Talk:Gulf Aviation

Thanks for all the initial input

Thanks to everybody who has contributed so far. My next step will be to add Citations (References) and then work through the various areas and sections that have received input. Simon Woodhead (talk) 10:06, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

References would be helpful at this point to show notability and avoid having it sent to deletion. - Ahunt (talk) 20:27, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

Adding references/citations

Thanks for guidance on citing (referencing) items in the article. Still learning so have added only one so far. Simon Woodhead (talk) 18:45, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

{{WPAVIATION|Defunct-Airlines-project=yes}}

Looking to add this article to the Defunct Airlines project. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Simon Woodhead (talk • contribs) 18:53, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

It already is part of this project. —Compdude¹²³ 19:24, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

Are Gulf Aviation and Gulf Air the same company?

This is currently discussed here. If so, it might result in the content of the Gulf Aviation article being merged into Gulf Air. --FoxyOrange (talk) 15:55, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

The discussion mentioned above was archived a long time ago, but can still be found now here (about one-third of the way down the page, or Ctrl-F 'Gulf')

TLDR: It did not seem to reach an absolute consensus, so here is my take in 2024.

Gulf Air claiming to be founded in 1950 sounds a bit like British Airways claim to be over 100 years old, providing you backtrack through BEA/BOAC (merged 1974), and before that Imperial Airways (1924-39), and before that... right back to Aircraft Transport and Travel, a short lived airline that ran from 1919 to 1921. It's great for publicity, but nobody actually buys it in the corporate sense. For British Airways, 1974 is the commonly accepted date.

And so it is with Gulf Air, who inherited the staff, aircraft and routes from Gulf Aviation, but immediately set about becoming a wholly different airline with major international aspirations. This was evidenced in 1974 when they went from a twice-weekly service to London operated by a single BOAC Vickers VC10, with BOAC crew and colour scheme, to owning five VC10s in full (new) Gulf Air colours, with their own crews (probably recruited from BOAC with generous pay packages). Prior to that they had been invisible in international terms. And the addition of five VC10s increased their capacity by approximately 300% overnight, even before the arrival of Lockheed L-1011 TriStars pushed that figure way higher.

So I see it as Gulf Air were founded in 1974, but can trace their origins back to 1950.

WendlingCrusader (talk) 09:25, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Gulf Aviation Fleet History

In reviewing the Gulf Aviation fleet history, I found that no single online source seems to have a 100% complete record, so I have gathered information from a variety of online sources, verified wherever possible with contemporary photos - I hope this does not constitute 'original research'.

As with previous airline fleets, I find it often helps to identify individual aircraft by registration to avoid confusion. In the case of Gulf Aviation, the Oman register did not even exist prior to 1974, so the majority of aircraft were British-registered. With the creation of Gulf Air in 1974, some of these aircraft then transferred to the A4O- register, often retaining the the final identifying letter.

• Avro Anson; [two] G-AIWX, G-AKVW (4/50 - 1/53)
• Douglas 'DC-3'; [five] G-AGKE, G-ALVZ, G-AMVA, G-AMZZ, G-AOFZ. FWIW the accident list includes VT-DGS, leased from Kalinga Airways,
• de Havilland Dove; [only one positively identified] G-AJPR
• de Havilland Heron; [five] G-AMUK, G-ANFE, G-APJS, G-APKV, G-APKW
• Beechcraft QueenAir; [two] G-AVDR, G-AVDS, (later A4O-CR, -CS)
• BN-2A-7 Islander; [two] G-AYJJ (A4O-DJ), G-AYJK (A4O-DK) 12/71 > 01/83
• Short SC7 Skyvan; [four] G-AXFI, G-BAHK, G-AYJO, G-AYJN; (to Gulf Air as A4O-SI, -SK, -SO, -SN respectively) 1971-1983. Note - all Skyvans were camera-shy e.g. G-AYJN was only caught on film twice, then presumably took up A40-SN, of which there are no records and no photographs! A fifth Skyvan (G-BFUL) was obtained in 1978 hence only served with Gulf Air (as A4O-SM)
• Fokker F27; [three identified, original source stated two] G-AVDN (wef 1/67), G-AWFU, G-AZFD, (to Gulf Air as A4O-FN, -FU, -FD, respectively). A fourth F27 (A4O-FA) ex Maersk OY-APE, only served with Gulf Air
• BAC-1-11; [two] G-AXMU, G-AXOX, (later A4O-BU, -BX respectively). A third BAC-1-11 (A4O-BB) only served with Gulf Air (i.e. not with Gulf Aviation)

In most cases I have been able to confirm the numbers provided by the original editor/ original source "UK and Irish Airlines Since 1945 - Gulf Aviation". Aviation News. 65 (9): 716. September 2003.. I have also got a much clearer idea which aircraft passed on to Gulf Air. But overall, the only real difference is one extra Fokker F27.

However.... after perusing various old timetables, I discovered that in addition to the BOAC VC10 arrangement, other similar arrangements had been in place, featuring DC-6, Viscount and DC-9 aircraft. This timetable from 1965 makes it obvious that the DC-6 services listed as GF12 two days a week, are also KU70 three days a week, i.e. the aircraft is a Kuwait Airways DC-6B. And once I found that, I found this image of 9K-ABC at Airhistory.net - note the Gulf Aviation sticker by the rear door. https://www.airhistory.net/photo/302413/9K-ABC Elsewhere I found references to Kuwait Viscounts tearing up Omans dirt-sand runways with their propwash. But I confess I have not been able to identify any airline providing DC-9s (ca 1971)

FYI the sources I have plundered include; CAA.co.uk G-INFO, www.airliners.net, www.scramble.nl, www.airteamimages.com, www.airport-data.com, www.abpic.co.uk, www.aviationphotocompany.com, www.airhistory.net

WendlingCrusader (talk) 03:03, 20 July 2024 (UTC) WendlingCrusader (talk) 03:03, 20 July 2024 (UTC)