Hi there,
” I did recently stumble upon a picture which made me wonder... ”
HA-LBE was withdrawn from use in 1987, and donated to Transport Museum. Because the Museum did not have a place to exhibit such a large aircraft, it had been stored at Ferihegy airport for years. In 1991 an open-air museum, recently called Aeropark, was established and by that time faded colors of HA-LBE had to be repainted. Since the Museum was out of money to pay for the paintwork, Malév offered to do it free of charge. However, this work could be done only when enough hangar place and manhours were available. That’s why paintwork was performed in pieces, and HA-LBE was towed many times into and from the hangar. Because of this, the work lasted more than a month in August and September 1991.
In the picture you sent HA-LBE can be seen in one of the event when it was towed outside of the hangar on 15th August 1991. Windows were masked with papers in order to paint the blue cheatline of Malév. So, it was NOT a cargo aircraft but it was just under a phase of paintwork. As you can see in the photo, undersurfaces became too dark gray first, and then it had to be repainted again to light gray. (More towings into and from the hangar...)
” This is the only photo I have been able to find of the aircraft, HA-LBE, between 1985 and 1996...”
A picture of mine below shows HA-LBE on 23rd September 1991, when the aircraft was finally released from hangar with light gray undersurfaces and paper masks removed from windows. HA-LBE was then towed to the open-air museum on 3rd October 1991. (Sorry for the quality of my pocket-camera.)
”... did they (Malév) ever operate cargo flights with Tu-134's?”
Malév has never operated a definite freighter variant Tu-134. However, there was a possibility to convert the interior by removing seats to carry small size cargo. Between 1969 and 1983 Malév operated Tu-134 ’sans suffixe’ in 72 seats of configuration but it could be converted to a 60 seats variant by removing the first 12 seats to take place for a provisional cargo compartment devided by a wall from the passenger cabin.
In Tu-134A variant all of the 76 passenger seats were allowed to be removed on HA-LBI and HA-LBK. Only these two Tu-134As could be converted this way in Malév fleet, according to the airline procedure of calculation of CG and MTOW. In 1983 Malév introduced a new interior on Tu-134 and Tu-134A aircraft called Comfort class replacing old tourist class. At this point Tu-134 ’sans suffixe’ received 68 seats while the possibility of cargo conversion was deleted in Malév procedures.
”But there's no mention of HA-LCA being converted either, but as we can see here it did operate cargo flights.”
Regarding the Tu-154, only one Malév aircraft HA-LCA was converted to freighter variant in 1991 by removing all pax seats, galley, buffet, hat racks, pax address system etc. To reinforce the cabin floor, cargo pallets were installed. Since a large cargo door was not produced on HA-LCA this aircraft was able to transport small size cargo only. Pallets were loaded with goods inside the cabin. HA-LCA was flown as a full freighter aircraft between 1991 and 1993, then in 1994 it was finally retired. In my photo below taken in 1992 HA-LCA was just being prepared for a cargo service.
Besides, all Tu-154B-2 aircraft could be used on cargo flights by removing passenger seats. In this way they could carry 19000 kg of payload instead of 18000 kg of pax a/c. Malév rarely used this cargo variant. In autumn 1988 HA-LCS was used as a cargo Tu-154B-2 replacing freighter Il-18s already retired by that time. In 1989 during the revolution in Romania Malév operated HA-LCN to carry aid to Bucharest with red crosses applied to the white fuselage. In April 1991 HA-LCE was also used as a cargo aircraft with red crosses on its sides to deliver civilian and humanitarian aid to Iraq. After that flights an idea to make a definite freighter Tu-154 arose and a design work started at Malév. It finally leaded to the cargo HA-LCA converted by Malév at Budapest Ferihegy.
BW, András
