Transair (UK)
Founded | 1947 |
---|---|
Ceased operations | 1960 (member of London Gatwick Airport (May 1958 — 1960) |
Fleet size | 13 aircraft (2 Vickers Viscount 800 series, 11 Douglas DC-3 [as of April 1958]) |
Destinations | British Isles Europe |
Headquarters | Croydon Airport (1947 — April 1958) London Gatwick Airport (May 1958 — 1960) |
Key people | G.H. Freeman, C.W. Bebb, H.S. Perren |
Transair Limited was an early post-
History
In 1947, former Royal Air Force pilot Gerald "Gerry" Freeman founded Transair Ltd as an air taxi operator at Croydon Airport (London's main airport pre-war).[3]
Following a difficult start, in Britain's poor economic conditions, the airline became very profitable by specialising in distributing newspapers. By 1952, the number of annual newspaper delivery flights using Avro Ansons exceeded 3,000. Transair's newspaper flights also established industry performance standards.[4]
In 1953, Transair began flying British holidaymakers to sunnier climes in the
By late 1956, Freeman was planning to shift Transair's operating base and headquarters from Croydon to
By the time Transair joined Airwork, its operations encompassed the Viscount trooping contract between the United Kingdom and the Western Mediterranean, intensive mail and freight services under long-term charter contracts, IT flights, ad hoc night charters and a seasonal London—Jersey scheduled service.[2]
In May 1958, Transair shifted its entire operation from Croydon to Gatwick.[2] By that time, its fleet consisted of three Viscounts and ten Dakotas. On 30 May 1958, Transair operated the first commercial air service from Gatwick.[6] Transair's Viscount 804 G-AOXU was the first aircraft of its type to be based at the airport.[7] This was also the time the process of merging the Airwork-controlled airlines with Hunting-Clan to form BUA started.
During 1959, Transair recorded a profit of £400,000, as a result of which it became Airwork's most profitable airline subsidiary. Freeman's rigid attention to detail and the good systems he had put in place made Transair the most efficient Airwork airline. This in turn made Transair's financial performance superior to other Airwork airlines.[8] In 1959 Airwork also took over Air Charter, Freddie Laker's first airline venture.[9]
Following Airwork's takeover of Air Charter, the Airwork board put Freeman in charge of the entire group's UK and European short-haul operations. As part of this deal, Transair took over the management of all the group's UK regional services, leaving Laker to concentrate on the group's long-haul trooping flights and other long-distance charter services.[10]
By the time Airwork merged with Hunting-Clan to form BUA in July 1960, the former's air transport subsidiaries already included Airwork Helicopters, Air Charter, Bristow Helicopters, Channel Air Bridge, Transair and Morton Air Services.[7][9]
Fleet
Transair operated the following aircraft types:
In April 1958, the Transair fleet comprised 13 aircraft.[2]
Aircraft | Number |
---|---|
Vickers Viscount 804 | 2 |
Douglas DC-3 | 11 |
Another Viscount 804 was on order.
Accidents and incidents
There was one fatal accident involving a Transair aircraft.
On 19 August 1959, Douglas DC-3 (registration: G-AMZD) a non-scheduled flight returning from Barcelona, operating under visual flight rules crashed into Mount Montseny in the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range after entering cloud, killing all 32 occupants.[11]
See also
Notes
- Notes
- government-owned corporations
- Citations
- ^ Fly me, I'm Freddie!, pp. 59/60
- ^ a b c d Flight International, 18 April 1958, World Airline Directory ..., p. 528
- ^ Fly me, I'm Freddie!, pp. 56, 59
- ^ a b c Fly me, I'm Freddie!, p. 60
- ^ Fly me, I'm Freddie!, p. 44
- ^ Cooper, B., Got your number, Golden Gatwick, Skyport, Gatwick edition, Hounslow, 6 June 2008, p. 12
- ^ a b "History — 1958", Gatwick Aviation Society website
- ^ Fly me, I'm Freddie!, p. 64
- ^ a b Fly me, I'm Freddie!, p. 61
- ^ Fly me, I'm Freddie!, p. 65
- ^ "The Transair DC-3 Accident". Flight: 389. 18 March 1960.
Sources
- Eglin, Roger & Ritchie, Berry (1980). Fly me, I'm Freddie. London, UK: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-77746-7.
- Skyport — Gatwick edition (Cooper, B., Got your number, Golden Gatwick, p. 12), 6 June 2008. Hounslow, UK.