Planespotters welcome Airbus A380

'We're here because we love it': enthusiasts flock to first sighting of the next big thing
People watch the Airbus A380 come in to land at Heathrow
People watch the Airbus A380 come in to land at Heathrow. Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

Roger and Dick Hemming, two men with responsible jobs and bemused partners, clutched one another and howled with excitement. As helplessly thrilled as the small boys they were when they first went plane spotting together, they sounded like characters in the Dandy.

"Woohoo! Good grief! Wowee!"

For one stupendous heartbeat the sky over their heads was blotted out by the great white hulk of the Airbus A380, the largest passenger plane in the sky, landing for the first time at a British airport.

Roger had already had a text message from his wife, a teacher in Somerset: "R U at the end of the runway surrounded by saddoes?"

"Only one answer to that," the Hemmings chortled. "Yes! Of course we are!"

Roger had already suffered the public humiliation of confidently pointing out that he had spotted the A380 on the horizon: it turned out to be a mere 747.

There was no mistaking the real thing. As the Hemmings yelped: "It's bloody enormous!"

Somewhere beyond the coned off roads, the closed visitor centre and the carousel of security vehicles circling the perimeter fencing, hundreds of official guests were gathered to watch it land on a new surface specially laid at Heathrow to take its enormous weight, before taxiing to the new pier tall enough to take a plane as high as an eight storey building. Gordon Brown was so moved he made a joke: the pilot told him he flew over the Thames, "and there was some sign of life in the House of Commons."

But as one happy man said, sitting on the grass verge of the A30 which clips the edge of the airport: "They're just there because it's their jobs. We're here because we love it."

Alex Kenney and his son Gary left home in Glasgow at dawn, and took the 7.30 flight to Heathrow. They were due to fly back last night, getting home just in time for the night shift at the Rolls Royce engine factory where they both work. It cost them £119 each, "and you don't even get a free cup of tea now". Of his three children, only the son shares the passion for planes which Mr Kenney can scarcely articulate. "They have no interest in it at all," he said, even though one of his daughters is an air stewardess.

Their day at Heathrow started badly when they made for the roof of the terminal 1 car park, but were turned away by security. They were saved by a man with a binocular case, who directed them to the car park of Hatton Cross underground station, directly below the flightpath to the southern runway. It was still only breakfast time, but they were just in time to get the best view.

The first cars arrived soon after sunrise. By 10 o'clock, over three hours before the A380 was due, every parking space was full, and by noon it was fully double parked.

Later arrivals came by every bus and train, or walked in from cars parked miles away, carrying flasks and plastic boxes of sandwiches, folding stools and maps of the airport, short wave radios, cameras and binoculars. A small crowd gathered around the open boot of Robert Sadler's Fiat Punto, where he had fired up the plane tracker on his laptop. Mr Sadler works at Birmingham airport, and has a flat, he told an envious audience, just at the end of the runway.

The three happy Nash boys, 13, 9 and 6, got a day off school to witness a moment of history. The outing, a major investment for a family living on benefits, was a birthday present from Jan to her husband, Graham: the hire car cost £35, petrol from their home in Sussex about a tenner, parking £6.

'It's a good hobby, and it's something we can do that doesn't cost too much," Mrs Nash said. She took them regularly by train to Gatwick when the boys were tiny, often getting curious glances as the only woman spotter. "It's quite educational for them writing down all the numbers. I won't do trains and buses though."

The Hemmings admit they've got it bad. They regularly run away from their jobs as an estate agent and a truck driver for a plane spotting day out. They've been known to choose holidays by the plane involved, and Roger negotiates with his family on how early he's allowed to get them to any airport. They've already been on a factory tour of the A380 works in Toulouse in France. Nothing would have kept them away from Heathrow yesterday.

The 747 drowned out conversation: the A380 was astonishingly quiet.

"The next plan is to fly on one," Roger added. "I've promised the children I'll take them on one to Australia."