Tom Singfield – författare

When Ronald Waters bought 90 acres of farmland adjacent to the Gatwick racecourse in 1930 in order to set up a private airfield, little did he know how that airfield would evolve over the next eighty-nine years to become the world’s busiest single-runway airport. Back in the 1960s and ’70s it became a hub for aircraft enthusiasts and photographers who, thanks to the viewing decks, could get up close to the aircraft and enjoy the eclectic mix of new jetliners and old propeller airliners. Tom Singfield, ex-Gatwick Air Traffic Controller and a fan of all classic airliners, has long dreamt of a book showcasing the glory days of Gatwick’s classic airliners. After thirty years of searching out the very best colour images of that time, he is now able to publish the results of his searches in this book. These stunning pictures celebrate those wonderful times and the amazing and much missed ‘propliners’ that operated from Gatwick for the first twenty years after its reopening in 1958.

Gatwick’s very first jetliner touched down on 16 November 1958, and over the next fifty years the airport grew to become Britain’s second busiest airport, as well as the busiest single-runway airport in the world.Classic Gatwick Jetliners is the much-awaited follow-up to Classic Gatwick Propliners, with over 200 colour images alongside comprehensive captions that describe the early jetliner visits through to the bustling years of the late 1980s. Featuring such iconic liners as the de Havilland Comet, the Boeing 707 and the 747 ‘Jumbo Jet’, this is an enthusiastic and fond tribute to the most colourful period of Gatwick’s aviation history.