The main reason that I think I am just "plane nuts" is that I have lived near Lambert Field my entire life. The house I was born and raised in was right under the approach of Runway 24/6, and only about a miles from the runway thresh hold, so airplanes were pretty low going over my house. The front of the house faced east and was shallow angle to the approach, and it had a large picture window. This runway at that time was the only instrument runway at Lambert, and in any kind of weather or darkness if the wind was right, EVERYTHING came over my house! The biggest thrill as kids was watching Connies and DC-7s take off and land. Either way the engines were at full rich and props at full pitch and the resulting internal combustion symphony would shake the widows sometimes! When they were landing at night, and my Mom wasn't around, we used to open the drapes full wide so the landing lights would shin in the window, and it was amazing how bright it would get. The high frequency coming off the spark plug wires would screw up the TV for a little bit as they went over, but I didn't care as long as we weren't watch Flying Tigers or some other important movie. The local Air National Guard unit always had weekend warriors coming off that runway because the western end of it was right near their hangers and reventments. Up until the 70's, I think, there was an active Navy Reserve base there by the ANG unit, and we would see Neptunes, P-3 Orions, and the early Marine C-130s coming and going. McDonnell Aircraft Co. was located on the north side of the airport and we would beg who ever was driving the car to go up and down Banshee Road so we could look into the assembly buildings and the flight test hangers when the doors were open in good weather. I can remember seeing Demons, Voodoos, Phantoms, F-15s, F-18s, and AV8-B Harriers all being built and test flown. Those buildings have all been abandoned and Boeing has built a state of the art assembly building on the east edge of the field now, where the Super Hornets, T-7s and now the new generation of the F-15s are built. A little east of the old main buildings was the hush house for engine testing and the "circus ring" where they would take just finished jets and swing the compass on them. Lambert had pretty active general aviation sections back then with several large FBOs and airplanes of all kinds parked there. One section was on the west end of the airport, and the other was on the south east side just east of the TWA big maintenance hanger. We watched one of the early hijackings from a high vantage point across the highway from there back in the early 70's.. Tons of history and tons fun living near Lambert Field. I still live within smelling distance of the airport on the north east side, and when the wind is right and take off traffic is heavy I can smell jet fuel while standing on my front yard. Yep, place for a just "plane crazy" kid to grow up!
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee
Topic: I've seen Connie's up close and thought they were huge back in the day. (Read 2299 times)
