what was the reason for the abundance of JAT/ Aviogenex? It seems pics can be found of them at pretty much every regional UK airport. Was Yugoslavia really such a popular destination given the political situation, Iron curtain and all that jazz?

 

[Aviador]

The former Yugoslavia was nearly as popular with the Brits as Spain was. Yugotours, the main tour operator to the region operated from most regional airports.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Hi mate good to see you're still around.

At a guess I'd say the pictures are somewhere between 1985 and 1987, possibly 1988. The new terminal opened early 84 so it could have been that summer (the buildings do look very clean 🙂 ) and it's pre Eurohub which would have started construction sometime in the late 80's.

Great pictures :good: Brings back many happy memories looking at them.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Great pictures, Ash.

Aviador has pointed out the popularity of Yugoslavia (or Jugoslavia which was often the spelling when I was at school in the 1950s) due in no small part to the relative cheapness of the holidays.

Of course Yugoslavia then included the likes of Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia which presented an incredible variation of landscapes and holiday venues: as well as the hugely popular beach holidays there were lakes and mountains holidays in Slovenia to rival Austria; others enjoyed visiting the ancient cities and other historical sites.

Everything came to a juddering halt in the 1990s with the conflicts although in recent years some of the countries that made up Yugoslavia are becoming extremely popular again for UK and other European holidaymakers.

Back to you pics, Ash, which bring back memories of up to 30 years ago with Inex-Adria, JAT and Aviogenex, all or some of which visited every UK regional or local airport worthy of the name in those days.

To digress, I enjoyed seeing the Spanish airline Aviaco DC9 in one of the pics. This was another airline that appeared widely around the UK regionals in the 1980s often for the International Leisure Group (ILG) whose main tour company was Intasun at airports where ILG's own airline, Air Europe, did not operate.

ILG and Air Europe went bust in March 1991. I remember it well. I was on holiday in Spain with another carrier and tour operator when the immediate closure announcement was made.

 

[Ash]

That terminal really didn't last long did it. BHX must have vastly exceed growth expectations made at the time it was designed.
Anyway thanks all for interesting insight for someone who's idea of nostalgia is JMC and Brittania. 😆

(Showing my age) NOT

 

[premier01]

First post!

I stayed at Birmingham International Airport in 1987 and I am trying to think of the ne of,the hotel-can anyone remember the hotel?

I am thinking it may have been the Moat House but not sure. There are a few hotels there bow but guessing there was only 1 at the time.

Any suggestions appreciated

Thanks,

Premier01

 

[Ray Finkle]

Hi premier01 and welcome.

Not sure I'm going to be much help as I was 12 in '87. The only hotel I imagine may have been there at the time would what is now the Holiday Inn on the A45, no idea what it was called at the time, or possibly one of the N.E.C. hotels may have been opened by then, maybe the Metropole. There used to be a hotel in Solihull centre called the Moat House it's now changed to Holiday Inn.

Sorry I can't be more of a help but I'll mention it about and see if anyone remembers.

 

[CL44]

The Airport hotel (on the Elmdon side) was the Excelsior (which at that stage was a Trust House Forte hotel). The bar in this hotel was the Buccaneer with various photos etc of military and civil aircraft. The bar was most popular with the forwarding agents at the time (possibly because of the two full size snooker tables in the back!

I had my wedding reception in there back in '92 (what a party that was). Hope this helps.

 

[kebabselector]

I've dug up some of my old plane spotting pictures from BHX back in the 80's

It comes from a very manual film camera so please excuse some of the bad camera work!

The images are scanned photos so probably explains some of the odd colour casts.

 

[premier01]

Thanks for the replies! So it was likely to be the Forte hotel working on the basis I stayed on the airport site and not some distance away-I was 4 at the time!

Are there any pics of the hotel and what is the hotel site now-is it still a hotel?

 

[Aviador]

Great pictures kebabselector! Welcome to Forums4airports.

 

[CL44]

The Excelsior is now the Holiday Inn. They have totally re-vamped the place and extended by about a third from what it was originally.

The Buccaneer bar has gone though. I do not know what has happened to the pictures etc that used to be on display. There are a few of them that I would not have minded having on the wall (either at home or in the office).

 

[kebabselector]

Another one from the past.....
[album]1844[/album]

 

[CL44]

I remember when she came over. I was in school in Handsworth at the time and we were all allowed out into the playground to see this pair fly over. For someone who had an interest in aviation (even at that early age) it was an exciting time. I remember rushing home from school on the day of the first flight to see it on television. I just made it in time to see the lift-off. I also remember the Challenger accident. I was in London on a course for work and heard the news on the television just as I was getting out for breakfast. Lots of memories about this particular part of aviation history. Never did manage to see a launch live (apart from on television). It must have been a fantastic experience being there at the Cape to see the shuttle lift-off.