Silver City Airways
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Silver City Airways was a private, independent British airline between 1946 and 1962.
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| Bristol 170 Series 21 Freighter of Silver City Airways at Manchester Airport in May 1955 |
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[edit] History
The company was named after a nickname of the town of Broken Hill, Australia, where one of the airline's owners (the Zinc Corporation) operated mines. Silver City was first based at Langley Aerodrome, but moved to Blackbushe Airport in 1947 when Langley was forced to close due to the expansion of Heathrow Airport.
In 1948, Zinc Corporation sold the airline to the British Aviation Services Group (a subsidiary of the P&O Shipping Group, trading under the name Britavia).[1]
[edit] Aircraft
Initially, the company bought three Avro Lancastrians (civil version of the Lancaster Mk.3 bomber), which it operated until 1949. The airline's first commercial flight was in November 1946 when Lancastrian G-AHBW flew to Johannesburg and return. In 1947, three additional ex-military aircraft (Dakota or Douglas DC-3 transports) were acquired and used for shorter charter work. Also in 1947, the first Bristol Freighter was leased. Along with one of the Dakotas, this aircraft took part in the airlift of Hindu refugees from Pakistan following Partition of India in 1947. The Bristol Freighter was significant in the development of the airline, and the fleet soon expanded to four aircraft, three of which were used in the Berlin Air Lift in 1948.
The first managing director was Wing Commander "Taffy" Griffith James Powell, a keen and impatient traveller. Powell realised he could adapt the Bristol Freighter to fly passengers and cars from Britain to Continental Europe and Jersey. This "air ferry" would allow British holidaymakers to avoid waits for sea ferries. On the 13 July 1948, the airline made its first flight with a car, from Lympne in Kent to Le Touquet on the northern coast of France.[1] The ferry service was a success, and new cross-Channel routes were introduced, along with shorter-lived services from Stranraer to Belfast. However, it soon became apparent that the grass runway at Lympne was not suitable for the increased volume of traffic.
[edit] Southend and Lydd
The airline moved to Southend Airport where its headquarters remained. Following a further move to West Malling in 1953, the company decided to build its own airport near Lydd, in Kent which it called Ferryfield.[citation needed] A Breguet Br.763 was leased in the summer of 1953 for use on the Hamburg - Berlin route. A total of 127 round trips carried 4,000,000 pounds (1,800 t) of freight with up to three round trips being made in a day, each leg taking 52 minutes flight time. It was rumoured that Silver City would purchase three aircraft at £770,000 but this did not materialise into a sale.[2] In July 1954, after six months' work and a cost of £400,000, it started operations at what was the first post-war airport in the United Kingdom. The Duke of Edinburgh opened Lydd Airport (now London Ashford Airport) on April 5, 1956 and his flight to Le Touquet carried two cars. Regular flights across the English Channel to France were available between 7.30am and 11pm for £25 a car, £4 per passenger. Between 1953 and 1957, 137,000 cars and 500,000 passengers flew with Silver City from Lydd Airport. Car ferry services were also operated from Southampton (Eastleigh) Airport during the mid 1950s.
Silver City took over Air Kruise in 1958 and the group also acquired Lancashire Aircraft Corporation, Manx Airlines and Dragon Airways. Between 1959 and 1962, the airline used the larger Handley Page Hermes to operate passenger flights marketed as the Silver Arrow between Manston and Le Touquet and on holiday flights throughout Europe.
In addition to airports mentioned above, the airline also operated air ferries from Southampton, Hurn and a number of other British airports to continental destinations.
[edit] Takeover
In 1962, Silver City was taken over by Air Holdings, parent of British United Airways which operated similar services to the continent from Rochford Airport in Essex. By the end of 1962, all Silver City aircraft were either in British United colours or had been retired, and so the name ceased to be used. The operation became part of British United Air Ferries (from 1967 simply British Air Ferries).
[edit] Aircraft operated
- Airspeed Consul
- Avro Lancastrian
- Breguet Br.761
- Bristol Freighter
- Bristol Superfreighter
- de Havilland Dove
- de Havilland Dragon Rapide
- de Havilland Express
- de Havilland Heron
- Douglas DC-3
- Handley Page Hermes
- Lockheed Lodestar
- Miles M.57 Aerovan
- Vickers Vanguard
- Vickers Viscount
[edit] Accidents and incidents
There are three recorded accidents involving Silver City Airways aircraft, two of which were fatal.[3]
The worst accident in company history occurred on February 27, 1958, when a Silver City Bristol Freighter on a charter flight from the Isle of Man to Manchester crashed in bad weather on Winter Hill, Lancashire. 35 people were killed.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Flight International, 19 February 1954, From all quarters, Another air-sea merger, p. 158
- ^ Hirst, Mike (2009). "Double-Decker Déja-vu". Aeroplane (December 2009): p72-76.
- ^ Aviation Safety Network > ASN Aviation Safety Database > Operator index > United Kingdom > Silver City Airways
- ^ Morrin, S., The Devil Casts His Net - The Winter Hill Air Disaster
[edit] Further reading
- The Devil Casts His Net, Steve Morrin, ISBN 0-9534503-1-7, The Winter Hill Air Disaster.
[edit] References
- Merton Jones, A. (1976). British Independent Airlines since 1946, Volume One. UK: Merseyside Aviation Society & LAAS International ISBN 0-902420-07-0.
- British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Volume 1, A.J. Jackson, Putnam, London, 1973, ISBN 0-370-10006-9
- The Bristol 170 Freighter, Air-Britain, Tonbridge, 1977, ISBN 0-85130-054-5
- Eglin, Roger, and Ritchie, Berry (1980). Fly me, I'm Freddie. London, UK: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-2977-7746-7.
- Flight International. Sutton, UK: Reed Business Information. ISSN 0015-3710. (various backdated issues relating to Silver City Airways, 1946-1962)
[edit] External links
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