BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS 1954-1955 VICKERS VIKING DC-3 PIONAIR VISCOUNT DH RAPID

Description: Shipping BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS 1954-1955 VICKERS VIKING DC-3 PIONAIR VISCOUNT DH RAPID BRITISH EUROPEAN AIRWAYS 1954-1955 VICKERS VIKING DC-3 PIONAIR VISCOUNT DH RAPIDE HERON AIRSPEED AMBASSADOR ELIZABETHAN WESTLAND W.S.55 BRISTOL 171 LONDON AIRPORT CENTRAL RENFREW GLASGOW SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL SOFTBOUND BOOK – BEA REPORT AND ACCOUNTS ------------------------------------------------------ Additional Information from Internet Encyclopedia British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The airline was also the largest UK domestic operator, serving major British cities, including London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast, as well as areas of the British Isles such as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. From 1946 until 1974, BEA operated a network of internal German routes between West Berlin and West Germany as well. The company slogan was Number One in Europe. Formed as the British European Airways division of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) on 1 January 1946, BEA became a crown corporation in its own right on 1 August 1946. Operations commenced from Croydon and Northolt airports, with DH89A Dragon Rapides and Douglas DC-3s. Having established its main operating base at Northolt, BEA operated its first service from Heathrow in April 1950; by late 1954, all Northolt operations had moved to Heathrow, which remained the airline's main operating base until the merger with BOAC in 1974. During 1952, BEA carried its millionth passenger, and by the early 1960s it had become the western world's fifth-biggest passenger-carrying airline and the biggest outside the United States. In 1950, BEA operated the world's first turbine-powered commercial air service with Vickers' Viscount 630 prototype, from London to Paris. The airline entered the jet age in 1960 with de Havilland's DH106 Comet 4B. On 1 April 1964, it became the first to operate the DH121 Trident; on 10 June 1965, a BEA Trident 1C performed the world's first automatic landing during a scheduled commercial air service. For most of its existence, BEA was headquartered at BEAline House in Ruislip, London Borough of Hillingdon. BEA ceased to exist as a separate legal entity on 1 April 1974 when the merger with BOAC to form British Airways (BA) took effect. However the name was revived by British Airways from 1991 to 2008 when it changed the name of an existing subsidiary, British Airways Tour Operations Limited to British European Airways Limited. British Airways Tour Operations Limited was itself founded in 1935 as an air travel company, named Silver Wing Surface Arrangements Limited. With the outbreak of war in September 1939 all commercial and private flying within the UK had been severely restricted by the government due to the possibility of civil flights encountering enemy aircraft. To offset this halting of civilian air traffic limited aerial services were instead carried out from 1940 onwards by the state-owned and operated British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) to a number of destinations, both European, and worldwide. On 1 January 1946, the Attlee government lifted wartime restrictions on civil flying in the United Kingdom. Within Europe, this resulted in BOAC resuming Imperial Airways' pre-war routes to continental Europe augmented by Royal Air Force Transport Command non-military flights from Croydon Airport, using Douglas Dakotas in RAF livery flown by crews in RAF uniforms, and UK domestic air services operated by the Associated Airways Joint Committee (AAJC), which had been formed of several pre-war charter companies on 27 June 1940. BOAC formed a British European Airways division on 1 January 1946 in anticipation of that year's Civil Aviation Act. Following its formation, BOAC's new division began taking over Transport Command's operations from 4 March 1946. On that day, it inaugurated a weekly Dakota service from Northolt to Madrid and Gibraltar, followed by additional Dakota services to Stavanger and Oslo, Copenhagen, as well as Athens via Marseille and Rome. On each of these flights, half of the Dakota's 16 seats were reserved for UK government officials. Initially, crews continued to wear BOAC uniforms. Although some services still used Croydon for some time, the main operating base moved to RAF Northolt. BEA operated many Douglas DC-3s, later naming them Pionairs, between formation in 1946 and disposal of the last in May 1963. On 1 August 1946, the Civil Aviation Act 1946 was given Royal Assent and passed into law. This established BEA as a crown corporation in its own right (British European Airways Corporation) and transferred primary responsibility for scheduled air services from the UK to Europe (including the British Isles) to BEA. To fulfill its role as the new short- and medium-haul British flag carrier, BEA was organised into two divisions based at Northolt and Liverpool Speke respectively, with the former responsible for all scheduled services to the Continent and the latter for all scheduled services within the British Isles. The Civil Aviation Act 1946 furthermore provided for nationalisation of private, independent[nb 3] British scheduled airlines and gave BEA a legal monopoly as the sole short-haul scheduled British airline.[4][13][15] Due to BEA's inability to take over the UK domestic flights of independent scheduled operators such as Railway Air Services, Allied Airways (Gandar Dower) and British Channel Islands Airways[16] on 1 August, these independents continued to ply their scheduled routes under contract to BEA until they were absorbed into the corporation in 1947. The first flight operated by the newly constituted British European Airways Corporation departed Northolt for Marseille, Rome and Athens on the day of its formation at 8:40 am. This was followed by further route launches to Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon. Initially, BEA supplemented its ex-RAF Transport Command Dakotas with Dragon Rapides and Avro Nineteens. Between August and October 1946, BEA took delivery of the first 11 of an eventual 83 Vickers Viking piston-engined airliners. These were BEA's first new aircraft, which it leased from the UK government. The first Viking revenue service departed Northolt for Copenhagen on 1 September 1946. Compared with the Dakota, the Viking took 35 minutes less to reach Copenhagen from London. Following their introduction on the London–Copenhagen route, Vikings began replacing Dakotas on BEA's services to Amsterdam, Oslo, Stockholm, Gibraltar and Prague. In November 1946, BEA's first service to Northern Ireland departed Croydon for Belfast (Sydenham) via Liverpool, using an ex-Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 52/3m operated by independent airline Railway Air Services on the fledgling corporation's behalf. The following month, BEA's Belfast operations transferred to Nutts Corner while Dakotas replaced the "Jupiter" class Ju 52s from 1947. On 1 February 1947, the process of merging the wholly private, independent airlines operating in the UK under the AAJC umbrella into BEA began. Railway Air Services,[19] Isle of Man Air Services,[20] and Scottish Airways (which had been formed in 1937 by merging Northern & Scottish Airways and Highland Airways) were among the first independents merged into the new corporation. 1947 was also the year BEA operated its first scheduled all-cargo flight from Northolt to Brussels with a DC-3 freighter.[23] The same year, it inaugurated a scheduled service between Land's End Airport in southwest Cornwall, England, and St Mary's Airport on the largest island of the Isles of Scilly archipelago off the southwest coast of Cornwall, using "Islander" class Dragon Rapides. Despite the previous year's nationalisation of several private airlines and their absorption into BEA, the government-owned carrier continued to contract its private sector counterparts to operate a limited number of regional feeder services on its behalf via "associate" agreements. These needed to be approved by the Air Transport Advisory Council (ATAC), the contemporary UK government department in charge of air transport economic regulation. Cambrian and Western Airways were the first two airlines to be given associate status by BEA in May 1948. These arrangements enabled the latter to contract the operation of a new feeder route between Cardiff and Weston-super-Mare to both of the former, which respectively used Dragon Rapides and Avro Ansons to provide a daily service.[24] East Anglian Flying Services (EAFS) was another early BEA associate. The association agreement between BEA and EAFS resulted in the latter operating a Southend–Rochester feeder service on behalf of the former. 1948 was also the year BEA's reservations department moved to new premises at Dorland Hall, Lower Regent Street in London's West End. BEA made aviation history in 1950 with the world's first turbine-powered commercial air service from London to Paris, using the UK Ministry of Supply-owned Vickers Viscount 630 prototype G-AHRF.[7] By that time, BEA's main operating base at Northolt was the busiest airport in the UK; however, the airline was losing money, which resulted in replacing former BOAC director, Gerard d'Erlanger, who was BEA's first chairman, with Lord Douglas of Kirtleside, as well as appointing Peter Masefield as its new managing director. In April 1950, BEA operated its first service from London (Heathrow) Airport. Following the provisional introduction of the Viscount 630 prototype on the London–Paris and London–Edinburgh routes, BEA ordered 20 Viscount 701s in August 1950 for delivery from 1953.[7] Also in 1950, BEA informed Vickers of its requirement for an aircraft with 10% lower costs per seat-mile than the 800 series Viscount. This provided the impetus for Vickers to begin developing the four-engined Vanguard high-capacity turboprop in 1953. Peter Masefield's arrival as managing director (MD) in 1950 marked the beginning of BEA's commercialisation. This entailed introduction of new cost control measures and innovative methods to boost revenue and passenger loads, including off-peak fares on late-evening flights and high-frequency services on the London–Paris route. BEA's new commercially aggressive approach soon resulted in monthly earnings of £1 million. In early 1951, BEA introduced its first "Pionair" class Douglas DC-3, a Scottish Aviation DC-3 conversion featuring British instrumentation and an increased seating capacity of 32. In addition to having 38 DC-3s converted to Pionair passenger carriers, BEA had a further 10 DC-3s modified as "Leopard" class freighters. The same year, BEA introduced its first tourist class on Viking services. This entailed re-configuring a total of 49 aircraft in a 36-seat, single class layout. BEA referred to its re-configured, all-tourist class Vikings as "Admiral" class [aircraft]. In 1952, BEA carried its one-millionth passenger and introduced the first of 20 Airspeed Ambassadors. These cost £3 million and featured a 49-seat mixed-class layout. BEA's first commercial Ambassador service left London for Paris on 13 March 1952. Flights to Milan and Vienna began the following month. These aircraft introduced the airline's passengers to new standards of comfort and speed. Compared with BEA's older piston types, the Ambassador's flight time from London to Milan, for example, reduced by two hours. In June 1952 BEA re-launched the pre-war mid-day Silverwing service pioneered by Imperial Airways on the London–Paris route with 40-seat all-first class Ambassadors. The Ambassador was BEA's last major piston-engined type. It referred to the aircraft as "Elizabethan" class to commemorate the accession of Elizabeth II that year. Also in 1952, BEA made Jersey-based independent airline Jersey Airlines an associate to develop a network of routes within the Channel Islands and expand services between the islands and the UK mainland. In 1953, BEA began receiving the first 16 Viscount 701 turboprops it had ordered in August 1950. The first of these "Discovery" class aircraft entered service with 47 mixed-class seats in April 1953, and the first production aircraft (G-AMAV) went on to win the transport class of the 1953 London to Christchurch, New Zealand, air race, with BEA MD Peter Masefield as team manager and co-pilot. 1953 was also the year Flightmaster, BEA's first mechanical reservations system, was installed. This enabled the simultaneous display of seat availability on 32,000 flights. Between February and April 1954, BEA's expanding Viscount fleet replaced Elizabethans between London, Nice and Rome, and on regional routes from Manchester and Birmingham.[7] By that time, BEA had shifted its main operating base to Heathrow, which became the London terminal for all international flights. Although it continued to use Northolt as a London terminal for domestic flights serving Manchester, Edinburgh, Renfrew (Glasgow), Aberdeen, Belfast and the Channel Islands which by that time were mainly operated by 36-seater "Admiral" class Vikings, these were wound down in favour of concentrating all of BEA's London flights at Heathrow. A Jersey-bound Pionair in October 1954 was BEA's final flight from Northolt. The Viscount's commercial success had made it the leading short-haul aircraft in Europe in the mid-1950s. This led Lord Douglas to believe that turboprops would continue to be the mainstay of BEA's fleet into the 1960s. Two BEA Vickers Vanguards in the airline's red, black and white livery sharing the ramp at Heathrow in 1965. The aircraft in the foreground, Vanguard V.951 G-APEC, crashed on 2 October 1971 en route from Heathrow to Salzburg, Austria, with the loss of all on board. On 31 March 1955, BEA completed its first profitable financial year, recording an operating profit of £552,314 and a net profit of £63,039. In July 1955, BEA became the launch customer for the Vanguard, Vickers' new high-capacity turboprop powered by four Rolls-Royce RB109 "Tyne" engines. The airline's launch order was for 20 aircraft, including six Vanguard V.951s and 14 heavier V.953s. In mid-1955, BEA entered into a 10-year operating agreement with its associate Cambrian Airways. This resulted in the latter launching new services from Liverpool and Manchester to Jersey (via Bristol and Cardiff) on behalf of the former. In its 1955–56 financial year, BEA carried more than two million passengers for the first time at an all-time high average load factor of 69.4%. During that period, it recorded a profit of £603,614, mainly as a result of revenue growth accounted for by the Viscount fleet. In 1956, BEA acquired a 25% minority shareholding in Jersey Airlines and the corporation's Southampton–Guernsey and Southampton–Alderney routes transferred to the independent. 1956 was also the year BEA began using Viscounts for nightfreight operations to increase cargo capacity as well as the aircraft's utilisation.[23] While BEA continued taking delivery of Viscount 701s, it placed its first order for 12 larger 66- to 68-seat Viscount 802/806s. These were delivered from February 1957. By 1958, BEA had 77 Viscounts in service. On 7 February 1958, BEA acquired a 33⅓% minority shareholding in Welsh independent regional airline Cambrian Airways. In March 1958, BEA ordered six de Havilland DH106 Comet 4B jet aircraft for delivery from 1960. This was BEA's answer to the impending introduction of the Sud-Est Caravelle, Air France's new short-/medium-range jet, on the French flag carrier's European, North African and Middle Eastern network, including the prime Heathrow – Le Bourget route from July 1959. The arrival at Heathrow on 30 July 1958 of a BEA Elizabethan from Cologne marked the type's last service with the airline. Although its operating costs on short routes such as London–Paris were lower than the Viscount's, the piston type could not match the turboprop's passenger appeal. Unlike the Pionairs and Leopards, which continued serving regional feeder and freight routes, Elizabethans were deployed on trunk routes where passenger appeal was more important; this further hastened their demise in BEA service. On 12 August 1959, BEA signed a £28 million contract for 24 de Havilland DH121 Trident Mark 1(C) "second-generation" jets plus 12 options, making it the launch customer for the world's first commercial T-tailed rear-engined trijet due to enter service in spring 1964.[37][38] (This version of the Trident was smaller and lighter than de Havilland's original DH121 of 1956.[37][39] At that time BEA's chairman, Anthony Milward, had insisted that a launch order from BEA depended on scaling down the original design, in the belief that the Vickers Vanguard high-capacity turboprops it had ordered the year before would remain competitive against jets on trunk routes as a result of lower operating and seat-mile costs.[7] BEA's insistence on building the Trident smaller with less powerful engines and a lower fuel capacity than originally proposed was also a manifestation of the cautious attitude of the airline's senior management against a backdrop of a [temporary] reduction in its profit margin and slowdown in its growth rate.[40] Meeting BEA's specifications for the Trident involved reducing the length of the aircraft's fuselage, its wingspan and weight and replacing the Rolls-Royce RB141/3 "Medway" engines with Rolls-Royce RB163 "Speys". Shrinking the original design also reduced seating capacity from 111–130 to 79–90, in mixed- and single-class configuration respectively.) On 7 November 1959, BEA took delivery of its first Comet 4B (G-APMB), nearly two months ahead of the contracted delivery on 1 January 1960. This was followed by the official handover ceremony of the airline's first jet airliner on 16 November. In its 1959–60 financial year, BEA carried 3.29 million passengers and recorded a profit of £2.09 million. On 1 April 1960, BEA began commercial jet operations with its new Comet 4Bs. On that day, the airline commenced jet operations from Heathrow to Athens, Istanbul, Moscow, Munich, Rome and Warsaw with an initial, five-strong Comet fleet. By June, this fleet grew to seven (out of an eventual 18) aircraft, enabling the launch of additional jet services to Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Düsseldorf, Malta, Zürich and Frankfurt. Also in 1960, BEA took delivery of its final two Viscount 701s[nb 5] bringing its total fleet strength of this sub-type to 50. 1960 was furthermore the year the UK Parliament enacted the Civil Aviation (Licensing) Act (1960), which abolished the statutory monopoly BEA and BOAC had enjoyed on principal domestic and international scheduled routes since the beginning of the post-war era. In theory, this gave independent airlines equal opportunities to develop scheduled routes in their own right;[44] however, in reality, the corporations would object to applications by independent airlines seeking to be licensed as competitors to the state airlines. Each application by an independent airline for a scheduled route licence was heard by the newly established Air Transport Licensing Board (ATLB),[45] the new UK government body in charge of air transport economic regulation that succeeded ATAC. At these hearings, the independents needed to convince the ATLB that there were sufficient passengers to justify the proposed scheduled services, that these stood a reasonable chance of becoming profitable and that they opened up new markets rather than divert traffic from the corporations to overcome the latter's objections.[46] Although the ATLB granted British Eagle and British United Airways (BUA), BEA's and BOAC's two biggest independent competitors during the 1960s, licences to operate rival international scheduled services on several trunk routes from London Heathrow and Gatwick respectively, these airlines were unable to use them without actual traffic rights. For example, lack of traffic rights prevented BUA from running direct London (Gatwick) – Paris (Le Bourget) scheduled flights although it held a licence for that route, which the ATLB had awarded it in late 1961. In that case, BUA's failure to obtain traffic rights was mainly the result of the French authorities' refusal to grant these without a corresponding reduction in BEA's share of London–Paris flights. In its 1960–61 financial year, BEA carried 3.99 million passengers at an average load factor of 65% and recorded a loss of £1.75 million. Shipping & Handling Back to Top International Shipping Please check eBay's Shipping & Payment tab USPS First-Class Mail International (Worldwide) USPS First-Class Mail International (Canada) FREE scheduling, supersized images and templates. Get Vendio Sales Manager.Make your listings stand out with FREE Vendio custom templates! FREE scheduling, supersized images and templates. Get Vendio Sales Manager. Over 100,000,000 served. Get FREE counters from Vendio today!

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