The Airways flying club was formed in 1948 under the name of the Airways Aero Club, by employees of

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The ...

(BEA) and

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the United Kingdom, British state-owned national airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II ...

(BOAC). The club is operated by Airways Aero Associations Ltd, and flies out of

Wycombe Air Park Wycombe Air Park, also known as Booker Airfield , is an operational general aviation aerodrome located in Booker, Buckinghamshire, south-west of High Wycombe, England. The airfield celebrated its 50th year of opening on 25 April 2015. It orig ...

History

The flying club was established in 1948 by three predecessor airlines of

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

;

(BOAC),

(BEA) and

British South American Airways 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 ...

(BSAA) as a means to provide private flying at an affordable rate for corporation staff. Originally the club flew from Denham,

Hurn Hurn is a village and civil parish in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole district of Dorset, England. It is situated between the River Stour and River Avon north-west of Christchurch and north-east of Bournemouth town centre. In 2001, t ...

and Whitchurch, operating a fleet of

Miles Magister The Miles M.14 Magister is a two-seat monoplane basic trainer aircraft designed and built by the United Kingdom, British aircraft manufacturer Miles Aircraft. It was affectionately known as the ''Maggie''. It was authorised to perform aerobatic ...

s. During the early part of the 1950s the parent Corporation's withdrew from Whitchurch and Hurn, and as Denham was too small for the club the flying base was transferred to

Croydon Airport Croydon Airport was the UK's only international airport during the interwar period. It opened in 1920, located near Croydon, then part of Surrey. Built in a Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical style, it was developed as Britain's main airp ...

. As the decade continued the club operated pilot, navigator and engineer training programmes for BOAC, BEA, the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

and

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

, and helped to set up the National Flying Training School at Bremen as well as Baghdad and Kuwait Flying Schools. With the closure of Croydon Airport, the club moved again, first to

White Waltham Airfield White Waltham Airfield is an operational general aviation aerodrome located at White Waltham, southwest of Maidenhead, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. This large grass airfield is best known for its asso ...

before moving to its present home at Wycombe Air Park in 1965. It operated Chipmunks, including G-AOZU and G-AOZV out of Biggin Hill in 1960. While under the ownership of BEA and BOAC's successor

, the club was known as the British Airways Flying Club. In November 2007 the airline sold the club to the Arora Family Trust, and it was renamed the Airways Flying Club, operated by Airways Aero Associations Limited. The club was merged with the company operating Wycombe Air Park in January 2012 to form Booker Aviation, a trading name of Airways Aero Associations Limited.

Operations

The Airways Flying Club operates from

, with a fleet of

Piper Warrior The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of two-seat or four-seat light aircraft built by Piper Aircraft and designed for flight training, air taxi and personal use.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', pages 62–64. Werner & Werner Corp, ...

, Piper Dakota,

de Havilland Chipmunk The de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk (or Chippie) is a tandem, two-seat, single-engined primary trainer aircraft designed and developed by Canadian aircraft manufacturer de Havilland Canada. It was developed shortly after the Second World Wa ...

and

Cessna 152 The Cessna 152 is an American two-seat, fixed- tricycle-gear, general aviation airplane, used primarily for flight training and personal use. It was based on the earlier Cessna 150 incorporating a number of minor design changes and a slightl ...

aircraft. The flying club acquired the long term lease to the airfield in 1965, following the closure of

RAF Booker Royal Air Force Booker or more simply RAF Booker was a Royal Air Force station located south west of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and north east of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. Booker was opened as a flying training school in 19 ...

, previously on the site.

Surinder Arora Surinder Arora (born September 1958) is a British billionaire businessman of Indian descent in the hotel sector. He concentrates on hotels near airports, making a specialty of providing rooms for aircrew, and has close links with British Airways ...

, the hotel entrepreneur, purchased the lease to the airfield along with the flying club in 2007.

References

External links

* {{International Airlines Group Flying clubs 1948 establishments in the United Kingdom Aviation schools in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1948