FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1046.PDF
One o/ BI.A.'s handsome D.H.-Airspeed Ambassador "Elizabethan' -class airliners, which went into regular operation in March 1952. (Right) The departure of the last commercial service horn Northolt, October 30, 1954. BE.A. DECADE ... Wrexham. The service was operated with S-51s, it continueduntil March 31, 1951, and carried a total of 819 passengers in 1,086 hours of flying.Another pioneering venture took place on July 29 when the prototype Viscount V.630 began a period of regular flying on theNortholt-Paris service. This was the first operation ever of passenger services with a gas-turbine powered aeroplane. OnAugust 15 the Viscount began operating for an experimental period on the Northolt-Edinburgh route, thus giving B.E.A. thedistinction of being the first airline to operate both domestic and international services with a gas-turbine powered aeroplane. Itwas during this period, on August 3, that the corporation signed the contract for the supply of a fleet of 20 Viscount V.701 aircraft.Later an additional six aircraft were contracted for and later still a 27th Viscount was bought to replace an Elizabethan written offin a forced landing. It was in July, 1950, that for the first time B.E.A. earned more than £1,000,000 in one month.1951. B.E.A. had for some time been having its C-47 fleet modernized. The flight deck was rearranged for two-crew opera-tion, the passenger accommodation was increased to 32, the double freight doors were removed and a single downward-opening doorwith built-in passenger stairs was fitted. On January 24, 1951, the first of these aircraft, G-ALYF Pionair, made the firstcommercial flight by one of the reconditioned aircraft when it operated a charter from Northolt to Dublin. The modernizedC-47 fleet is known as the Pionair class. It was also in January, on the 7th and 8th, that B.E.A. extendedits operations into North Africa. The Viking G-AJBV Sir Henry Morgan left Northolt just before dawn on the 7th and, flying byway of Nice and Rome, nightstopped at Malta. On the following day it continued its flight to Tripoli, Benghazi and Cairo. TheMalta-Cairo section of the route was worked on behalf of the B.E.A. associate Malta Airways.Results for the financial year up to March 31 showed a further reduced loss at £979,267. Traffic figures were: 143,800 revenuehours and 21.2 million aircraft miles flown, 939,586 passengers carried for 266,600,000 passenger-miles, 10,079 tons of freightand 5,249 tons of mail carried. Total ton-miks flown was 31,700,000. The overall load factor at 57.9 per cent was againdown. June 1 saw the official opening of a new B.E.A. helicopter servicewhen two S-51s left Northolt bound for Birmingham. Public service was begun on June 4, the complete routing being LondonAirport-Northolt Airport-Hay Mills Rotorstation. The rotor- station was a small fenced-in area about three miles from thecentre of Birmingham. It had two asphalt touch-down points, a small wooden traffic building, and was the first special helicopterstation used by B.E.A. This service continued until April 9, 1952. For the first time B.E.A. carried one million passengers ina calendar year, the 1,000,000th being carried on July 5. In August the prototype de Havilland Heron was put into servicefor a short period on services between Northolt and the Channel Islands.To gain operating and maintenance experience with the Rolls- Royce Dart engine before its entry into service in the Viscount,B^.A. installed Dart engines in two of its C-47 freighters. The first service operated by one of these aircraft was that from Northolt to Biickeburg by G-ALXN Sir Henry Royce onAugust 15. This was the first freight service ever operated by a gas-turbine powered aeroplane. In October the corporationissued a specification for a large passenger-carrying helicopter. This was the first specification ever issued by an airline for sucha machine. 1952. On March 13, 1952, B.E.A. operated its first scheduledservice with an Airspeed Ambassador Elizabethan class aircraft— from London Airport to Paris. These new pressurized aircrafthad been long delayed in entering service, but regular operation began on March 27 when two Elizabethan flights were begundaily in each direction on the London-Paris route. The services on March 27 were worked by G-ALZP Sir Richard Grenville.During the course of the year Elizabethans progressively took over the operation of many of the continental routes includingthose to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Milan, Zurich and Vienna. The year's results to the end of March showed a loss of£1,423,611, due partly to increased costs, late aircraft deliveries and industrial disputes; 1,135,579 passengers were carried in theyear as well as 12,500 tons of freight and 6,489 tons of mail. The overall load factor of 64.7 per cent was an 11.9 per cent improve-ment on the previous year. June 16 saw the introduction by B.E.A. of its first Silver Winglunchtime services between London and Paris and Paris and London. This service, with special lunch, has proved verypopular and Silver Wing services have since been introduced on some other routes. It was a revival of the Imperial Airways'Stiver Wing 12.30 service out of Croydon, begun with Argosy aircraft a quarter of a century earlier. At the end of October the corporation introduced an £8 returnfare between London and Edinburgh and Glasgow, and this had a marked effect on the traffic over those routes. In the samemonth the corporation carried its 5,000,000th passenger. On November 11, in a kind of private Guy Fawkes' night,two B.E.A. aircraft, the Elizabethan G-ALZY Sir Philip Sidney and the Viking G-AHPM Lord Rodney, participated in a demon-stration of Fido at Blackbushe, and invited passengers were carried. Also in November, on the 26th, B.E.A. made the firstof its Royal flights when H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh flew from London to Malta in the Elizabethan G-AMAB Sir FrancisBacon commanded by Capt. W. Baillie. 1953. This was a most important year for the corporation,as it brought with it the introduction of the Viscount into regular service, and also the beginning of tourist fares on Europeanroutes. On January 3 the flagship of the Viscount fleet, G-ALWEDiscovery, was delivered, and on January 22 this aircraft set the first airline course records by flying from London to Cologne in1 hr. 10 min 17 sec and returning in 1 hr 15 min 41 sec. The speeds were respectively 282.887 m.p.h. and 262.703 m.p.h.Subsequently Viscounts set many more airline course records for the corporation. During the first half of February, B.E.A.'s helicopter unit tookpart in rescue operations in Holland following the flooding of large areas of the country as a result of the great gale.At Wisley on February 11 the chairman of B.E.A. signed a £4,000,000 contract for» 12 Viscount V.800 aircraft, and LadyDouglas named the first Viscount V.701 Discovery, after which it was again delivered to London Airport—making the flight in sixminutes. . One of the Heron Is used on Scottish ambulance services seen at Renfrew beside a Dragon Rapide, the type which it re- placed on these duties on March 1955. Three Herons are now in service with B.E.A
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
