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Manchester

Photo of The Day 30th June 2025.

mancavgeek

• 2 min read
Side view of a single-engined, twin cockpit, grey bi-plane trainer aircraft parked on grass facing to the right.

N6466/G-ANKZ, De Haviland DH82 Tiger Moth, in Royal Air Force colours, at Manchester Barton, some time in the 1990s.

Manchester Monday 30th June 2025.

Side view of a twin engined jet airliner flying from right to left at a very low altitude, with flaps extended from the rear of the wings, undercarriage already retracted, and nose raised sharply, suggesting it has just taken off. The plane is mostly white, with a a grey belly, and a thin red and blue stripe running along the body, getting wider as it moves rearwards, until it sweeps up to fill the tail. There are blue "Dan Air" titles on the upper forward fuselage, and a white circle containing a blue 4-pointed star with a red and white striped flag on the tail. The engines mounted on the sides of the rear fuselage are in a bare metal scheme, and appear to have had rear extensions fitted with hush-kits to keep the noise from these venerable engines as low as possible. Pale blue sky fills the rest of the frame.

G-****, British Aircraft Corporation 1-11, Dan-Air, powering out of Runway 06 at Manchester Airport, 1992.

Manchester Monday 2 30th June 2025.

Side view of a 3 engined jet airliner taxiing from right to left. The plane is mostly white, with a silver belly. There are orange and blue "Peach Air" titles on the upper forward fuselage, next to an image of an orange coloured fruit, this logo also appearing in a larger form on the tail. Grey concrete apron fills most of the frame, with red, white, and brown cargo sheds stretching across the image in the background.

TF-ABE, Lockhead L-1011-1 TriStar, Peach Air, taxiing the last few metres to it's gate on Pier C at Manchester Airport, some time in the late 1990s.

These were leased from Air Atlanta, an Icelandic airline, and there was some speculation that the name might be an attempt to convince passengers that this was an American airline, possibly based in the biggest city in the State of Georgia (peaches being the un-official fruit of the State).

But no, it's an anagram, which shall be left for the reader to puzzle out…

Incidentally, Air Atlanta (AKA Atlanta Icelandic) bought old TriStars from a variety of airlines who were modernising their fleets, and flew them in the basic colours of their previous owners, and again, there was speculation they were trying to persuade people that these were flights operated by Hawaiian, Cathay Pacific, TWA, and others.

In reality, they were too cheap to bother with new paint jobs if they could possibly get away with it.

They also, apparently, had a cavalier attitude to in-flight safety, legend has it they carried out a 1-engined ferry flight to have one TriStar de-commissioned…

Manchester Monday 3 30th June 2025.

Side view of a twin engined jet airliner facing to the left but being pushed back to the right by a low-slung, grey and dark blue tag attached to the nose-wheel by a long yellow pole. The plane is mostly white, with gold "Gulf Air" titles on the upper forward fuselage, in English at the front, and in an Arabic script over the wing. There are black, green, and red stripes wrapped around the nose, as well as covering the top of the tail. A large golden image of a stooping falcon fills most of the tail, with "Golden Falcon" text, also in gold, at the base of the tail. A smaller golden falcon is at the front of the white engine pods. Grey concrete apron fills most of the frame, with a white and grey terminal building stretching into the distance, with a handful of jet airliners parked facing it. Some more airliners are parked in the distance, including by the red, black, and white cargo sheds in the distance. Bright but hazy sky fills the rest of the frame.

A4O-GO, Boeing 767-3P6ER, Gulf Air, being pushed back from Gate 22 at Manchester Airport, some time in the early 1990's, as seen from the top of the terminal 1 car park.

Manchester Monday 4 30th June 2025.

Side view of a 3 engined BizJet moving from left to right. The plane is mostly white, with 3 thin blue stripes running along the lower body, and another 3 stripes running along the bottom of the centre engine air intake and tail. The blue registration "VR-CAE" is on the side of the engine pods mounted on the sides of the rear fuselage. Green grass fills the foreground, with more grass and taxiways in the background leading up to trees in the distance.

VR-CAE, Dassault Falcon 50, on the roll-out after landing on Runway 24 at Manchester Airport, 30th June 1996, as seen from the top of the T1B (later T3) car park.