Airflight Limited was a British charter, and cargo airline from 1948 to 1950.

History

Avro Tudor - The Berlin Airlift 1948 - 1949 HU98410

The airline was formed by former Air Vice-Marshal Don Bennett to operate in the Berlin Airlift operating two long-fuselage

Avro Tudor The Avro Type 688 Tudor was a British piston-engined airliner based on Avro's four-engine Lincoln bomber, itself a descendant of the famous Lancaster heavy bomber, and was Britain's first pressurised airliner. Customers saw the aircraft as ...

aircraft.Merton Jones 1972, page 13 These were flown by Bennett and a single other pilot, WWII RAF veteran Stanley Sickelmore, Bennett having the only night flight licence made all the nighttime trips himself with Sickelmore as co-pilot. One of the Tudor aircraft had operated 85 sorties carrying over 9 tons of supplies per flight between Wunsdorf and Gatow. At the end of the Berlin Airlift the aircraft were used for trooping charters to the Canal Zone for the British government and ''ad hoc'' charters. One of the charters was to end in disaster when G-AKBY was used for a rugby charter and crashed on approach to

RAF Llandow Royal Air Force Llandow or more RAF Llandow is a former Royal Air Force station situated near the village of Llandow, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, 15 miles west of Cardiff. It opened in 1940 and closed in 1957. It was while training at this ...

in Wales on 12 March 1950. The month after the disaster the company merged into one of Bennett's other companies Fairflight Limited on 28 April 1950. In 1951, Bennett sold Airflight on to Air Charter, a small company operating out of Luton under Freddie Laker. The company was formally wound up in 1965.

Aircraft operated

* Avro Tudor 2 * Avro Tudor 5

Accidents and incidents

* 12 March 1950 - Avro Tudor G-AKBY while operating a rugby charter, crashed on approach to

in Wales with 80 fatalities.Eastwood/Roach 1991, page 16

Notes

References

* * *Maynard, John ''Bennett and the Pathfinders'' Arms and Armour London 1996

External links