British Overseas Airways Corporation
| BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation |
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| IATA code : | BA |
| ICAO code : | BA |
| Call sign : | SPEEDBIRD |
| Founding: | 1939 |
| Operation stopped: | 1974 |
| Seat: |
London , UK
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| Turnstile : | |
| Home airport : | London Heathrow Airport |
| Fleet size: | 71 |
| Aims: | international |
| BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation ceased operations in 1974. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. |
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Comet 1 of the BOAC at London Heathrow Airport
Vickers VC10 of BOAC at London Heathrow Airport in November 1972
The British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC for short ) was a British airline based in London and based at London Heathrow Airport . From its merger with British European Airways , today's British Airways was created in 1974 .
history
The British Overseas Airways Corporation emerged in 1939 from the merger of Imperial Airways and the first British Airways . The company also used flying boats on its lines until 1950. The flight from Southampton to the Vaal Dam near Johannesburg lasted 5 days, with passengers spending their nights in hotels and visiting the cities. The opening of the then most modern airfield in Africa in Livingstone in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia ) made it possible to reach South Africa with Hermes aircraft from London in a flight time of only 30 hours. The South America department was added to this on January 1, 1950 through the incorporation of the previously independent BSAA - British South American Airways , which then disappeared as a brand.
On May 2, 1952, the BOAC took up scheduled jet airliner service with the De Havilland DH.106 Comet as the first airline worldwide . After various accidents, this type of flight was initially banned and later abandoned.
In 1974, the British government decided to merge BOAC with British European Airways . The new company still exists today and was named British Airways .
fleet
The BOAC has operated an extensive fleet of aircraft from different eras, including Douglas DC-3 , Vickers Viscount and Boeing 747-100 .
The following is a detailed list of the patterns:
| Airplane type | year |
|---|---|
| Airspeed Oxford | 1948 |
| Airspeed Consul | 1949 |
| Armstrong Whitworth AW38 Whitley 5th | 1942 |
| Armstrong Whitworth Ensign | 1939 |
| Avro Lancaster | 1944 |
| Avro Lancastrian | 1945 |
| Avro Tudor 1 | 1946 |
| Avro York | 1944 |
| Bristol Britannia | 1955 |
| Boeing 314 A | 1941 |
| Boeing 377 Stratocruiser | 1949 |
| Boeing 707 | 1960 |
| Boeing 747 | 1969 |
| Canadair C-4 Argonaut | 1949 |
| Consolidated Model 28 Catalina | 1940 |
| Consolidated Model 32 Liberator | 1941 |
| Curtis Wright CW-20 | 1941 |
| De Havilland DH.91 Albatross | 1940 |
| De Havilland DH.95 Flamingo | 1940 |
| De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito | 1943 |
| De Havilland DH.104 Dove | 1946 |
| De Havilland DH.106 Comet | 1951 |
| Douglas DC-3 | 1940 |
| Douglas DC-7C | 1956 |
| Focke-Wulf Fw 200 B Condor | 1940 |
| Handley Page Halifax | 1946 |
| Handley Page Halton | 1946 |
| Handley Page Hermes | 1949 |
| Lockheed Constellation | 1946 |
| Lockheed Hudson | 1941 |
| Lockheed Lodestar | 1941 |
| Short Empire | 1936 |
| Short Sunderland | 1942 |
| Short p.26 | 1939 |
| Short Sandringham | 1947 |
| Short Solent | 1946 |
| Vickers VC10 | 1964 |
| Vickers Warwick | 1942 |
Incidents
From 1939 to 1974 BOAC suffered 69 total aircraft losses due to accidents (losses due to war, such as kills, are not included). People were killed in 35 of them. Examples:
- On July 16, 1947, an Avro York C.1 of the BOAC ( aircraft registration G-AGNR ) was flown into the ground during the fourth attempt at the Shaibah Air Base ( Iraq ). Due to poor visibility at the actual destination, Basra Airport , the crew avoided the Shaibah Air Base. All 6 crew members were killed; the 12 passengers survived.
- On February 1, 1949, an Avro York I of the BOAC (G-AGJD) turned to the right during crosswind take-off at the Tripoli-Castel Benito military airfield ( Libya ); it was over-corrected and the machine crashed. All 15 occupants, 6 crew members and 9 passengers survived.
- On May 2, 1953, six minutes after taking off from Calcutta airport, a BOAC De Havilland Comet 1 (G-ALYV) broke during a climb during a heavy monsoon rain 32 kilometers northwest of the take-off airport. All 43 people on board died. The total loss of the G-ALYV was explained by bad weather conditions. After two further total losses, a serious design error in connection with material fatigue was found to be the cause of the accident. The airframe could not withstand the effects of the air pressure differential it was exposed to on the ground and in the air at around 11,000 meters above sea level and suffered small cracks that then broke the aircraft apart in the air (see the De Havilland Comet accident series ).
- On July 25, 1953, a De Havilland Comet 1 of the BOAC (G-ALYR) got at Calcutta airport while rolling on unpaved ground, with the right chassis being pushed up through the wing, which led to a total write-off . The trigger was a bad design of the Comet's headlights. The right and left landing lights had to be switched on and off alternately to prevent the lamps from melting. The switches for this were located behind the seat of the captain, who had to let go of the nose wheel steering to operate. All 42 people on board were uninjured.
- On January 10, 1954, about twenty minutes after taking off from Rome-Ciampino airport in the direction of London near the island of Elba (Italy), the BOAC's Comet 1 G-ALYP broke for an unknown cause. All 35 inmates were killed. During the ongoing investigations, the Comet was initially banned from flying. The cause of the accident could not initially be determined. Just two months after the launch ban had been lifted, another Comet crashed on April 8 (see there) under similar circumstances.
- On April 8, 1954, the BOAC's G-ALYY was lost in a similarly puzzling manner near Stromboli , Italy. A good half an hour after taking off from Rome Ciampino airport , the Comet 1 chartered by South African Airways broke and crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea - all 21 people on board were killed. It was the third de Havilland Comet accident in a year under similar circumstances. The type certificate was then withdrawn. Extensive investigations revealed material fatigue due to the use of the pressurized cabin as the cause of the accident, a new finding at the time, and the aircraft type was redesigned.
- On December 25, 1954, a Boeing 377 of the BOAC (G-ALSA) at Prestwick Airport had an extremely hard landing in front of the start of the runway. The plane coming from London jumped up again and crashed onto the runway. Of the 36 inmates, 28 were killed, including all but one of the passengers.
- On September 21, 1955, after three failed approach attempts, a Canadair C-4 Argonaut ( G-ALHL ) crashed at Tripoli Airport when the machine brushed against trees 360 m in front of the runway during the fourth attempt and fell ( controlled flight into terrain ). Of the 47 people on board, 15 were killed.
- On April 22, 1956, an Avro York C.1 of BOAC (G-AGNS) was irreparably damaged on the ground at Tripoli Idris International Airport ( Libya ). All inmates survived.
- On June 24, 1956, a BOAC Canadair C-4 Argonaut ( aircraft registration G-ALHE ) crashed near Kano Airport shortly after take-off when it brushed trees behind the runway after entering a thunderstorm cell. Of the 45 people on board, 32 were killed.
- On December 24, 1958, a BOAC (G-AOVD) Bristol Britannia 312 was flown into the ground near Bournemouth in foggy weather. The machine was on a test flight as part of its annual inspection. The ergonomically very unfavorable design of the altimeter as a three-pointer instrument was named as a contributing factor. Nine of the twelve occupants were killed, including all seven passengers.
- On November 11, 1960 there was a loss of hydraulic pressure in a Bristol Britannia 102 of the BOAC (G-ANBC) , which is why the landing gear could not be extended and locked. The landing at Khartoum Airport ( Sudan ) took place on a strip next to the actual runway, resulting in a total loss of the aircraft. All 27 occupants, 9 crew members and 18 passengers survived.
- On March 5, 1966, a BOAC (G-APFE) Boeing 707-436 had an accident seventeen minutes after take-off from Tokyo Haneda Airport when it broke apart as a result of severe clear air turbulence in the air. All 124 people on board who were on a circumnavigation of the world were killed (see BOAC flight 911 ) .
- On April 8, 1968, a BOAC ( G-ARWE ) Boeing 707-465 had to return to Heathrow Airport due to an engine fire after take-off . The engine stalled during the landing, but the fire continued. After the successful emergency landing, the pilots and flight engineers left the cockpit without going through the items on the relevant checklists. Therefore, among other things, more and more fuel was pumped into the fire under the machine. Then the entire machine was evacuated. Of the 127 people on board, 5 were killed (see BOAC flight 712 ) .
- In September 1970 PFLP terrorists hijacked a total of four passenger planes; a fifth abduction failed. Three of the machines, including a Vickers VC10 from BOAC, were diverted to Zarqa in Jordan. After several days of war of nerves, the planes were blown up on September 12th. Eventually all of the hostages were released unharmed.
Trivia
- BOAC is mentioned in the first line of the Beatles' song Back in the USSR : "Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC, didn't get to bed last night."
- In the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming Bond flies several times with BOAC, including in The Man with the Golden Gun .
- In Agatha Christie's novel They Came to Baghdad from 1951, everyone involved flies to Baghdad with BOAC .
- In the English movie Hotel International from 1964, BOAC is the dominant airline.
- In Graham Greene's novel Our Man in Havana, Hawthorne's boss replied to his description of his meal on a Pan American flight : “What a horrible mixture. You should travel with BOAC. "
- In Jeffrey Archer's novel Legacy and Destiny (Part 3 of the Clifton Saga ), main character Harry Clifton travels from London to Buenos Aires and back in 1957, disguised as a BOAC pilot .
See also
Web links
Commons : British Overseas Airways Corporation - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
- Early newspaper articles on the British Overseas Airways Corporation in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Innovations in air traffic to South Africa NZZ, August 25, 1950, page F6
- ↑ aerotransport.org - BOAC fleet (English) accessed on September 10, 2011
- ↑ Accident Statistics British Overseas Airways Corporation , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 28, 2016.
- ^ Accident report Avro York G-AGNR , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on October 27, 2019.
- ^ Accident report Avro York G-AGJD , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on October 27, 2019.
- ↑ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium (English), March 1995, pp. 95/25.
- ^ Accident report Comet 1 G-ALYV , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 20, 2017.
- ^ Accident report Comet 1 G-ALYR , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on November 11, 2017.
- ^ Accident report Comet 1 G-ALYP , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 22, 2017.
- ^ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium (English) part 59, December 1995, pp. 95/112.
- ^ Accident report Comet 1 G-ALYY , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 22, 2017.
- ^ Accident report B-377 G-ALSA , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 10, 2018.
- ^ Accident report Argonaut G-ALHL , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 19, 2016.
- ^ Accident report Avro York G-AGNS , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on October 27, 2019.
- ^ Accident report Canadair North Star G-ALHE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 20, 2016.
- ^ Accident report Britannia 312 G-AOVD , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 10, 2018.
- ^ Accident report Britannia 102 G-ANBC , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 15, 2020.
- ^ Accident report B-707-400 G-APFE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on January 16, 2019.
- ^ ICAO Aircraft Accident Digest 18-II
- ^ Accident report B-707 G-ARWE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 1, 2017.
- ^ Hijacking a Swissair DC-8 to Zerqa in: NZZ Online from September 5, 2005.
Airlines from the United Kingdom , British Overseas Territories and the Crown possessions of the British Crown
