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The
British Airways Archive and Museum Collection
has existed since the formation of British
Airways. It was formed to preserve the records
and artefacts of British Airways predecessor
companies BOAC, BEA, BSAA and the pre-war
Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd.
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The
Collection comprises an extensive document
archive recording the formation, development
and operations of the above companies and
British Airways as well as memorabilia and
artefacts. Over 130 uniforms from the 1930s
to the present day are preserved as well as
a large collection of aircraft models and
pictures. An historically important collection
of thousands of photographs is also available
as well as probably the most complete set
of aviation posters in the UK. Copies of these
photographs and posters are available to purchase
and many are shown in the images sections
of this web site. Further images will be included
over time and additional sections completed.
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The
Collection is manned by volunteers whose dedication,
together with the generosity of many staff and
former colleagues from donations of artefacts,
have built the Collection to what it is today.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Collection.
We particularly welcome information, guidance
and advice on the Collection, particularly from
first-hand experiences from those who have played
some part in our history. The main episodes of
our history are as follows:
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British
Airways can trace its origins back to the
birth of civil aviation, the pioneering
days following World War I. On 25 August
1919, its forerunner company, Aircraft Transport
and Travel Limited (AT&T), launched
the world's first daily international scheduled
air service between London and Paris. That
initial proving flight, operated by a single-engined
de Havilland DH4A biplane taking off from
Hounslow Heath, near its successor company's
current Heathrow base, carried a single
passenger and cargo that included newspapers,
Devonshire cream and grouse. It took two
and a half hours to reach Le Bourget. Shortly
afterwards, two more British companies started
services to Paris, and to Brussels - Instone,
the shipping group, and Handley Page, the
aircraft manufacturer. These pioneer companies
struggled against severe difficulties. Passengers
were few, fares high, and air travel seldom
less than an adventure. One pilot took two
days for the two-hour flight to Paris, making
33 forced landings along the way. One by
one, the fledgling companies ceased operations,
undercut by heavily subsidised French and
Dutch competitors.
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In
1924, Britain's four main fledgling airlines,
which had by then evolved into Instone,
Handley Page, The Daimler Airway and British
Marine Air Navigation Company, merged
to form Imperial Airways Limited. By 1925,
Imperial Airways was providing services
to Paris, Brussels, Basle, Cologne and
Zurich. Operating from the new London
airport at Croydon, services were introduced
during the 1920s and 1930s to Egypt, the
Arabian Gulf, India, South Africa, Singapore
and West Africa. In co-operation with
Qantas Empire Airways Limited, which operated
between Singapore and Australia, a service
between the UK and Australia was established
in 1935. Meanwhile, a number of smaller
UK air transport companies had started
flights. In 1935, they merged to form
the original privately-owned British Airways
Limited, which became Imperial Airways'
principal UK competitor on European routes,
operating out of another new airport,
Gatwick. Following a Government review,
Imperial Airways and British Airways were
nationalised in 1939 to form British Overseas
Airways Corporation (BOAC).
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Post-war,
BOAC continued to operate longhaul services,
other than routes to South America. These
were flown by British South American Airways
(BSAA), which was merged back into BOAC
in 1949. Continental European and domestic
flights were flown by a new airline, British
European Airways (BEA). BOAC introduced
services to New York in 1946, Japan in1948,
Chicago in 1954 and the west coast of the
United States in 1957. BEA developed a domestic
network to various points in the United
Kingdom, including Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow
and Manchester. From 1946 until 1960, BOAC
and BEA were the principal British operators
of scheduled international passenger and
cargo services - and they preserved Britain's
pioneering role in the industry. The 1950s
saw the world enter the passenger jet era
- led by BOAC, with the Comet 1 flying to
Johannesburg in 1952, halving the previous
flight time. Despite grounding the Comet
fleet after two crashes in 1954, BOAC was
still able to claim the distinction of operating
the first jet transatlantic service in October
1958, with two Comet 4s flying simultaneously
from London and New York, days ahead of
their American rivals. The next decade saw
another world beater, when BEA's Trident
aircraft made the first automatic landing
on a scheduled service, heralding the era
of all-weather operations. The birth of
the mass package holiday business meant
changes in the airline industry. BEA met
this by establishing its own charter airline,
BEA Airtours, which took off in 1970. This
mantle was carried for the Group by Caledonian
Airways until March 1995, when the company
was sold.
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Following
the formation of the Air Transport Licensing
Board in 1960, other British airlines
began to operate competing scheduled services.
Indeed, several of the smaller domestic
airlines - including Cambrian Airways
and BKS (later Northeast Airlines) - eventually
passed into BEA's ownership. In 1967,
the Government set up another study into
the industry. It recommended a holding
board to be responsible for the two main
airlines, BOAC and BEA, with the establishment
of a second force airline, brought about
by unifying various independents. As a
result, British Caledonian was born in
1970, when the original Caledonian Airways
took over British United Airways. Two
years later, the businesses of BOAC and
BEA were combined under the newly formed
British Airways Board, with the separate
airlines coming together as British Airways
in 1974. Although this merger was to lead
initially to substantial financial losses
and industrial strife, the new airline
inherited its predecessors' pioneering
path, launching the world's first supersonic
passenger service, simultaneously with
Air France, with Concorde in January 1976.
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In
July 1979, the Government announced its
intention to sell shares in British Airways.
The Civil Aviation Act 1980 was passed to
enable this to happen. Lord King was appointed
Chairman in 1981 and charged by the Secretary
of State for Trade to take all necessary
steps to restore the Group to profitability
and prepare it for privatisation. With an
overall deficit of £544 million declared
for 1981-82, including special provisions
to pay for an extensive "survival plan",
which included staff cuts, suspension of
unprofitable routes and disposal of surplus
assets, the task of re-establishing the
company as the world's leading airline began
in April 1983 with the repositioning of
the carrier as the World's Favourite Airline.
In February 1987 British Airways was privatised.
Over one million applications were received
for shares in the airline, offered at 125
pence, making the flotation 11 times oversubscribed.
Freed from the constraints of Government
ownership, British Airways announced a merger
with British Caledonian in July. The merger
went ahead following approval by the Monopolies
and Mergers Commission later that year.
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