This is a delightful and well-research history of BAOC, one of the great pioneering national flag carriers. The British Empire needed a fast reliable method transport provided by Imperial Airways that was followed by BAOC as a wartime airline that transitioned into peacetime, introduced the first jet airliner and the first supersonic airliner in a tradition followed on by British Airways. – Much Recommended
NAME: The British Overseas Airways Corporation, A History FILE: R2788 AUTHOR: Graham M Simons PUBLISHER: Pen and Sword BINDING: hard back PAGES: 320 PRICE: £30.00 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: BAOC, Imperial Airways, WWII, World War Two, World War 2, Second World War, post war aviation, national flag carriers, Comet, Britannia, Lancastrian, Albatross, Whitley, Mosquito, C-47, Commando, Empire Flying Boats, Boeing flying boat, Strato Cruiser, Constellation, Boeing 707, VC10
ISBN: 1-47388-357-1
IMAGE: B2788.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/y8v6utbe LINKS: DESCRIPTION: This is a delightful and well-research history of BAOC, one of the great pioneering national flag carriers. The British Empire needed a fast reliable method transport provided by Imperial Airways that was followed by BAOC as a wartime airline that transitioned into peacetime, introduced the first jet airliner and the first supersonic airliner in a tradition followed on by British Airways. - Much Recommended The author has provided a colourful, entertaining, absorbing and well-researched history of BAOC that is highly illustrated with a fascinating selection of images , many of which are rare and will be seen for the first time in a modern review of a national flag carrier. Imperial Airways was one of the great pioneers of civil aviation and particularly of long distance passenger transport. It continued to operate long range flying boats as it began to introduce long range land planes with a network of seaplane bases and airfields throughout the Empire and countries between. It showed the way in these areas and opened up the Empire in a manner not previously possible with regular flights around the world. BAOC was a child of WWII, started in 1940. It took over from Imperial Airways and it provided a unique service during the global war. This history shows some of the little known aircraft types and the use of military aircraft. Obsolescent bombers were converted for use, some achieving greater success than others, there was also the extensive use of the latest military transport aircraft. One remarkable aircraft was the first civilianized high speed Mosquito which provided the fastest transport of high value cargoes. At the end of WWII, BOAC had a large fleet that was made up of many very different aircraft, including British and US flying boats. The future for air travel looked exciting, but Britain was nearly bankrupt from the cost of the war and in the grip of its second National Socialist Government that wanted to nationalize anything that moved and anything that did not. BAOC really needed updated airfields that were designed for civil use and new generations of aircraft that were designed from scratch as civil passenger and freight machines. The US aviation industry was starting to transition back to civil aircraft production but British aviation industry was in a state of confusion, further hindered by politicians interfering without the knowledge to benefit the industry. However, work was forging ahead on the development of the Comet as the world's first jet passenger plane and the first semi-civilian US types were coming into service. Aircraft like the Boeing Strato Cruiser may have made extensive use of proven components from the B-29 Super Fortress, but it had a new figure eight fuselage designed and built for luxury pressurized passenger accommodation, rather different from the Avro Lancastrian that was noticeably a lightly converted Lancaster bomber. The Comet inevitably suffered from its revolutionary design and defects in the design of the pressurized hull caused fatal crashes, taking much longer than it should to correct. By the time the Comet was fit to re-enter the passenger market, the Boeing 707 was in production and initial service, providing more space, and a number of other benefits, from not being first in its field. BAOC quickly adopted the Boeing and began a long term close affinity to Boeing as a favoured supplier at the expense of the British aviation industry. That did not however stop it from also buying some innovative British designs such as the VC10 and the Britannia. During this process, BAOC was the long range national flag carrier with BEA providing short range services. It became clear that the two airlines needed to be merged to take advantage of new ranges of aircraft types and reduce operating costs, while preparing to introduce the first supersonic transport into service. Concorde was to prove as revolutionary as the Comet had been on its introduction but it also suffered the same challenges of being the first of its type and using the most advanced components with operation beyond any parameter previously experienced in airline service or even in military service. The comments of the crew of a US SR-71 Blackbird were interesting. As they overflew Cuba, a BAOC Concorde was preparing to land at Miami airport and the Blackbird crew were in awe at the thought that Concorde was operating at the sort of altitude and speed that Blackbird was capable of but its crew of two had to wear spacesuits to do that while in Concorde passengers in their shirt sleeves were enjoying a final glass of champaign before the Concorde began descending on its landing path. The author has captured the essence of BAOC and presented it in a highly readable form to grip the readers' attention.