| Title | Leeds & Bradford Airport |
| Date | 1984 |
| Location | Yeadon |
| Photo ID | D828 |
| Comment | 4th November 1984: British Airways 747 lands on the newly opened runway, vehicles entering the underpass which was constructed to accommodate the runway extension. Donated by Alan Pickles. |
J058 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1984.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1984
4th November 1984 – The aircraft on the tarmac is a Wardair 747, this was the 1st commercial flight from Leeds Bradford Airport to Canada.
Donated by Howard German.
N213 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1984.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1984
A British Airways 747 aircraft on the newly opened runway which spans Harrogate Road.
J344 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1984.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1984
This aircraft, British Airways Boeing 747-100 G-AWND was chartered by the Yorkshire Post newspaper to mark the opening of the new extended runway and named “Spirit of Yorkshire”.
A local man Mike Webster was the Captain. The plane was used during the 1990 Iraq War in Kuwait where it was sadly blown up.
S216 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1984.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1984
November 4th 1984: This aircraft was one of 2 Jumbo Jets which flew in to mark the opening of the new runway extension at LBA, it was chartered by the Yorkshire Post, BA Boeing 747 100-G AWND “Spirit of Yorkshire”.
It was Captained by local man Mike Webster, a group of British Airways staff are seen with the aircraft.
Donated by Howard German.
U275 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1984.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1984
4th November 1984: British Airways “Spirit of Yorkshire”, a Boeing 747- 100 G- AWND was chartered by the Yorkshire Post newspaper and flew in to mark the opening of the new runway. The aircraft was blown up in Kuwait in 1990 by Iraqi forces during the Gulf War.
Donated by Andrew Emsley.
X373 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1984.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1984
April 1984: Aircraft and the control tower, towards the right in the distance is a radio mast and water tower, these are located in Cookridge.
Photographer Dennis Court.
I759 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1985.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1985
A Lockheed Tristar aircraft which overshot the runway when coming in to land after a sudden downpour of rain. Passengers were evacuated via slide chutes.
FB186 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1986.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1986
The first Air France Concorde flight into Leeds Bradford Airport, it was estimated that 60,000 people were in Yeadon and the immediate area to see the historic event.
Donated by Phil Walker.
FB187 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1986.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1986
Air France Concorde on it’s first flight to Leeds Bradford Airport.
Donated by Phil Walker.
FB188 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1986.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1986
The arrival of the Air France Concorde into Leeds Bradford Airport found Yeadon thronged with an estimated 60,000 people.
Subsequent Concorde flights into the airport always brought a crowd of enthusiastic plane-spotters to admire the aircraft.
Donated by Phil Walker.
FB238 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1986.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1986
The first flight in of Air France Concorde Reg F-BTSD.
It is estimated that as many as 60,000 people gathered to watch this historic aircraft fly in for the first time.
Brown’s farm alongside the runway opened fields for car parking and viewing areas.
This photo was taken from the wall of the cemetery (Cemetery Road) as the aircraft was turning.
In the background are the refurbished AVRO sheds.
Donated by Andy Bodkin.
U284 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1986.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1986
1st August 1986: Huge excitement as Leeds Bradford Airport prepares to welcome the 1st Air France Concorde to fly in.
Thousands of people thronged the area around the airport, farmers opened fields to provide car parking, every vantage point was full of delighted spectators.
Donated by Andrew Emsley.
U285 – Leeds & Bradford Airport, 1986.
Leeds & Bradford Airport – 1986
The plane taking off from the airport.
Previous Comments:
Comments from facebook:
Re J058, N213 & J344
Lindsay Cockshott – We lived in Menston at the time and I remember standing in the garden watching them fly over our house, think it was Tuesday or Thursday and they seemed so slow as they flew over but wonderfully loud and beautiful to watch. x
Samantha Skinner – I flew to Toronto on that Wardair flight. The days when air flight was a pleasurable experience and not the heightened security stress it has become.
George Wade – Can you really blame the security procedures?
Michael Hutchings – I remember the days of the Wardair flights. 747s were a relatively regular sight at LBA in the late 1980s.
Andy Bodkin – That must have been a one off day. 2 jumbos on the apron at Leeds Bradford 2 at the same time.
Mark Kerins – I was there that that day, this photo used to hang on the wall of the old bar viewing area in the terminal before they modernised it by putting a passenger walkway in front of the window and stopped the viewing area for good!!
Nadine Houghton – I thought the runway was too short for a 747!?
James Renton – That’s when it was a proper airport!!!!
Adrian Harper – The Wardair plane always used to take off at about 1.15pm on Mondays – just as I was walking back to work after dinner.
Paul Buckley – Nadine, not too short for a 747 per se (or indeed any other aircraft); if the aircraft was going long haul, the runway has to be long enough for aircraft to begin takeoff run but be able to do emergency stop, still remaining on runway. So with lower fuel load i.e. shorter routes then runway length is okay.
Jan Loreal Wilkinson – If it was the first one, I had a nosey round that plane. The cockpit was like whoa.
Paul Southern
Yes… it was November 4, 1984. My dad bought tickets for me and my pal… I was 16 years old and it was the first time I’d ever flown… and on my favourite aeroplane too… over my home town of Huddersfield! We flew up the east side of UK I think, then banked left over Scotland to fly down west side of England back to LBA… truly magical experience! And, I remember thinking just how tiny that flight deck was on such a huge machine! On the following Monday evening… Yorkshire Television broadcast footage of the 1st 747 landing at LBA to the Dire Straits soundtrack… Telegraph Road. This was the moment in my life I became a Mark Knopfler fan, and I have been ever since… learning the guitar and now playing so many of those songs live to people in my local brasserie. I would soooo love to have that original YTV footage of 4/11/84… if anyone can help? paul@spoton.co.uk 😊
24 February 2020.
Paul Southern
Wardair 818 inbound, and Wardair 819 for the short hop down to Birmingham before its return to Toronto. As a kid, I used to listen in from Huddersfield on my air-band radio. Friday night was QF9 out of Manchester to Sydney… good old days! 👍
24 February 2020.
