Floodlights

[boabie 230]

Was it not Renfrew Airport, in those days?

Abbotsinch was further west, i I r c, and became the new Glasgow facility sometime in the mid-late '60s.

 

I don't suppose the flightpaths altered much.

 

I can remember a barrier used to come down and halt car traffic on Abbotsinch Road while planes crossed the road.

When we won in Barcelona I had to fly from Prestwick as the upgrade work was going on at the now Glasgow Airport.

[jaws 0]

What a great post i started going to Ibrox roughly 1967 and not a clue about floodlights hope someone can tell us.

[pete 2,499]

As the pylons rose around Scotland, Rangers problem was the proximity of Ibrox to Abbotsinch. Rangers had to find a solution that contained the floodlights under the sight lines of approaching aircraft.

 

I remember Rangers playing in a floodlight strip in the early sixties, it was white satin with red and blue hoops.

Was it not Renfrew Airport, in those days?

Abbotsinch was further west, i I r c, and became the new Glasgow facility sometime in the mid-late '60s.

 

I don't suppose the flightpaths altered much.

 

 

I can remember a barrier used to come down and halt car traffic on Abbotsinch Road while planes crossed the road.

When we won in Barcelona I had to fly from Prestwick as the upgrade work was going on at the now Glasgow Airport.

 

This is taken from Love Street history, They had new floodlights in 1959 but unfortunately it does not tell you if they came from Ibrox. It does say

 

`Initially there were roof-line lights set all the way along the newly built North Bank cover and the grandstand opposite. But, because the stand was considerably shorter than full-length there also had to be two pylons built to light the corners of the pitch on the stand side. And these could not be very tall because of the flight-path. They ended up therefore as two, strangely squat-looking, 40-foot pylons that weren’t even as tall as the stand roof and had three rows of lights .`

 

If these were the Ibrox floodlights and they were placed pre´1959 until 1978 then there is no way I seen them at Ibrox so I think I must have known it was Rangers old floodlights at that time and had not seen them at Ibrox but at love street as I had been there often in that time. How the memory plays tricks. All I need to know for sure now is if that was the Ibrox floodlights then I know how I knew about them and saw Ibrox pylons even if it wasn´t at Ibrox.

Under is also a bit of history about the love steet lights and Glasgow and Renfrew Airport,

 

In the 1950s the club had a unique problem when it came to installing floodlights at Love Street. The ground was on the direct approach path for aircraft to the local airport which, at that time, was a mere three miles east, in Renfrew. This meant that as well involving Paisley Town Council, Saints’ plans also had to satisfy three Government departments - the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Air Ministry and The Admiralty.

 

Initially there were roof-line lights set all the way along the newly built North Bank cover and the grandstand opposite. But, because the stand was considerably shorter than full-length there also had to be two pylons built to light the corners of the pitch on the stand side. And these could not be very tall because of the flight-path. They ended up therefore as two, strangely squat-looking, 40-foot pylons that weren’t even as tall as the stand roof and had three rows of lights .

 

Nonetheless, there came complaints from pilots that the pylon to the right of the stand was confusing their approach and a black-out order was imposed whilst aviation charts had this new landmark added. It then took a further eight months for the Air Ministry to run tests and finally pass the system fit for use. The first match under the floodlights was on 13 February 1959 against Peebles Rovers in the Scottish Cup, a match St Mirren won 10–0.[1]

 

In 1966 the airport was moved to less than a mile north of St Mirren Park and its current site in Abbotsinch, Paisley; later becoming known as Glasgow International Airport. Almost immediately the club was being asked by the media when they would install "proper" floodlights, as the system was not highly regarded. Club finances at the time were extremely tight, with only two full-time employees, and so there was no possibility that money could be spent on improving the floodlights.

 

It took until 1978, with a new set of Directors at the helm and a Development Fund put in motion that 90-foot high pylons were erected.

[boabie 230]

The stretch of motorway between Hillington and Arkleston turn off were designed in a straight line just in case we needed another runway in the event of any cold war problems. The lighting along the central reservation would have been chopped down allowing heavier planes to land and take off there.

[BEARGER 1,829]

March 1954

 

[colinstein 294]

[boabie 230]

Colin, that was the roof floodlights as I remember them from the 60's.

The pylons were before that and were done away with when the roof over the Govan terracing [above the Derry] got extended.