Aigle Azur (1946)

This article deals with Aigle Azur as the name of the French airline that existed from 1946 to 1955. For the company that bore the same name from 2001 to 2019, see Aigle Azur (1970) .

Aigle Azure
Douglas DC-3 of the Aigle Azur, Manchester 1953
IATA code :	(without)
ICAO code :	(unknown)
Call sign :	(unknown)
Founding:	1946
Operation stopped:	1955
Merged with:	Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT)
Seat:	Paris
Fleet size:	3
Aims:	Domestic, Africa, Middle East, Southeast Asia
Aigle Azur merged with Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT) in 1955 . The information in italics relates to the last status before the takeover.

Aigle Azur was a French airline that operated scheduled and charter flights from 1946 to 1955.

Douglas DC-6 of the Aigle Azur, Beirut 1954

history

Aigle Azur was France's first private airline after World War II. It was founded in the spring of 1946 under the name Société Coopérative Aérienne de Transports Méditerranéens, L'Aigle Bleu , but renamed Aigle Azur on June 19 of the same year.

Operation was initially started with two Junkers Ju 52 / 3m or their French replica Amiot AAC.1 Toucan , which were used in dense seating with 32 seats. It was followed by Douglas DC-3 , which were used in large numbers.

The company served numerous routes to North Africa, the Middle East and, above all, to Indochina .

In 1952, a 20% stake in Air Laos was acquired, which initially began operations with Boeing 307s on loan from Aigle Azur.

Gradually three subsidiaries were founded, the Aigle Azur Extrême Orient, the Aigle Azur Indochine and the Aigle Azur Maroc. The latter was later renamed Air Maroc and finally merged with Air Atlas to form today's Royal Air Maroc .

On May 1, 1955, Aigle Azur and its remaining fleet were taken over by the Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT) . The subsidiaries and sister companies Aigle Azur Extrême Orient, Aigle Azur Indochine and Aigle Azur Maroc initially continued to exist.

A later company ( Aigle Azur (1970) ) used the renowned name again. Lucas Aviation was founded in 1970 and was soon renamed Lucas Aigle Azur. After it was sold to the conglomerate Groupe Go Fast , the name was changed again: the historical name Aigle Azur was taken over directly.

Flight routes

In the founding year 1946, the first routes were Nice - Calvi - Tunis as well as Marseille - Algiers and Marseille - Oran.

With a fleet of Boeing 307 Stratoliners , flight operations to and in Indochina began in 1950, which quickly became more and more intensive during the Indochina War . In the course of the following year 1951, routes to Dakar and Brazzaville were added.

After two years of lively charter flights to this region due to the Indochina War, the first scheduled services to Indochina were opened in early 1952 with Hanoi and Saigon, as well as a connection to Tananarive ( Madagascar ).

fleet

A wide variety of aircraft types have been used over the years:

Fleet at the end of operations

• 3 × Douglas DC-6

Previously deployed aircraft

• 03 × Airspeed AS.65 Consul
• 06 × Boeing 307 Stratoliner
• 02 × Bristol 170 Freighter
• 02 × Caudron C. 440 Goéland
• 04 × Curtiss C-46 Commando
• 07 × De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide
• 08 × de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver
• 04 × de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otters
• 30 × Douglas DC-3
• 06 × Amiot AAC.1 Toucan (Junkers Ju 52 / 3m)
• 06 × SNCASO SO-30P Bretagne
• 01 × SNCASO SO-95 Corse

Incidents

• On July 7, 1948, a Douglas DC-3 / C-47-DL Aigle Azur ( air vehicle registration number F-BCYP ) in the district Djiring (now Di Linh) on the way from the airport Saigon / Tan Son Nhat to Airport Da Lat / Lien Khuong flown into a mountain (CFIT, Controlled flight into terrain ). All 16 occupants, 3 crew members and 13 passengers were killed.

• On November 27, 1949, a Douglas DC-3 / C-47B-5-DL of the Aigle Azur (F-OABJ) was destroyed in an accident near Dong Khe, a major French military base in the Indochina War . 10 inmates were killed.

• On July 9, 1950, a Douglas DC-3 / C-47A-DL of the Aigle Azur (F-BFGL) crashed shortly after taking off from Casablanca-Anfa Airport (Morocco). The machine was on a charter flight from Paris to Dakar ( Senegal ). Of the 29 occupants, 22 were killed (all 4 crew members and 18 passengers).

• On February 12, 1951, an Aigle Azur (F-OABK) Douglas DC-3 / C-47A-80-DL had an accident while landing at Luang Prabang Airport , Laos . All inmates survived.

• On March 17, 1953, a Douglas DC-3 / C-47A-70-DL of the Aigle Azur (F-BEFG) from Hue / Phu Bai airport crashed while approaching Da Nang airport in bad weather near the Tien Sha peninsula . All 8 inmates were killed.

• On April 16, 1953, soon after taking off from a Douglas DC-3 / C-47A-75-DL, the Aigle Azur (F-BESS) broke on the way from Hanoi / Gia Lam Airport to Son-La / Na San Airport, a fiercely contested French military base in the Indochina War , a wing. All 30 occupants, 3 crew members and 27 passengers were killed in the crash. The machine was on a military charter flight.

• On June 16, 1953, a Douglas DC-3 / C-47A-65-DL of the Aigle Azur (F-BEST) broke out in flight. The plane crashed on Phou-Lassi Hill in Laos . The wreck was not found until two weeks later, on June 29th. The machine was on a flight from Vientiane to Saigon . All 34 occupants, 5 crew members and 29 passengers were killed.

• On January 31, 1954, a Douglas DC-3 / C-47A-25-DL of the Aigle Azur (F-BGXD) was destroyed when the landing gear was retracted during take-off at the airfield of Dien Bien Phu ( Vietnam ) before the Airplane was in the air. All inmates survived.

• On March 4, 1954, a total of 7 Aigle Azur aircraft were devastated or seriously damaged at Hanoi / Gia Lam airport ( Vietnam ) in the course of fighting during the Indochina War :
  • Airspeed AS.65 Consul F-BCJE destroyed
  • Boeing 307 F-BELV and F-BELY damaged
  • de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver F-OAMH and F-OAMI destroyed
  • Douglas DC-3 F-OAPA damaged, F-OAPC destroyed.

• On August 30, 1954, a Sud-Ouest Bretagne of the Aigle Azur (F-BEHS) was irreparably damaged in an emergency landing in Hanoi , North Vietnam . Nothing is currently known about personal injury.

• On December 4, 1954, a Douglas DC-3 / C-47A-70-DL of the Aigle Azur (F-BEIA) crashed 30 kilometers north of the take-off airport in Luang Prabang , Laos . The machine was on the way on behalf of Air Laos to carry out its first scheduled flight on the route Vientiane - Luang Prabang - Namtha - Muong-Sing. All 29 occupants, 3 crew members and 26 passengers were killed.

See also

• Former Airlines List (Europe)

Web links

Commons : Aigle Azur  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Portrait of Aigle Azur , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 5, 2019.
2. ^ Air Britain, Branche Française: Le Trait d'Union (French) No 11, May 1970, pp. 16, 19.
3. ↑ Portrait Aigle Azur Extrême Orient , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 5, 2019.
4. ↑ Portrait Aigle Azur Maroc , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 5, 2019.
5. ^ Air Britain, Branche Française: Le Trait d'Union (French) No 11, May 1970, p. 11.
6. ↑ ^{a b} rzjets: Aigle Azur (English), accessed on August 5, 2019.
7. ^ Air Britain, Branche Française: Le Trait d'Union (French) No 11, May 1970, p. 11.
8. ^ Air Britain, Branche Française: Le Trait d'Union (French) No 11, May 1970, pp. 9-10.
9. ^ Air Britain, Branche Française: Le Trait d'Union (French) No 11, May 1970, pp. 12-19.
10. ^ Leonard Bridgman (Ed.): Jane's All The World's Aircraft, 1952-53. Sampson Low, Marston & Company, London 1952, p. 18
11. ^ Accident report DC-3 F-BCYP , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 11, 2019.
12. ^ Accident report DC-3 F-OABJ , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 11, 2019.
13. ^ Accident report DC-3 F-BFGL , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 11, 2019.
14. ^ Accident report DC-3 F-OABK , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 5, 2019.
15. ^ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 55 (English), December 1994, pp. 94/112.
16. ^ Accident report DC-3 F-BEFG , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 11, 2019.
17. ^ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 55 (English), December 1994, pp. 94/112.
18. ^ Accident report DC-3 F-BESS , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 11, 2019.
19. ^ Accident report DC-3 F-BEST , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 11, 2019.
20. ↑ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 58 (English), September 1995, pp. 95/81.
21. ↑ Accident report DC-3 F-BGXD , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 11, 2019.
22. ↑ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 58 (English), September 1995, pp. 95/82.
23. ↑ accident report SO.30 Brittany F-Behs , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 11 of 2019.
24. ↑ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 62 (English), September 1996, pp. 96/87.
25. ^ Accident report DC-3 F-BEIA , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 11, 2019.