British Eagle

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British Eagle was a major British airline from 1948 to 1968.

[edit] History

The airline was formed in 1948 by Harold Bamberg as Eagle Aviation Ltd with an initial fleet of two wartime Handley Page Halifax bombers converted for freight operations. The airline acquired Air Freight Ltd with three more Halifaxes and was active on the Berlin airlift. Eagle acquired three Avro York aircraft in late 1949, followed by eight others, and used these until early 1955 for both passenger and freight charters.

The airline expanded from charter work into scheduled services from its new base at Blackbushe Airport. The airline operated internal flights within the United Kingdom and into western Europe. The acquistion of several Douglas DC-6 in 1958 allowed the airline to further expand with long range charter work.

In 1960 the Cunard Steamship Company bought a 60% shareholding in the company and the name was changed to Cunard Eagle Airways. The support from the new shareholder enabled Cunard Eagle to become the first British independent airline to operate pure jet airliners. On 5 May 1962, the first of two Boeing 707s inaugurated a scheduled passenger service from London Heathrow to Bermuda and Nassau. Before the second aircraft could be used, the North Atlantic and Caribbean services (and the two Boeing 707s) were sold in June 1962 to a new joint airline BOAC-Cunard.

In 1963 Harold Bamberg raised his holding in the airline to 60% and changed the name to British Eagle International Airlines Ltd. More modern equipment was added to the fleet including the Vickers Viscount and Bristol Britannia.

In 1964 the airline took over the Liverpool-based airline Starways including three Douglas DC-4s and their inclusive tour contracts.

In the next few years the airline expanded with the introduction of the BAC One-Eleven and Boeing 707 and the airline ran scheduled services from London to Liverpool, Glasgow, Luxembourg and Innsbruck. Also many inclusive tour flights particularly for Lunn-Poly travel agents.

British Eagle was forced to ceased operations in November 1968 for financial reasons.

Find all things British Eagle at britisheagle.net