British Air Transport Ltd (BAT) was a British independent airline from 1932 until 1951.

History

Prewar operations

BAT was formed during 1932 to perform public charter flights. BAT based its aircraft fleet at

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 ...

south of London. It was one of the first UK airlines to operate the four-passenger

de Havilland Fox Moth The DH.83 Fox Moth is a small biplane passenger aircraft from the 1930s powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy Major I inline inverted engine, manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. The aircraft was designed late in 1931 as a low- ...

single-engined light airliner. BAT's commercial operations ceased at the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Postwar operations

BAT resumed air charter operations from

RAF Kenley Royal Air Force Kenley, more commonly known as RAF Kenley, is a former List of former Royal Air Force stations, station of the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and the Royal Air Force, RAF in the Second World War. It played a significa ...

in Surrey in May 1946 equipped with two

Auster Autocrat The Auster J/1 Autocrat was a 1940s United Kingdom, British single-engined three-seat high-wing touring monoplane built by Auster Aircraft, Auster Aircraft Limited at Rearsby, Leicestershire. History As the end of the Second World War approache ...

s and one

Airspeed Consul The Airspeed Consul is a twin-engined light transport aircraft and affordable airliner designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Airspeed Limited. Introduced during the immediate post-war period, it was a straightforward conver ...

. The Austers were used on pleasure flying and photography from both Kenley and Croydon. The eight-seat Consul was joined by four others and performed passenger and freight charters within the U.K. and to the near Continent. BAT owned

Redhill Aerodrome Redhill Aerodrome is an operational general aviation aerodrome located south-east of Redhill, Surrey, England, in green belt land. It also serves as an important reliever airport for Gatwick airport. Redhill Aerodrome has a CAA Ordinary L ...

and as soon as the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

moved out in 1947, the firm's charter and other operations were set up there. The sole remaining airworthy

de Havilland Flamingo The de Havilland DH.95 Flamingo was a British twin-engined high-wing monoplane airliner first flown on 22 December 1938. During the Second World War some were used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a transport and general communications duties ...

17-passenger airliner ''G-AFYH'' was purchased by BAT in May 1947. It flew passenger charter flights from Croydon. During 1947-1948, BAT had a regular contract to fly newspapers from Croydon to

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

and

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

and the airline bought six

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), R ...

s for the flights, which were supplemented by the Flamingo when loads were heavy.Merton-Jones, 1976, p. 84 In late 1948, the newspaper contracts were lost to a competitor and the airline operation was gradually run down, ceasing in 1951. The twin-engined aircraft were disposed of, and after storage, the Flamingo was scrapped in 1954, but BAT continued to own and operate the airfield at Redhill.

Fleet

de Havilland Dove The de Havilland DH.104 Dove is a British short-haul airliner developed and manufactured by de Havilland. The design, which was a monoplane successor to the pre-war Dragon Rapide biplane, came about from the Brabazon Committee report which, a ...

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * {{Airlines of the United Kingdom Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom Airlines established in 1932 Airlines disestablished in 1951

History

Prewar operations

Postwar operations

Fleet

See also

References