The de Havilland DH.106 Comet is the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It features an aerodynamically clean design with four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines buried in the wing roots, a pressurised cabin, and large windows. For the era, it offered a relatively quiet, comfortable passenger cabin and was commercially promising at its debut in 1952.
Glasgow Prestwick Airport, commonly referred to as Prestwick Airport, is an international airport serving the west of Scotland, situated one nautical mile northeast of the town of Prestwick Scotland, and 32 miles southwest of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the less busy of the two airports serving the western part of Scotland's Central Belt, after Glasgow Airport in Renfrewshire, within the Greater Glasgow conurbation. The airport serves the urban cluster surrounding Ayr, including Kilmarnock, Irvine, Ardrossan, Troon, Saltcoats, Stevenston, Kilwinning, and Prestwick itself.
The Bristol Type 175 Britannia is a retired British medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to meet British civilian aviation needs. During development two prototypes were lost and the turboprop engines proved susceptible to inlet icing, which delayed entry into service while solutions were sought.
The Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was a large long-range airliner developed from the C-97 Stratofreighter military transport, itself a derivative of the B-29 Superfortress. The Stratocruiser's first flight was on July 8, 1947. Its design was advanced for its day; its relatively innovative features included two passenger decks and a pressurized cabin. It could carry up to 100 passengers on the main deck plus 14 in the lower deck lounge; typical seating was for 63 or 84 passengers or 28 berthed and five seated passengers.
The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earliest jet airliner—the de Havilland Comet—entered service and only a few years before the jet-powered Douglas DC-8 first flew in 1958. Larger numbers of both DC-7B and DC-7C variants were also built.
British South American Airways (BSAA) was a state-run airline of the United Kingdom in the mid-to-late 1940s responsible for services to the Caribbean and South America. Originally named British Latin American Air Lines, it was renamed before services started in 1946. BSAA operated mostly Avro aircraft: Yorks, Lancastrians and Tudors and flew to Bermuda, the West Indies, Mexico and the western coast of South America. After two high-profile aircraft disappearances it was merged into the British Overseas Airways Corporation at the end of 1949.
BOAC Flight 781 was a scheduled British Overseas Airways Corporation passenger flight from Singapore to London. On 10 January 1954, a de Havilland Comet passenger jet operating the flight suffered an explosive decompression at altitude and crashed, killing all 35 people on board.
South African Airways Flight 201 (SA201), a de Havilland Comet 1, took off at 18:32 UTC on 8 April 1954 from Ciampino Airport in Rome, Italy, en route to Cairo, Egypt, on the second stage of its flight from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa. The flight crashed at around 19:07 UTC, killing all on board. The flight was operated as a charter by British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) using the aircraft registration G-ALYY, with a South African crew of seven, and carrying fourteen passengers.
Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z was a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong operated by Cathay Pacific using a Convair CV-880 aircraft that crashed in Pleiku, then in South Vietnam on the afternoon of 15 June 1972, killing all 81 passengers and crew on board.
BOAC Flight 911 was a round-the-world flight operated by the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) that crashed near Mount Fuji in Japan on 5 March 1966, with the loss of all 113 passengers and 11 crew members. The Boeing 707 flying the route disintegrated mid-air shortly after departing from Tokyo Haneda Airport as a result of severe clear-air turbulence.
Pan American World Airways Flight 202 was a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser aircraft that crashed in the Amazon Basin about 281 nautical miles southwest of Carolina, Brazil, on April 29, 1952. The accident happened en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, during the third leg of a four-leg journey. All 50 people on board were killed in the deadliest-ever accident involving the Boeing 377.
Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103 was a flight from Taiwan Taipei Songshan Airport to Kaohsiung International Airport that crashed on 22 August 1981, killing all 110 people on board. The Boeing 737-222 aircraft disintegrated in midair and crashed in the township of Sanyi, Miaoli. It is also called the Sanyi Air Disaster. The crash is the third-deadliest aviation accident on the Taiwanese soil, behind China Airlines Flight 676 and China Airlines Flight 611.
Pan Am Flight 7 was a westbound round-the-world flight operated by Pan American World Airways. On November 8, 1957, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser 10-29 serving the flight, named Clipper Romance of the Skies, crashed in the Pacific Ocean en route to Honolulu International Airport from San Francisco. The crash killed all 36 passengers and eight crew members.
Scottish Airlines (Prestwick) Limited was formed in 1946 as a subsidiary of Scottish Aviation Limited. The airline commenced worldwide passenger and cargo charter flights from bases at Prestwick and Stansted. It also participated in the Berlin Airlift, became a trooping carrier for the British Armed Forces, and began contract flights on behalf of Air France, British European Airways (BEA), Compagnie Belge des Transports Aériens, Iceland Airways and KLM.
On 24 June 1956, a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) four-engined Canadair C-4 Argonaut airliner crashed into a tree on departure from Kano Airport in Nigeria, three crew and 29 passengers were killed.
The 1947 BOAC Douglas C-47 Crash occurred on 11 January 1947 when Douglas C-47A G-AGJX of British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) crashed into a hill at Stowting, Kent, in southeast England, killing five people outright, with a further three dying from injuries received. The aircraft had been operating a scheduled international flight to West Africa via France. Poor weather caused the aircraft to attempt to divert. After attempts to land at a number of French airports, the pilot decided to return to the United Kingdom as he was running short of fuel. The aircraft crashed while attempting to land at Lympne Airport.
On 2 February 1953, an Avro York four-engined piston airliner registered G-AHFA of Skyways disappeared over the North Atlantic on a flight from the United Kingdom to Jamaica. The aircraft had 39 occupants including 13 children.
A British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Lockheed L-749A Constellation crashed and caught fire as it attempted to land at Kallang Airport on 13 March 1954, killing 33 of the 40 passengers and crew. The accident occurred when the aircraft struck a seawall on approach to the runway. The inquiry attributed this to crew tiredness, noting that the captain had been on duty for over 21 hours. It also criticised the response of the airport fire unit. This is the highest death toll of any aviation accident in Singapore.
British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the passing of the Civil Aviation Act 1946, European and South American services passed to two further state-owned airlines, British European Airways (BEA) and British South American Airways (BSAA). BOAC absorbed BSAA in 1949, but BEA continued to operate British domestic and European routes for the next quarter century. The Civil Aviation Act 1971 merged BOAC and BEA, effective 31 March 1974, forming today's British Airways.
