What is the oldest aircraft type you believe you have flown in?

07-08-2023 11:41pm #1

I was born in 1961, but because flying was almost exclusive for the well-to-do, my first experience in a commercial flight was in 1978, an Aer Lingus 737 to London, followed by a connection to Pula by JAT Yugoslav Air (or whatever it was called precisely) 727.

The very oldest aircraft I have travelled in, simply for a joyride, was a DeHavilland Rapide at Caernarfon Airport in the 1980s.

The above is an old photo I took at the time at Caernarfon

cson · 08-08-2023 3:20am

Millennial checking in:

Commercial: FR BAC 111

Private: Cessna 172

JohnC. · 08-08-2023 5:36am

Oldest plane must have been my first flight in the mid 90s on a 727. Liked those tail stairs.

08-08-2023 6:08am

Antonov An-2P from 1972

alentejo · 08-08-2023 7:24am

1-11 aer lingus. Trident British Airways ca 1972.

Flew in the 1-11 in 1990s too.

Timfy · 08-08-2023 7:59am

Vickers Viscount to Guernsey in 1976 or thereabouts. I was only a kiddy and I don't remember the UK airport we flew from. I do remember being fascinated by the spherical ice cubes! I was told that they used these to negate the artificial horizon effect of square cubes to keep air sickness to a minimum.

(Random photo from t'internet)

z80CPU · 08-08-2023 8:38am

Delta Boeing 727 January 1997.

Very hard deceleration after landing!

The 727 is also the most comfortable plane i've flown in.

BeardySi · 08-08-2023 8:39am

Stearman PT-17

EchoIndia · 08-08-2023 9:01am

Dragon Rapide and a few different DC-3s, all on short pleasure flights. Commercially I've flown on three different Viscounts in the 1980s/'90s.

Storm 10 · 08-08-2023 9:08am

BAC 111 to Majorca on my honeymoon

rock22 · 08-08-2023 9:14am

Vickers Viscount (Aer lingus, BEA), Fokker Friendship(Aer Lingus) and Handley Page Herald ( BUIA)

Flinty997 · 08-08-2023 9:18am

I'm told as as a babe, DC3 and a Viscount.

As an adult no idea. DC10 older 747 or 737. Remember those earphones with tubes no wires.

Noxegon · 08-08-2023 10:24am

Of my top three commercial flights, the oldest was actually in Ireland – Amapola Flyg HP332 CFN-DUB – Fokker 50, aged 34.4 years.

After that, it'd be Danish Air Transport DX36 CPH-RNN – AT43, aged 32.8 years.

Close behind that is Air Koryo JS152 PEK-FNJ – IL62M, aged 32.4 years.

MoodeRator · 08-08-2023 11:03am

My first flight was 1970 in this SRN4

Hoverlloyd_hovercraft_on_an_English_Channel_beach,_1973.jpg

donkey balls · 08-08-2023 12:35pm

Be going back a bit flew on a F27 Channel air express operated it that was the 90s After that HS 748 and C 130 that's well over 20 years ago.

Before that would have been the late 70s early 80s bucket& spade flights to Spain &Tunisia. Also an EI 747 in the 80s flew down to SNN and got the train back up.

The MD11 30F I flew on was an ex AA as the first class seats forward of the G NET were still in place with the AA logo on the seat.

Economics101 · 08-08-2023 12:38pm

Vickers Viscount (EI to LHR); mid to late 50s.

Strumms · 08-08-2023 1:09pm

727-200

737-200

747-100

DC8-71

Shorts 330 or 360 I can’t recall which. Was DUB-IOM in the early ’80’s possibly ‘82/‘83….

08-08-2023 2:37pm

In 1979 I flew Moscow Vnukovo to Simferopol on board the second ever produced passenger jet, the Tupolev 104A, huge leg room, curtains on the windows, slowed by a parachute dragging on landing. I was on one of the last ever flights as it was withdrawn due to an accident too many. Scary beast.

10-10-20 · 08-08-2023 2:45pm

Oldest and oddest: 1970's MI-8 helicopter in Cuba.

The flight engineer became the hostess when we were over Santiago de Cuba.

ejmaztec · 08-08-2023 2:51pm

Mid to late 1960s.

De Havilland Chipmunk

Vickers Varsity

Slingsby Kirby Cadet glider

Beagle Auster

BEA BAC 111

The prop planes and the glider were feckin ancient. 😁

08-08-2023 3:33pm

I did these drawings as a young child following a visit or two to Dublin Airport. Guess the airplane models, I think the two airlines are obvious.

odyssey06 · 08-08-2023 3:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120952297#Comment_120952297

I think mine was a Shorts 330 Dublin to Liverpool in the 1980s.

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2023/0316/1363656-aer-lingus-shorts-330/

08-08-2023 4:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120953182#Comment_120953182

The flying box. I was on an EI 330 or was it a 360 going into Bristol, massive icicles hanging off wings, sighed with relief when we landed. Some years later an EI 360 crashed into a field in England following such an icing event, thankfully only injury was somebody breaking her ankle exiting. These aircraft at least had tin-parachute stall characteristic.

EchoIndia · 08-08-2023 5:01pm

Most of the aircraft being listed here weren't especially old at the time. For anyone who really wants to trump others, you can still fly on a 1928 Ford Trimotor in the US. It was giving rides at Oshkosh recently at only $85 for an adult.

08-08-2023 6:05pm

I got to fly in two aircraft types shortly before their retirement from civil aviation. A Manx Vickers Viscount, and a BA Trident. The Viscount was incredibly quiet in the inside and landing were soft and imperceptible, no wonder it was lived by pax. I got the Trident Edinburgh to Heathrow, a real spitfire of a plane, ferociously noisy, a powerful climber and a massive whack at landing that caused my mother to believe we had come to grief, she was waiting for the evacuation to commence. You got a seat allocation at the airport desk and paid the fare as the “conductor” walked the aisle to collect. This was an hourly shuttle service and I don’t think pre-booking was a thing, you just turned up at the airport and waited for next space. Maybe you could pre-book but it didn’t seem to be a fine thing going by what I saw.

L1011 · 08-08-2023 6:07pm

BN2 Islander would be the oldest airframe, but a DC9 beats that by months in design/first flight.

EchoIndia · 08-08-2023 6:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120953681#Comment_120953681

And famously they would put on the standby Trident if one additional passenger turned up - or at least that's what was advertised! Good discussion here: https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/519512-british-airways-shuttle-dates.html?highlight=british+airways+trident+shuttle

cobham · 08-08-2023 7:00pm

Dakota 1959 Dublin to Cherbourg. My mother's first flight and we were consoled that plane would 'glide' if the engines failed. Does that name sound right?

L1011 · 08-08-2023 7:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120953872#Comment_120953872

That would be a Douglas DC3, probably passenger converted from a military C47 version, Aer Lingus had them until 1963 and some other operators continued in the 60s.

08-08-2023 7:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120953687#Comment_120953687

I flew on Joey. The noisy Trislander was fabulous in a good strong wind, approached Alderney’s short grass runway, heading for a hedge, I would t have been happy landing my little old hired Rallye 100 with so little space to hedge; with nose very high the Trislander touched down imperceptibly and was stopped in metres well before said hedge. Returning to Southampton, a seat belt buckle had got trapped when Joey’s doors were closed, causing an awful loud hammering during flight. Pilot couldn’t hear it with his headphones.

Joey is now hanging from a roof in a children’s play barn in Guernsey, where I sneaked in to take a picture.

pauly58 · 08-08-2023 7:52pm

A de Havilland DH114 Heron from Southampton to Alderney about 1963, only young but I remember hitting bad air pockets over the Needles & being violently sick on the grass runway in Alderney.

What is the oldest aircraft type you believe you have flown in?

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