smokie36

p.s.are the rumours that Manchester City council are considering selling the Etihad Stadium to you correct-or will you continue to be council house tennants for the foreseeable future

Don't know. But I doubt it. We have something like a 200 year lease deal which is extremely cheap. So I can't see the economics in buying the actual ground. However, we do own 80 acres surrounding it.

P.S. What exactly do United own? Don't forget, your home can be repossessed if you don't keep up your mortgage payments.

Where's Abrak? Capital gains mate!

I hope so. I need Wigan to pull off their usual houdinhi act so I can have my occasional venue for cheap EPL match viewing next year.

No, before you start, I'm not a disaffected Arsenal fan turned Wigan supporter Smokie! Mind you, I do look out to watch Wigan's games these days - they took a right pasting from a very impressive Suarez at the weekend but they tonked Reading at the Majdeski a week earlier and I went to watch them hammer Huddersfield in the FA Cup at the John Smith's stadium a week previous on a return visit to the UK.

I had decided to support Huddersfield that day (unfortunately), not because I'm a Yorkshireman, but anyone who names their stadium after a brewery is worthy of support.

You just there for the mushy peas Santi....we know!

On that performance Villa will go down imho....they look almost completely disorganised.

In fairness, they chased every ball and put us under pressure every time we got the ball and didn't give us any space. But yeah, apart from that they were disorganised and passing in hope that someone would be on the end of it.

Its not good enough in the Premiership.....down they go....!

On that performance Villa will go down imho....they look almost completely disorganised.

Damn....and I had a great 29 minute put down for the Arse.....

1930.

Villa are embarrassing.

Cool take by Tevez.....

Sergio injured in training, so he is out tonight!!

Excuses already Jack!

Still think we will win, but I like Aguero.They miss him when he doesnt play.

Absolutely. Wonder if Spurs would miss Bale!!

This is mod free time....go watch your game!

One also got the rough end when waiting for a cubicle in bkk airport toilets. Clearly stood avidly watching the doors like George Michael with an erection and a certain old gentleman of local origin barged in the 8" gap between me and said door. Simply not cricket old boy as the bleeder I was harbouring had had a whiff of fresh air and much fancied freedom sans drop zone.

With your superior attitude its not surprising you are being singled out.

There was a story to go with this one so here you go....

EasyJet and Ryanair may think they broke the mould to achieve cheap and cheerful air travel, but Derby Airways was jetting off locals to distant shores before they were a twinkle in the eye.

Stuart Haywood, of Castle Gresley, recalls a holiday to the often overlooked European town of Ostend.

IT was 1957 and my brother, Clive, and I were wondering where to go on our holidays.

We looked at our finances and considered several British resorts but came across a holiday for a week in Ostend, flying from Bumaston.

The trip was organised by Frames Tours, who used to have an agency in Burton. We knew of no contemporary who had been on a foreign holiday, stayed in a hotel, or flown, and all this for £27 each!

Ryanair eat your heart out and pay homage to the early generation of jetsetters. We booked and looked forward to what we considered, then, to be a holiday of a lifetime.

Now, of course, a jaunt over to Ostend would be seen as somewhat mundane, to say the least. On the morning of departure, we took a taxi to Bumaston, known officially as Derby Airport.

When we arrived, the place was buzzing with people and we thought that the plane would be full. After the announcement was made, instructing passengers for the Isle of Man to assemble at a certain location, there was only Clive, myself and two other women for the Ostend trip. We were ushered aboard our aircraft by a stewardess who asked us to sit at the back.

Was this to tip the nose of the plane up so that we could take off? Surely this was a slender margin between success and failure?

Go by air and add two days to your holiday was the advertising slogan of Derby Airways.

The aircraft for our journey was a Douglas Dakota, which was named Dovedale, I believe.

It had seen service during the war before being fitted out for civilian duty by Derby Aviation.

I recall sitting in a space about the same size as a motor coach but with small windows.

Derby Airport did not have metalled runways and so we hurtled across the grass field before taking off.

I was amazed at how smooth it seemed, once we were airborne, compared to the rattle and vibration on the runways. We then made our way to Elmdon Airport, Birmingham, to go through customs, as there were none at Derby.

We also picked up the rest of the passengers and so the plane was full after all.

It is interesting to think that, in 1957, we travellers were only allowed to take a maximum of £10 in sterling out of the country.

When we arrived at the hotel, we left our luggage unpacked and went out for a look round before dinner.

Clive told me that Bill Brewin, a near neighbour of ours, was staying in Ostend that week. We had only gone about two minutes down the road when we heard Bill’s distinctive laugh. All we could see of him was his feet as he was standing behind a postcard display and was obviously amused by one of them. Strangely, we didn’t see him again all week.

When we arrived for dinner, we sat down at the first table we came to.

There was some food on the table, I cannot remember what, but we ate it all. The waitress then told us we were sitting at the wrong table and would we move to the correct one. This we did and ate the meals on that table, too, so we had two helpings.

We were very surprised by the jukeboxes in Ostend. In Newhall, there was only one pub with a jukebox and this contained 30 old 78s.

When a selection was made, the arm picked up the record and dropped it with a crash onto the turntable from a great height.

In Belgium they had machines with hundreds of choices. At the Kursaal (casino), a very young Shirley Bassey was appearing. We went to see her but were refused admission because we were not wearing ties.

The following night, suitably be-tied, we arrived at about 9pm for the performance.

The only other people in at that time were four elderly ladies, who were sharing a bottle of champagne. It was in an ice bucket and every time one had a swig, a waiter leapt forward and refilled the glass.

We ordered beer but were told they did not serve beer there and so we had a measure of whisky. We only had one after learning the price. When we left, there were still no customers. I wondered what time the show started! It would be late by Swadlincote standards!

As we left the casino, a plaintive voice called out, “What about the doorman?”, implying he required a tip. This called for a pithy rejoinder.

Of course, stepping out on to foreign soil is always a learning experience, a time to soak up the unique differences between cultures.

And differences are never more readily seen than when it comes to the call of nature.

One problem that reared its ugly head in 1950s’ Ostend was the difficulty we had in locating public toilets when we first arrived. We were looking for signs which said “Ladies” and “Gents” – in Belgian, of course – but could not see any, though we did wonder why men and women were going through the same door in the various establishments in which we took a drink.

After a time, we discovered that the usual system was that the ladies’ facilities were behind the gentlemen’s, the ladies having to pass through the gents to gain access to their section.

One time, we found the gents in an underground in the centre of a road. We went down the steps and were confronted by a woman seated behind a small desk with a plate containing money in front of her. We ignored her and I was just relieving myself when I felt a tap on my shoulder from the woman complaining that we had not paid her. This was not the system I had been used to on the Swadlincote Delph!

During our stay, we visited Middleburg on the Walcheren Islands, in the Netherlands.

In a souvenir shop window, we saw a cigarette dispenser in the form of a house.

The roof was lifted and cigarettes placed inside. The roof was then replaced and, when the chimney was pressed down, a cigarette shot out of an aperture at the side.

Clive thought it would make a suitable present for Dad so we entered the shop and a young lady assistant asked if she could help us.

“Yes,” replied our kid. “I would like a fag ’ouse, please.”

This seemed to puzzle her and, after another try, she went to get the manager who was similarly puzzled at our request. We had to take him out of the shop and point out what we required.

On the evening of our departure, we were presented with a packed lunch from the hotel and told how much they had enjoyed our visit.

On our flight home, we were flying in sunny weather at 3,000ft and at 230 knots when we suddenly ran into gale force winds as we approached the English coast. We were tossed about like a cork on the ocean and nearly all the passengers were sick.

Clive and I were all right, if a little ashen-faced.

When we arrived at Elmdon, we were all lined up and asked if we had anything to declare. No-one had so two people were picked out at random to be questioned.

Surprise, surprise, it was Clive and me. We had nothing but we were searched and even our packed lunch was disassembled. I can only surmise that we must have looked like dodgy characters. I can’t think why!

# bygonederbyshire.co.uk/articles/Derby_Airways:_Early_jets...

# www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/bd.htm

1. History

The airline dates back to the formation of Derby Aviation Limited on the 16 February 1949.

Derby Aviation was a subsidiary of Air Schools Limited which had been formed in 1938 to train pilots for the RAF.

In 1949, the company formed both Derby Aviation based at Burnaston near Derby and Wolverhampton Aviation based at Pendeford, near Wolverhampton offering ad-hoc charter and freight flights with De Havilland Dragon Rapides, as well as aircraft maintenance and brokerage. [5]

Flying instruction ceased in 1953 with the start of scheduled flights from Derby and Wolverhampton to Jersey.

When the first Douglas DC-3 arrived in 1955, Wolverhampton Aviation had been phased out and the company's sole base became Burnaston Airport. International services commenced in 1956 to Ostend and holiday flights to mainland Europe began.

The company was also contracted by Rolls-Royce to transport aero engines to customers throughout the world. In 1959, the company changed its name to Derby Airways.

This looks like a C-47A Dakota to me from Derby airways

Date stamp around 1962 i reckon.

Also the design of the C 47 B undermines the purity of the original intent to develop the C 47 A, IMHO

Gawd....too easy by half!

Your turn Dancealot!

Sergio injured in training, so he is out tonight!!

Excuses already Jack!

Since the last one was too easy here is another one...

Usual, aircraft and airline please!

Big generally pays....tricky in this situation though!

I have no oney.

I cant spel.

Wish yoo all wel.

On the hooch tonight mrboj?

I chose SAS cos they have recently closed their Bangkok operation sadly.

Now my thinking cap is in overdrive....

Yup 1987...flying over Brussels.

Year might be tricky....will reveal the full pic when I get home from the pub....and find a harder one for you clever folks.

Oho you are a clever bunch....just the year then....

Extra point if you can name the year the photo was taken....only clue is I bet there was a smoking section on the plane!

Early days as you said yourself tigerfish....one at a time and a tough run in for all of us.

Confidence is high and AVB has the support of all at the Lane.

Maybe even Daniel in the summer....not holding my breath there though!

OK here's one for you....aircraft and airline please.