British European Airways

British European Airways (BEA) or British European Airways Corporation was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974.

Formed in 1946 by an Act of Parliament, BEA compulsorily acquired the aircraft fleets and routes of most UK private airlines then operating scheduled services within the UK and Europe. The airline operated European and North African routes from airports around the United Kingdom. BEA was the largest domestic airline within the United Kingdom, operating flights to major British cities, including London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast and Glasgow.

BEA was the first customer for British-built short- and medium-haul airliners of the 1950s and 1960s, including the Vickers Viscount, Vickers Vanguard, BAC One-Eleven 500 and Hawker Siddeley Trident. After earlier trials with a Helicopter Experiment Unit the airline formed a separate helicopter airline, BEA Helicopters, to operate services between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly. In 1969 BEA formed a charter subsidiary BEA Airtours to provide inclusive tour holiday charters. BEA ceased operations in 1974 when it was merged with the British Overseas Airways Corporation to form British Airways. The airline IATA code was "BE" with the callsign "Bealine".

Aircraft operated

* Airspeed Ambassador
* BAC One-Eleven
* Bell 47J Ranger (BEA Helicopters)
* Bell 206 JetRanger (BEA Helicopters)
* Boeing 707 (BEA Airtours)
* de Havilland Comet
* de Havilland Heron
* de Havilland DH.89A Dragon Rapide
* Douglas DC-3
* Hawker Siddeley Argosy
* Handley-Page HPR.7 Herald 100
* Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C/1E
* Hawker Siddeley Trident 2E
* Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B
* Junkers Ju-52/3m
* Short Skyliner
* Sikorsky S-51 (BEA Helicopters)
* Sikorsky S-61N (BEA Helicopters)
* Vickers Merchantman
* Vickers Vanguard
* Vickers Viking
* Vickers Viscount
* Westland Whirlwind (BEA Helicopters)

Incidents and accidents

*On 5 January 1953, Vickers Viking G-AJDL crashed on approach to Belfast-Nutts Corner Airport due to an error of judgement by the pilot. All 27 on board died.
*On 14 March 1957, Flight "Bealine 411" operated by Vickers Viscount G-ALWE crashed on approach to Manchester Airport due to a flap failure caused by metal fatigue. All 20 occupants on board died, and two on the ground.
*On 28 September 1957, de Havilland Heron G-AOFY, on an air ambulance flight, crashed on approach to Glenegedale Airport, Islay, in bad weather. The three occupants, two crew and one nurse, were killed.
*On 23 October 1957, Vickers Viscount G-AOJA crashed after overshooting on approach to Belfast-Nutts Corner Airport. The cause was not determined. All seven occupants died.
*Munich air disaster - on 6 February 1958, British European Airways Flight "Bealine 609" crashed in a blizzard on its third attempt to take off from an icy runway at the Munich-Riem airport in Germany. On board the plane was the Manchester United football team, along with supporters and journalists. Twenty-three of the 43 passengers on board the aircraft died. The charter flight was operated by British European Airways with an Airspeed Ambassador G-ALZU 'Lord Burghley'.
*On 22 October 1958, Flight "Bealine 142" operated by Vickers Viscount G-ANHC was hit by an Italian Air Force F-86 Sabre and crashed with the loss of all 31 on board.
*On 21 December 1961, De Havilland Comet 4B G-ARJM stalled on take-off from Esenboga Airport, Ankara, Turkey. The aircraft was being operated for Cyprus Airways. The aircraft was destroyed, with the loss of six crew and 20 passengers.
*On 27 October 1965, Vickers Vanguard G-APEE on a flight from Edinburgh crashed on to the runway during an approach in bad weather at London Heathrow Airport. All 36 on board died.
*On 12 October 1967, Flight "Bealine 284" operated by De Havilland Comet 4 G-ARCO on behalf of Cyprus Airways exploded in mid-air over the Mediterranean and crashed into the sea with the loss of all 66 on board. The explosion was caused by a device under a passenger seat.
* On 2 October 1971, British European Airways Flight "Bealine 706", operated by Vickers Vanguard G-APEC, crashed near Aarsele, Belgium following a mid-air explosive decompression caused by a fatigue failure. All 63 on board died.
*On 18 June 1972, British European Airways Flight "Bealine 548", operated by a British European Airways (BEA) Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C G-ARPI, crashed two minutes after takeoff from Heathrow Airport, killing all 118 passengers and crew. The crash occurred close to the town of Staines, Middlesex.

Other facts of interest

* On 10 June 1965 a BEA Trident 1 (G-ARPR) operating Flight "Bealine 343" from Paris to London Heathrow Airport, made the world's first fully-automatic landing of a commercial airliner with fare-paying passengers.
* The Beatles occasionally flew BEA. On one flight, Ringo Starr held a “TLES” sign next to the BEA logo on the airplane door, spelling out BEATLES. A similar change to the logo was made at the end of A Hard Day's Night.
* The BEA is mentioned in Bill Wyman's 1981 song 'Je suis un rock star'.
* BEA employed the archetypal London red Routemaster buses in a blue and white livery with luggage trailers as airport buses on services to Heathrow Airport [ [http://www.flickr.com/photos/boxley/1051474173/ Image of a BEA Routemaster bus] ]

References

Phil Lo Bao and Iain Hutchison, 'BEAline to the Islands' (2002) ISBN 9780951895849 http://www.keapublishing.com

Captain E E Fresson, 'Air Road to the Isles' (2008) ISBN 9780951895894 http://www.keapublishing.com

Iain Hutchison, 'The Flight of the Starling: the flying Career of Captain Eric Starling FRMetS MRAeS' (1992) ISBN 9780951895801 http://www.keapublishing.com

Roy Calderwood, 'Times subject to Tides: the story of Barra Airport' (1999) ISBN 9780951895832 http://www.keapublishing.com

Iain Hutchison, 'Air Ambulance: six decades of the Scottish Air Ambulance Service' (1996)ISBN 9780951895825 http://www.keapublishing.com

Guy Warner, 'Orkney by Air' (2005) ISBN 9780951895870 http://www.keapublishing.com

Phil Lo Bao, 'An Illustrated History of British European Airways' (1989) Browcom ISBN 0946141398

External links

* [http://www.bamuseum.com/ British Airways Archive and Museum Collection]