Airline Operations 1939-1940
The Air Ministry had intended to completely take over the Heston site from Airwork Ltd in September 1939 for civil airline operations, but the declaration of war intervened, and the plans were never implemented. By 1 September 1939, the aircraft and administrations of British Airways Ltd (BAL) and Imperial Airways were physically transferred to Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport, to be operated jointly by National Air Communications (NAC). Services to Paris - Le Bourget Airport, Stockholm, and other overseas destinations continued, using types including DH.86, Lockheed 14, DH.91 Albatross, AW.27 Ensign. From October 1939, airlines of neutral countries (such as Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands) were only permitted to fly to coastal civilian airfields such as Shoreham Airport, but Air France was allowed to operate Dewoitine D.338s between Paris and Heston. On 1 April 1940, British Airways Ltd and Imperial Airways were officially merged as a new company, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).
After the surrender of the Netherlands on 14 May 1940, several KLM aircraft evaded capture, and converged on the UK. On 4 June 1940, BOAC started a Heston to Lisbon service, using DH.91 Albatrosses, to connect with transatlantic services of Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) that used Boeing 314 flying boats. Following the fall of France (22 June 1940), on 26 June 1940 the BOAC Lisbon service was switched to the DC-3s chartered from KLM with Dutch crews; by August 1940, five DC-3s were registered in Britain to a KLM subsidiary, nominally based at Heston. In late August 1940, all BOAC aircraft still based at Heston were transferred to Whitchurch, including the KLM DC-3s. For the Lisbon service, a DC-3 would fly to Heston to pick up passengers, then return to Whitchurch for onward travel to Lisbon. On 21 September 1940, DC-3 G-AGBC crashed in fog on landing at Heston during such a flight. Meanwhile, on 19 September 1940, a German parachute mine demolished the 'Dawbarn' hangar, formerly occupied by BAL in 1939, and previously by Airwork. No further airline operations took place at Heston.
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