The Goodyear Balloon

[Baldman]

When I was a kid I would always see the Goodyear Balloon above my house (in Surrey).

I mean, not always. But a few times every summer. We used to shout ‘it’s the Goodyear Balloon’ and run outside to look at it (this was before the internet).

Also I swear there used to be a chinook helicopter in British airways livery that flew over my house. At least once a day? We used to call it ‘the shuttle.’

Anyone else remember this type of thing? Did I dream it?

[Meerkat]

When I was a kid I would always see the Goodyear Balloon above my house (in Surrey). 

I mean, not always. But a few times every summer.  We used to shout ‘it’s the Goodyear Balloon’  and run outside to look at it (this was before the internet). 

Also I swear there used to be a chinook helicopter in British airways livery that flew over my house.  At least once a day?  We used to call it ‘the shuttle.’ 

Anyone else remember this type of thing?  Did I dream it?

The Goodyear blimp used to be based at Fairoaks airfield near Woking when it was around.
The Chinook might have been the Heathrow-Gatwick shuttle that ran for a while.

[Greek Card]

When I was a kid I would always see the Goodyear Balloon above my house (in Surrey).

I mean, not always. But a few times every summer. We used to shout ‘it’s the Goodyear Balloon’ and run outside to look at it (this was before the internet).

Also I swear there used to be a chinook helicopter in British airways livery that flew over my house. At least once a day? We used to call it ‘the shuttle.’

Anyone else remember this type of thing? Did I dream it?

The former was well known enough locally for fat kids at school to be christened Goodyear.

[Squarevanmanmark2]

Quick google search as I remember BA helicopters. Ran till 1986. Also used to see the goodyear blimp over my way. The one that I used to look out for around 6 ish on weekdays was Concord. Loved to see her flying over London.

[Baldman]

Quick google search as I remember BA helicopters. Ran till 1986. Also used to see the goodyear blimp over my way. The one that I used to look out for around 6 ish on weekdays was Concord. Loved to see her flying over London.

Yeah. Concorde was also around 10am I think. The skies were full of wonder back then. Now it’s just efficient wide bodies and chemtrails.

Where did you grow up Squarevan?

[Baldman]

The Goodyear blimp used to be based at Fairoaks airfield near Woking when it was around.
The Chinook might have been the Heathrow-Gatwick shuttle that ran for a while.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airlink_...e_service)

Look at that! It was basically a Sea King. Imagine getting that, I would have loved it.

My memory still tells me it was a chinook in BA livery though!

[Meerkat]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airlink_...e_service)

Look at that!  It was basically a Sea King. Imagine getting that, I would have loved it.

My memory still tells me it was a chinook in BA livery though!

Apparently the BA Chinooks were used over the North Sea, but were maintained at Gatwick so you might have seen one.
The RAF Chinooks from Odiham are around quite a bit too.
When I was a kid we were under the landing route into Farnborough when it was RAE, with modified jet fighters (inc Jaguars and Hunters) and Snoopy - a Hercules with a big pointy nose that went up when the weather was bad to do experiments

[Shanghai]

The last time I saw the lights of a Goodyear blimp, it read 'Shanghai's a pimp'.

Gotta say it was a good day.

[Na oblacima slave]

Yeah. Concorde was also around 10am I think. The skies were full of wonder back then. Now it’s just efficient wide bodies and chemtrails.

Concorde after school, is as I remember it. Being under a Heathrow flight path I used to watch and listen for planes all the time.

Little wonder I'm now an AVgeek.

[Squarevanmanmark2]

The Goodyear Blimp was last in UK 2022. The European one operates in German skies when not at sporting events.