The Airchive-London Gatwick Planespotting

	Virgin 747-100 cockpit (6 images) The steam driven cockpit of the Virgins 747 Classic “The Spirit of Sir Freddie”. We were just entering initial descent into MIA as the Pilot Flying demonstrates while resetting the altimeter. I visited the flight deck in January 1997 on a flight from Gatwick to Miami. Ahhhh, the good old days.

	LGW takeoff As our BA BAE 146-200 took off for Amsterdam in January 2003, I caught this grainy shot of Gatwick’s North Terminal and the distance ramp parking. The North Terminal was completed in 1988 as traffic at the world’s busiest single runaway airport overwhelmed the original terminal.
	LGW Main Terminal Aerial The aerial shot of Gatwick’s South terminal reveals an overhead shot of the observation deck in the top left hand side of the center where an old Handley Page Herald airframe and a Comet fuselage sit on top. Also to the left side of the screen is the train to the North Terminal.
	LGW Ramp The LGW South Concourse, Rotunda, and in the distance the North Terminal are seen here.
	LGW North Ramp Owing to its lack of gates and high traffic volumes, some passengers are bussed to distant ramps such as this. A full compliment of regional, mainline, and charter airliners are featured here.
	South Terminal Ticketing All airlines, with the exception of British Airways operate from the original South Terminal at Gatwick.
	Virgin South Terminal Ticketing Virgin serves such leisure destinations as Orlando, Las Vegas, Barbados, St Lucia, Grenada, Tobago, San Juan and will soon fly to the Bahamas and Cuba from Gatwick.
	North Terminal British Airways dominates the modern North Terminal, which opened in 1988. BA operates a sizeable regional operation from Gatwick, along with some long haul operations to the Middle East, Africa, and North America.

	North Terminal Ramp British Airways dominates the modern North Terminal, which opened in 1988. BA operates a sizeable regional operation from Gatwick, along with some long haul operations to the Middle East, Africa, and North America.
	British Airways Boeing 737 and Smart Car
	British Airways 737s Owing to high traffic and gate shortages, some passengers are bussed to their flights on the ramp. BA has begun replacing many of the 737s of its regional operation with A320s.
	Rotunda Terminal Rotunda terminals are a rare sight in the UK. Parked at the gate is a a TransAero (Russia) 737, Virgin 747-400, and a vintage Northwest DC-10 Series 30. This DC-10 was bound for Detroit. Northwest is replacing its elderly DC-10 fleet with Airbus A330s.
	American Airlines Boeing 777-200 American operates extensive flights to both Heathrow and Gatwick. While Heathrow is used for gateways such as New York, Washington DC, Boston, LA, and Miami, flights to cities such as Raleigh, Miami, and Dallas Ft Worth are operated via Gatwick.
	US Airways A330-200 Former BA partner, US Airways operates a mixed fleet of Airbus A330s and 767s to Philadelphia, Charlotte, and Pittsburgh. This A330s jet blast swirls from the engines at startup.
	Airbus A320 "white tail" This anonymous A320 taxis out for destinations unknown in February 2004.
	Excel Airways Boeing 737-400 This Excel Airways 737-400 taxis away to warmer climes in January 2003.
	TransAero TransAero serves Moscow Domodedovo Airport from Gatwick. TransAero is Russia's 2nd largest airline. Following economic difficulties in the late 1990s, its service have contracted.
	Virgin Boeing 747-400 This Virgin 747-400 departs for Orlando in front of "Fortress BA", the North Terminal.
	LGW Control Tower and Easy Jet Boeing 737-300
	The Gatwick Comet ( 2 images) This former Dan-Air Comet 4, G-APDM, was originally delivered to BOAC in 1959. It has been used as a catering trainer since the mid 70s. The wings were cut off just beyond the Ghost engine pods to preserve ramp space.
	Trident, HS Page, and Comet The well known Comet (sans wingtips), Trident III, and Handley Page Herald have been relocated to the fringe of Gatwick. The example at Gatwick was G-CEXP, a Herald 209 last operated by Channel Express Air Services. Following its last flight it was placed on the Skyview Visitor's Centre at Gatwick in March 1996 where it remained until late 2003 (see top image).
	BA-146-200 (4 images) This British Aerospace Bae 146-200 is operated by mainline British Airways on regional European flights including my flight to Amsterdam in 2003. The 146 is an extremely powerful, albeit thirsty, aircraft and is being replaced by the CRJ-200.

	Gatwick Ramp and Contol Tower One of British Airways’ Boeing 737-300 in the current livery, passes a quartet of charter airliners belonging to Monarch, Excel, and Air 2000. In the background is one of the Gatwick based Virgin 747-400s.
	BA 737-500 A British Airways 737-500 rests between flights. BA has chosen the Airbus A-320 as a successor to the Boeing 737 and 757 fleet.
	Comet Nose Section The nose section of a Comet in delivery BOAC colors is on view on the South Terminal Observation Deck. The Observation Deck once featured a fine air enthusiasts shop and a Handley Page Herald.

	European 747 and A320 A European 747-200 and a BA Boeing 737-400 share the ramp at Gatwick. European is a major dry and wet leaser of aircraft.
	Virgin Tinker Bell The nose section of Virgin’s long haul 747-400, “Tinker Bell”. The plane is now in service with Russian carrier Transaero.
	Virgin 747-100 Virgin’s 747-100 “Spirit of Sir Freddie” was named in honor of Sir Freddie Laker, the feisty founder on the now defunct Laker Airways Skytrain. Richard Branson felt the competitive pressures exerted on him by BA were the same forces that drove Laker out of business. I flew “Sir Freddie” to Miami in January 1997. I believe “Sir Freddie” was an ex-TWA airframe.Miami is now served from Heathrow.
	British Airways Business Class Lunch This excellent meal service is typical of BAs short haul business services, a reminder of the way it used to be in the U.S.