Following up on Airport Jeeps of the 1960s, here are some more photos, from overseas airports.
People were still in awe of the twenty supersonic Concordes when they were retired in 2003, so the first flights must have been an incredible sight in 1969. Concorde was developed jointly by Britain and France, and that cooperation is echoed by two of the ground support vehicles in this photo of the prototype: a Land Rover (green) and a Hotchkiss Jeep (orange.)
The generator pulled by a Hotchkiss JH101 (see Jeeps in France) is disconnected here as Concorde prepares for takeoff.
The engineering marvel flew successfully for nearly three decades, although its huge development cost was never recouped. Its fate was perhaps sealed by a fiery crash in Paris caused by debris on the runway during a takeoff in 2000.
Jean-Louis Martin found two photos in the French newspaper Le Monde. In addition to the Jeep pulling the generator, this 1968 shot shows how Concorde's nose was designed to angle down during landing so the pilot could see the runway.
This dramatic view shows Concorde rolled out of its hangar in Toulouse for the first time, for brake tests in 1967. In addition to the Jeep with the generator, a second Jeep pulls another trailer.
These two photos are by Jean Dieuzaide, who in his youth dreamed of becoming an airplane pilot rather than a professional photographer. One of his aviation photo accomplishments was documenting all the stages of the Concorde project. Mr. Dieuzaide died in 2003 in Toulouse, his birthplace, at the age of 82.
Here's an expanded selection of Mel Lawrence's photos from Tokyo's Haneda International Airport. Mitsubishi Jeeps have long been common at airports in Japan, as the Willys vehicles once were in North America. This Japan Airlines Douglas DC-7C(F) was attended by two CJ-3Bs in February 1961. The yellow one is presumably a Mitsubishi, but the baggage loader looks like a Hoveyor built in South Bend, Indiana.
Another DC-7C(F), this one belonging to KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), was caught by Mel Lawrence in March 1961, with a red CJ-3B beside the red carpet.
Mel Lawrence recalls that this Aerolineas Argentinas Comet, arriving in December 1961 on the occasion of a visit by Argentinian President Arturo Frondizi, was the first trans-Pacific flight to Tokyo by the airline. Frondizi was one of several different presidents of Argentina during the tumultuous years following the exile of Juan Perón in 1955 (shortly after Peron signed an agreement leading to the construction of the Kaiser Jeep plant in Argentina, by the way.) A "Follow Me" Jeep leads the Comet in from the runway.
Mitsubishi's newsletter Jeep News in 1956 included a photo of a Mitsubishi station wagon with an Air India Super Constellation (200K JPEG).
Tokyo photos courtesy of Mel Lawrence and Airliners.net, the largest searchable online database of aviation photos. Thanks also to Jean-Louis Martin and to Makoto Hirakawa. -- Derek Redmond
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