Islanders have been saying farewell to Aurigny's last remaining Trislander, which flew off into the sunset on Wednesday.
The 40-year-old aircraft flew a last rotation to Southampton and then at 3.45pm departed for Guernsey, on its last commercial flight, with the traditional salute from the airport fire service.
For some onlookers it was quite an emotional experience. Ralph Burridge flew Trislanders for 37 years. "It's a sad day because I've lived with them," he said. "The Trislanders were a bush pilot operation and we are a bush pilot operation. They do everything. Whether the Dornier is what the Island needs - well I'm open to being convinced.
Aurigny had previously arranged a series of pleasure flights on G-BEVT around the Island. Aficionados travelled from Southampton for a last twirl on Victor Tango. Among them was Maurice Wyatt, who was working for Aurigny at Southampton when they acquired their first Trislander in 1971. He retired a couple of years ago. "It's the end of an era," he said. "I joined Aurigny in April 1971 and we took delivery of the very first Trislander in the autumn of that year, so I was working at Southampton when we did our very first Trislander flight," he said. "I knew they were doing these flights so I thought, 'I've got to come down and do a last flight on the last Trislander before it heads off into the sunset. It's really sad to see the Trislander go but three of them are going to be on display in various places, so they are gone but not totally out of sight."
The aircraft's new home will be IWM Duxford in Cambridgeshire.
The Guernsey Bereavement Service has made three visits to Alderney over the past few months and would like to continue to help you. We are visiting the island again on
Tuesday, 23rd February 2024 and would invite anyone who feels they would like Bereavement Counselling to telephone the Bereavement Service Office on 257778 to make a time to meet one of our counsellors.
The Guernsey Bereavement Service has made three visits to Alderney over the past few months and would like to continue to help you. We are visiting the island again on
Tuesday, 23rd February 2024 and would invite anyone who feels they would like Bereavement Counselling to telephone the Bereavement Service Office on 257778 to make a time to meet one of our counsellors. 