History of British European Airways 1946-1972

1946 - 1972

Author: Charles Woodley

Paperback

Includes many early post-war colour photos and gives full details of aircraft and routes.

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Paperback

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Summary

Includes many early post-war colour photos and gives full details of aircraft and routes.

Description

BEA was formed in 1946 and took over most UK domestic and European routes under the British government's nationalisation policy. It began operations with a fleet of outdated and hopelessly uneconomic passenger aircraft that were derivatives of wartime types such as the DC-3, Avro Viking and Rapide. By the end of 1955 the airline had re-equipped with more modern types such as the jet-prop Viscount and moved into a profit for the first time. From 1960 onwards the airline introduced larger jets such as the Comet, Trident and BAC 1-11. BEA merged with the British Overseas Airways Corporation in 1974 to form British Airways. This book looks at BEA's predecessors, its formation and early operation from Croydon and Northolt and the move to the newly-opened London Heathrow. The evolving structure is explained with chapters covering engineering bases, terminals, European and domestic services, cargo services and helicopter operations. The aircraft flown are all described in detail and the book, illustrated throughout, includes anecdotes from former crew and ground-staff as well as a full fleet list.

About the Author

Charles Woodley's first book, Golden Age: Commercial Aviation in Britain 1945-1965 was published by Airlife in 1992. He is also the author of Bristol Britannia published by Crowood Aviation in 2002, Scotland's Airlines (The History Press, 2008), Heathrow Airport: The First Twenty-Five Years (The History Press, 2010), Stansted Airport Through Time (Amberley Publishing, 2011) and Gatwick Airport: The First Fifty Years (The History Press, 2014). In addition, he has contributed extensively to an array of Aviation publications such as Aviation News, Airliner World, Aviation Classics and Aviation World, Air-Britain's quarterly magazine.