— —

This shot will be a memory-jogger for older FA viewers. Every time I look at this pic, I can easily recall the cloud of black smoke and then the throaty coughing sound of each engine on the old DC-6 when they were started. And anyone who has ever heard the distinctive whistle of those Rolls Royce Darts on the Viscounts will always remember that sound, too. I'll readily admit that I was super excited when the first passenger jets began arriving at GBIA (KBUF), but I'd sure like to go back, just for a little while, to the age of the propliners ... BUT ... (Grin) if I did, I'd take my 21st century digital camera with me. ;-)

Gary, this photo was taken 31 years before I was born but for me (and others in my general age group) this is the only way to see how things looked during that time, so thank you very much for sharing this one with us and keep em coming, it's a true delight to view your older pics.

Thank you very much, Mark, for the complimentary comment ... and the encouragement / support. I've got a ton of old snapshots but unfortunately a great many of them are badly, badly faded; very old (45-50 years old); and badly "travel worn" (they have been in a box with me my entire life ... even during my 20 years of travel with the USAF, so they have actually been "around the world": Turkey, Japan, the PI, Greece, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine, and now Nevada. And my scanner is just a small table top model. I've got every single negative of every single pic I ever took, but the scanner doesn't scan negatives so all I can do is scan the original pics ... and when I do THAT the results are rather p-poor. About three months ago I had finally decided to toss 'em, but before doing it I shared a few with friends last month on a private site and they expressed thoughts similar to your comment here. So although I don't really want to post crummy-quality pics, I also understand that they DO offer a glimpse "back in time" and some folks, like yourself, may enjoy seeing them. So, before I toss them out, I'll try to work on them in order to share some more of those. (PS: I'll be posting other snaps that were taken more recently, too.)
Thanks again for your appreciative comment, Mark. Means a lot to me. And it makes the effort to save more of them worthwhile. (Thumbs Up)

Noooooo!!! Please Gary, Do NOT throw out your old photos. They are historical moments captured in time and the younger generations of enthusiasts NEED to see them. There are many ways you can salvage old prints and if the negs are in decent shape they can all be digitized and brought up to amazing quality. Canon makes a decent tabletop scanner that will scan negatives and its relatively inexpensive (Canoscan 9000F) or there are companies that will do it for you.
I am one of many that would love to see them and maybe hear (read) a story or two about when and where etc! I grew up in England in the '70's and can remember some great times with my Dad and my brother at Heathrow, if only I had had a camera then! But who knew, now the things I saw are just dim memories! Please share your pics with us!

Gary, please listen to Mark. I know I would like to see more of your old photos. Another possibility if you can't or don't want to scan your old pics and negs yourself is scancafe.com. I haven't used them myself, yet, but I've heard good things about them. Keep up the good work!

for old photo 3* , for Historie 5* = 4*

Mark: No worries. Thanks to you tipping me off to the Canoscan machine (which I immediately searched for and read about on the web), I'm definitely going to hang on to all this old stuff. That scanner is easily affordable ... AND ... it can be used to scan my old 127 and 620 photo negatives as well as my old slides of B-52s and KC-135s at Loring AFB. I am very thankful to you for the mention of the scanner.
Greg: Dang. I forgot to post more pics of that B-25 like I promised you I would do. I am very sorry. I've posted one just now. My apologies for forgetting. And also, TYVM for the suggestion about ScanCafe.com. I'd never heard of them. I read their site and I am super interested in utilizing their service. I have four 400-foot reels of old 8mm movie film here ... all chock full of 8mm movies I took at BUF, JFK, and BOS in the 60s. About three years ago, I had them transferred to DVD at Costco. They came out horribly. I had half-expected it; the films are almost a half-century old. They are faded, scratched, brittle, etc. So I had planned to throw THEM away too. In fact, today is garbage pickup day and those four 400-foot reels were curbside ... IN the can .. awaiting the truck ... when I read your comment. After checking out ScanCafe, I hustled outside and retrieved them; they are right back here in the office, back in the box. I'm betting the ScanCafe folks can resurrect some good parts from these old movies. So, many Thanx to you also. (And again, I'm sorry I forgot about the bomber: one pic is now up and more to come.)
Mathias: Hi again, my friend. Thank you for your comment and for your vote. I agree with you that the pic isn't ultra excellent. I'd have thrown them all away if guys like Mark and Greg and a few others had not convinced me to hang on to them a bit longer. (What the heck; I've had them for 45-50 years; another few months can't hurt, eh?) lol They are sort of neat even tho they ARE waaaaay old and in pretty lousy condition. :-)

Holy cow! I am REALLY glad you managed to save that old film! If ScanCafe can't save that film, there has to be someone who can. And if you could only save half that would still be better than nothing. In any case, please let me and everyone know how that works out. And go ahead and post some more of your old pics. Even though they might not be technically great, the nostalgia factor bumps them up considerably. And they very interesting for historical reasons if nothing else. Thanks, and thanks for the B-25 pic, too!

Great to see the old timers again, I've worked on all three types in my time and a whole lot more. I would go back to those times in a flash when aviation was hard work but great fun to be part of.
Keep em coming, do you have any of an old favourite the CL 44.

Regretfully, John, I don't. However, I have visited dozens of aircraft museums and (although I can't say for certain) I may possibly have shots of a Canadair Forty-Four at a museum. I am currently digging back thru my pictures and if I come across one of the old Canadairs (or perhaps a Britannia), I will certainly share it/them. Meanwhile, Thank You for commenting on this photo and I'm glad you enjoyed seeing it, John.

Pass is so cool! As a little girl I flew on BOAC to Northern Ireland to visit my Grandma & Grandpa.

Oh, to bounce around on those beauties again.
The good old days.

Great memories...thanks for sharing

An image of airline travel captured on the cusp of the jet age!

Gary, Thanks so much for posting this photo. As soon as I opened it up I knew where it taken. I grew up in Buffalo but left in '69 to join the Navy and unfortunately have only been back for very short visits to family. But I remember the old terminal. Remember the restaurant? My parents would ask me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I'd always say "let's eat at the airport!" I'd inhale my dinner and then go out on the observation deck to watch the aircraft. I've been in love with and involve in aviation ever since. Thanks again for the great memory jog.

Chris D ... The odds against this situation (ie: of you seeing this photo and of your comments that have me sitting here in amazement) were phenomenally long. Had it not been for a few aviation photo friends, I'd have chucked these pics ... and you wouldn't have seen this one. And as I read your comment, I was stunned by the parallels in our lives: I have a pic here of me in my USAF blues boarding a UAL 727, in February, 1969, to leave BUF for my first duty assignment.
Thank You for commenting, Chris. And here's a link to an East Coast-based blogsite. I've written several posts in it as a contributing writer, and I think you may find the photos in my post titled: Propeller Echoes: Mohawk Airlines interesting.
http://www.planeviz.com/propeller-echoes-mohawk-airlines/

Raymond D: ... I'm glad you enjoyed seeing this pic. And I thank you for commenting to tell me. A young man I've met here in FA, Mark S, and three other new FA acquaintances, Greg B., Mark T., and Mathias B., all commented (above) that there would be folks interested in seeing these beat up old snaps, and the replies by you and others have proven them to be absolutely right. Thanks again, Raymond.
Cliff .. Your comment has me digging to find a pic I snapped from the KBUF control tower in 1968 that shows an AA B707, an Eastern B727, and an AA Electra. It is a color click (Kodak 620 film taken on a Kodak Bullseye camera << I had "moved up" from a Kodak Brownie to the Bullseye), and the shot looks down upon the same section of terminal as is seen in this photo. If I find it and if I can resurrect it to some degree of respectability, I'll post it. It accurately reflects your sentiment: it was taken as the jet age was dawning in Buffalo.
A.K. ... I, too, have been a pax on both the DC-6 and the Electra (never had a chance to fly in a Viscount). I've also had flights in Mohawk Convairs. And I know exactly what you mean and how you are feeling ... I'd give an awful lot to experience one more flight in any one of those three. Thanks for your comment, A. K.
And to NYCSIC ... I'm pretty certain I have a photo of a BOAC VC-10 at KBOS in this stack somewhere. I'll see if I can find it. I always thought that the royal purple BOAC livery was fantastic. Thank you for commenting.

Gary, if the comments I've seen from other FA members are any indication (and they are) of the power of a photographic image to elicit emotion and memory, then you've certainly hit the "mother lode" of such here.

I am definitely looking forward to seeing that photograph you speak of!!!

Thanks for your kind words and taking me back to when spending time at the local airport with my Yashica 35mm camera in tow was a trip to Valhalla, so to speak!

That was the same time I discovered Ernest K. Gann's "Fate Is The Hunter".

Hi Gary , in seen -Plane Viz - beautiful / interesting - beautiful photos from you, much new for me!
i am - East German - youngster !

greetings !

Great picture! Thank You for sharing it.

Thank you, David, for the compliment / comment. I appreciate it. (Wave)

Hi Gary from Sydney, Australia. Everyone else has already said what I feel. Thanks for posting this fantastic pic. Where would the AA DC6B have been headed that day? I imagine that by '65, their days with AA would have been numbered. The United Viscount is an early 700 series model. The later stretched 800 series airplanes had a different shaped passenger door, more squared off at the corners instead of oval shaped. I had the privilege to fly the Fairchild FH227 which was also powered by(only two!)Rolls Royce Dart turboprops. I will never forget that sound!..Please bring on more memories for us all!

@jobeard. True true! Even us "almost" Seniors still remember fondly the good old days of CV-580's and F-27's. Cheers!!

Classic KBUF seemed so much better than what it is today. Shame I never got to see it in person then.