Airport security in the 70s... a different world

Here's a nice shot of airport security at Sydney in around 1975. You can see the openly accessible Ansett supply division to the left and all that separates me - a callow youth of 17 armed with a 35mm camera - from that Ansett L188 Electra is an unimposing wooden fence. Indeed that is barely a fence at all, rather it's an indicator of where the airside access road is, so watch out for baggage trucks! If I took off at a run I'd certainly get to the Electra, if not to the old control tower/fire station visible in the shot, before being spotted and rounded up. To the right, out of shot, is the Ansett passenger terminal, long gone now (like the Electra and Ansett itself). When you think about it , there's not much between me and that tower, let alone the taxying 727 in the distance. Of course it's an active airfield with a main runway between me and the 727, so I'd get squished or blow-dried by a passing 747 , but it does illustrate a lovely, relaxed feel about society in the 1970s (and earlier). It's something sorely missing these days.

East-West Airlines F27 VH-EWJ at Sydney, 1976 (runway 25)

An ANZ DC-10 at Sydney, 1977: ZK-NZG

SydneyAirport, 1975... an Adastra Electra potters past me

Well I like these dusty, moody shots from 1975, anyway...

One more for today... Vickers Viscount at Sydney

More pics... this time it's a Vickers Viscount at Sydney, circa 1975...



As always, more here.

A is still for Air India 707s at Sydney

More AI 707s at Sydney, on runway 34 this time...







More here, too.

It's lift-off for Ansett 727 RMV

Ansett 727 Romeo Mike Victor lifts off from rwy 16 at Sydney... circa 1973.

Air India Boeings at Sydney

Again - still dealing with the letter A - we have many Air India shots, also at Sydney. Both 707s and 747s, individual and in sequence (as in taxying, more taxying, taking off and disappearing...). Samples include this 747 disappearing behind a house (actually my house at the time!) on approach to Sydney's runway 16 and a 707 taking off in a cloud of smoke from the same runway.

Back to the 70s - a TAA DC9 at Sydney

Here's a shot a TAA DC9 lining up for Runway 25 at Sydney, sometime in 1974...I'm hanging off that rusty fence near the Adastra hangar, or maybe sitting on a shipping container...

Fancy some black and white shots?

I'm thinking CPAir DC-8 Super 63, the really long fuselage gives it away; an Air NSW Viewmaster DC3 (the big square window conversion) and an AirNiugini 707 flying through some bad weather coming into Sydney in the 70s. The Aircraft gallery is here.