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Manchester

Photo of the Day 19th March 2025.

mancavgeek

• 1 min read
Side view of a white, twin engined jet airliner flying from right to left at a very low altitude

F-GUGF, Airbus A318-111, Air France, powering out of Runway 23 Right at Manchester Airport, 15th March 2017.

On This Day 19th March 1993.

Side view of a white, twin engined jet airliner taxiing from right to left. The plane has a grey belly, and a thin red and blue stripe running along the body, getting wider as it moves rearwards, then sweeping up to fill the tail. The engines, mounted on the sides of the rear fuselage, are in a bare metal state. The registration "G-OBWD" is visible on the upper rear fuselage. Grey concrete taxiways fill almost all the frame, apart from a red and white banded metal barrier stretching across the top of the frame.

G-OBWD, British Aircraft Corporation 1-11-518FG, British World Airlines, in basic Dan-Air colours, but with small, black "British Air Ferries" titles on the upper forward fuselage, and large white "BAF" titles on the tail.

British Air Ferries was in the middle of a massive fleet modernisation project, and took the opportunity to re-brand itself as British World Airlines at the same time - some planes were rushed in to service in their previous operators colours (mostly Dan-Air, after they were taken over by British Airways and almost their entire fleet was retired) with "British Air Ferries" titles, while others underwent a full re-paint into BWA livery.

The registration on the upper rear fuselage, "G-OBWD", reflects this new brand identity - literally "GO BW" and a suffix letter indicating it's position within the fleet.

 The red and white metal barrier in the background is visible on a lot of photos from Gatwick's viewing deck - this was to demarcate the taxiway leading to the terminal (this side of the barrier) from the taxiway leading to the runway, which is just the other side.

On This Day 19th March 1994.

Slightly soft focus photo of a 3 engined jet airliner taxiing from right to left. The plane's engines are mounted on the sides and top of the rear fuselage. There is a red stripe running along the body, and another stripe running along the top of the centre engine and tail, overlaid with a gold "GM" logo. Green grass either side of a runway fills the foreground, with a large grey terminal building with yellow airbridges connected to very large dark blue and grey jet airliners stretches across the background, with bright but hazy sky visible right at the top.

N359PA, Boeing 727-230, GM Airlines, about to cross Runway 27 left on it's way to 23 Right at London Heathrow, 19th March 1994.