Allied Airways was a
UK airline based at
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. Formed in 1934 as Aberdeen Airways it was taken over by
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 a ...
in 1947.
History
Dyce Aerodrome
In 1929
Eric Gandar Dower
Eric Leslie Gandar Dower (1894 – 4 October 1987) was a Scottish Unionist Party politician and businessman.
Life
He was educated at Brighton College, like his elder brother Leonard, and at Jesus College, Cambridge, and trained for the stage at ...
bought a
Blackburn Bluebird IV
The Blackburn Bluebird IV was a single-engine biplane light trainer/tourer biplane with side-by-side seating designed by the British aviation manufacturer Blackburn Aircraft. It was an all-metal development of the wooden Blackburn Bluebird I, ...
two-seat biplane in which he toured the country and entered air races. In 1931 he landed in a field outside the village of
Dyce
Dyce ( gd, Deis) is a suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, situated on the River Don about northwest of the city centre. It is best known as the location of Aberdeen Airport.
History
Dyce is the site of an early medieval church dedicated to the 8 ...
, about from Aberdeen, and next to
Dyce railway station
, symbol_location = gb
, symbol = rail
, image = Dyce station - geograph.org.uk - 1247183.jpg
, caption = Dyce Railway Station
, borough = Dyce, Aberdeen City Council
, country ...
.
National Flying Services
National Flying Services Ltd was a company aiming to create and manage a large number of airfields and flying clubs around Britain. It relied on government subsidy, and it collapsed when the subsidy was withdrawn in 1934, because the aims had not ...
had already suggested the site as a municipal airport to the local council in 1930, but they declined.
Gandar Dower had the idea of opening a flying school there and in 1933 he had started work levelling the land, installing an electricity supply and building a hangar. He established four companies: Aberdeen Flying School, which would also run the airfield, Aberdeen Flying Club, Aberdeen Aerodrome Fuel Supplies for ground support operations, and an airline, Aberdeen Airways.
He was in quite a hurry to get going because
Highland Airways had been established at
Inverness
Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
in 1933 and
Ted Fresson, its founder, was looking at also setting up in Aberdeen.
The official opening of Dyce Aerodrome took place on 28 July 1934, although the flying school was already operating. Among the celebrations were competitions, and Ted Fresson won a silver cup and £30.
The aerodrome is now
Aberdeen Airport
Aberdeen International Airport ( gd, Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Obar Dheathain) is an international airport, located in the Dyce suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, approximately northwest of Aberdeen city centre. A total of just under 3.1  ...
.
Aberdeen Airways
Gandar Dower started Aberdeen Airways on 2 January 1934 and bought
De Havilland DH.84 Dragon G-ACRH which arrived on 16 June. After that crashed a few weeks after delivery, he invested more money and bought
Short Scion
The Short S.16 Scion and Scion II were 1930s British two-engine, cantilever monoplanes built by Short Brothers and (under licence) by Pobjoy Airmotors and Aircraft Ltd. in Rochester, Kent between 1933 and 1937. Altogether 22 Scion/Scion II a ...
G-ACUV. With this and his chief pilot Eric Starling, he started his first route, between Aberdeen and
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, on 10 September 1934. Hardly any passengers were carried, and he gave up the route on 24 October.
Gandar Dower tried a route to the south of Aberdeen again, this time to Edinburgh, starting on 4 June 1935, but again the service attracted very few passengers and was soon abandoned. The problem was that the railway service to the south from Aberdeen was excellent, fast and relatively cheap, and making connections to
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, for example, was simple. An airline simply could not compete, so Gandar Dower turned his attention to the north, in particular the
Northern Isles
The Northern Isles ( sco, Northren Isles; gd, Na h-Eileanan a Tuath; non, Norðreyjar; nrn, Nordøjar) are a pair of archipelagos off the north coast of mainland Scotland, comprising Orkney and Shetland. They are part of Scotland, as are th ...
of
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
and
Shetland
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
. There, airlines would be competing with the ferries which had to cross the often rough and stormy
Pentland Firth
The Pentland Firth ( gd, An Caol Arcach, meaning the Orcadian Strait) is a strait which separates the Orkney Islands from Caithness in the north of Scotland. Despite the name, it is not a firth.
Etymology
The name is presumed to be a corruption ...
, which has some of the strongest tides in the world, and the time saving by air would be revolutionary.
Highland Airways was already serving the Northern Isles, and had an understanding with Gandar Dower that Highland would concentrate on routes to the north while Aberdeen Airways covered routes to the south. This was not turning out well for Gandar Dower, so he promptly broke the pact and started a route between Aberdeen and
Stromness
Stromness (, non, Straumnes; nrn, Stromnes) is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital.
E ...
on
Mainland, Orkney
The Mainland, also known as Hrossey and Pomona, is the main island of Orkney, Scotland. Both of Orkney's burghs, Kirkwall and Stromness, lie on the island, which is also the heart of Orkney's ferry and air connections.
Seventy-five per cent of ...
. Gandar Dower already knew that Fresson was planning to extend his operations to Aberdeen, and had prevented him from using Dyce Airport, probably by quoting him excessive landing and passenger fees. Fresson therefore had to use an airfield at
Seaton Park
Seaton Park is a public park in the Old Aberdeen area of Aberdeen, Scotland. One of the city's biggest parks, it was bought by the city for use as a public park in 1947 from Major J M Hay. It was formerly the grounds of Seaton House, which had ...
in central Aberdeen. In return, Fresson had denied Gandar Dower the use of his airfield at Wideford, just outside
Kirkwall
Kirkwall ( sco, Kirkwaa, gd, Bàgh na h-Eaglaise, nrn, Kirkavå) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland.
The name Kirkwall comes from the Norse name (''Church Bay''), which later changed to ''Kirkv ...
, which is why Aberdeen Airways had to use Stromness.
The Stromness route started 27 May 1935, using a field at Howe. The Dragon G-ACAN was mainly used on the route, and alternative fields in the area were occasionally used. A route between
Thurso
Thurso (pronounced ; sco, Thursa, gd, Inbhir Theòrsa ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Great ...
and Stromness was established on 11 June 1935, with an on-demand stop at
Berridale
Berridale is a small town in New South Wales. At the it had a population of 1,300. It was the administrative centre of the Snowy River Shire until in 2016 that shire merged with two others to form the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, one of Austra ...
near
St Margaret's Hope
St Margaret's Hope is a village in the Orkney Islands, off the north coast of Scotland. It is known locally as "The Hope" or "The Hup". With a population of about 550, it is Orkney's third largest settlement after Kirkwall and Stromness.
St M ...
on
South Ronaldsay
South Ronaldsay (, also , sco, Sooth Ronalshee) is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. It is linked to the Orkney Mainland by the Churchill Barriers, running via Burray, Glimps Holm and Lamb Holm.
Name
Along with North R ...
and, later, at
Longhope
Longhope is a village in west Gloucestershire, situated within the Forest of Dean, England, United Kingdom. Arthur Bullock, who was born in Longhope in 1899, described its location as follows:
* The parish occupies the most easterly valley in t ...
on the island of
Hoy
Hoy ( sco, Hoy; from Norse , meaning "high island") is an island in Orkney, Scotland, measuring – the second largest in the archipelago, after Mainland. A natural causeway, ''the Ayre'', links the island to the smaller South Walls; the two ...
.
On 2 February 1936 Eric Starling flew the airline's first air ambulance flight, in Dragon G-ADFI, from South Ronaldsay to Stromness for transfer by road to hospital in Kirkwall.
In May 1936 the Air Ministry opened a new radio station in Kirkwall, making navigation, weather reporting and general communication much easier, and encouraging both Gandar Dower and Fresson to expand to the Shetland Isles.
Aberdeen Airways started a new route linking Aberdeen with
Sumburgh
Sumburgh is a small settlement in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. Sumburgh is located at the south end of the Mainland on Sumburgh Head. Sumburgh Airport is just outside the village to the north. Sumburgh has a population of approximately 100. Ja ...
in the Shetlands in June 1936. Highland Airways had planned to start this route on the 3rd from a new Aberdeen airfield at
Kintore, having moved there when Seaton closed. However Aberdeen Airways beat him with a flight by Starling in their new Rapide G-ADDE from Dyce Airport the day before. Fresson was not pleased with what he saw as merely a stunt to steal his thunder. Aberdeen Airways subsequently flew the route via Thurso and Stromness or Quanterness (about to the north-west of Kirkwall) using a Dragon.
Allied Airways (Gandar Dower) Ltd
In July 1914 Gandar Dower, then a correspondent for
''The Aeroplane'' magazine, met Norwegian pilot
Tryggve Gran
Jens Tryggve Herman Gran (20 January 1888 – 8 January 1980) was a Norwegian aviator, polar explorer and author.
He was the skiing expert on the 1910–13 Scott Antarctic Expedition and was the first person to fly across the North Sea from ...
, the first pilot to cross the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
in a landplane. They met again in 1934 when a Norwegian military flight called at Dyce, and Gandar Dower resolved to start an air service between Aberdeen and
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
.
To this end, he decided on a less parochial name for his airline, and on 13 February 1937, changed its name to Allied Airways (Gandar Dower) Ltd. Gandar Dower, with Starling as pilot, made the first flight from Dyce to
Sola Airport,
Stavanger
Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...
, Norway on 22 May 1937 in Rapide G-ADDE, taking 2 hours 55 minutes, and becoming the first aircraft to land at the new airport. Staying for the airport's opening ceremony on 29 May, the aircraft gave a flypast and pleasure flights, and they returned to Aberdeen on 2 June.
A new aircraft had been ordered for the route, a
De Havilland DH.86B Express, G-AETM. This was much more suitable, having four engines and being equipped with de-icing equipment, cabin heating, two radios and a toilet, and it carried a crew of three plus eight passengers (presumably in some comfort as the standard seating was for ten to sixteen passengers). Gandar Dower took delivery at
De Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...
's factory at
Hatfield Airport
Hatfield Aerodrome was a private airfield and aircraft factory located in the English town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield in Hertfordshire from 1930 until its closure and redevelopment in the 1990s.
Early history
Geoffrey de Havilland, p ...
on 28 June. Back at Aberdeen, the aircraft gave some pleasure flights while final arrangements of the Norway service were completed.
Gandar Dower decided that Aberdeen was not a suitable base for the service as it was not equipped with radio aids and did not have good enough passenger connections. Instead he chose
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
's
Woolsington Airport in England. This did have the required radio facilities, and had routes by air to Edinburgh, Perth and Glasgow, plus good rail connections.
After a trial flight to Norway, the service officially started on 12 July. It was named the "North Sea Air Mail Express" as it had an airmail contract to carry Norwegian (but not British) mail. The service stopped on 27 September, restarting on 16 April 1938. The service stopped for good on 19 September. Passenger numbers had been worse than disappointing. During July and August 1937 there had been 33 return trips, with a total of 108 passengers, an average of just over 1.5 per flight. In 1938 there were 71 return trips and 137 passengers, averaging under 1 per flight.
Routes
1938
Routes in 1938.
* Aberdeen —
Thurso
Thurso (pronounced ; sco, Thursa, gd, Inbhir Theòrsa ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Great ...
—
South Ronaldsay
South Ronaldsay (, also , sco, Sooth Ronalshee) is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. It is linked to the Orkney Mainland by the Churchill Barriers, running via Burray, Glimps Holm and Lamb Holm.
Name
Along with North R ...
(on demand only) —
Kirkwall
Kirkwall ( sco, Kirkwaa, gd, Bàgh na h-Eaglaise, nrn, Kirkavå) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland.
The name Kirkwall comes from the Norse name (''Church Bay''), which later changed to ''Kirkv ...
/
Stromness
Stromness (, non, Straumnes; nrn, Stromnes) is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital.
E ...
—
Lerwick
Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010.
Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...
(mail carried)
*
Inverness
Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...
/Thurso — South Ronaldsay (on demand only) — Kirkwall/Stromness
* Newcastle — Stavanger (Norway)
1939
In 1939 the government licensed all permitted scheduled air routes in the UK. Those licensed for Allied Airways (Gandar Dower) were:
* Thurso – South Ronaldsay – Stromness
* Aberdeen – Wick – Thurso – Kirkwall
* Aberdeen – Thurso – South Ronaldsay – Kirkwall
* Kirkwall - Shetland
World War II
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, all Orkney air services were suspended, but some services were instructed to resume, Allied Airways flying Aberdeen – Wick – Kirkwall – Sumburgh, using aircraft camouflaged in a brown earth and green scheme. At Kirkwall, where Gandar Dower had closed his Quanterness airfield, Fresson's Wideford airfield was used for a while, but after Allied's Rapide G-ACZF crashed into a stone wall there in late 1941, they moved to RNAS Skeabrae, north of Stromness, until 1942, when they moved to the new
RAF Grimsetter
Kirkwall Airport is the main airport serving Orkney in Scotland. It is located southeast of Kirkwall and is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. The airport is used by Loganair.
History
The airport was built and commissioned in ...
, now Kirkwall Airport, which is a mile (1.6 kilometres) to the east of Wideford.
The
Associated Airways Joint Committee (AAJC) was formed 27 June 1940, replacing the
National Air Communications
National Air Communications was a British government organisation that directed civilian flying operations from the outbreak of World War II until April 1940.
Pre-war preparations
During the 1930s, and up to 1938, the British government progres ...
(NAC) which had played a similar role from the start of the war, administering UK civil aviation activities. The AAJC allowed member organisations to cooperate amongst themselves, permitting some sharing of resources. Gandar Dower remained outside the AAJC, preferring independence, but suffering as preference for contracts was given to members, and he was excluded from any pooling arrangements. His airport was requisitioned by RAF Coastal Command, who expanded and developed it, laying hard runways, but his airfields at Thurso and Stromness were rendered unusable.
Along with
Scottish Airways
Scottish Airways was an airline serving most of Scotland, especially the Highlands and Islands. It was active from 1937 until 1947, when it was merged into British European Airways.
History Foundation
The company was established on 12 August 1 ...
(into which Highland Airways had been merged), Allied was kept extremely busy during the rest of the war, with thousands of passengers carried, including civilians, Norwegian refugees, and military personnel, plus freight, mail and newspapers. Air ambulance and search operations for survivors from torpedoed ships were also undertaken. All of this was happening with the constant threat of encountering enemy aircraft. Gandar Dower said that the demands on the airline were huge, but official rewards were totally lacking, saying “No ranks, no gongs, no uniform, no recognition!”
Routes 1946
Routes in early 1946.
* Aberdeen – Wick – Kirkwall (thrice weekly)
* Aberdeen – Wick – Kirkwall – Sumburgh (daily except Sunday)
Demise
On 1 February 1947, the process of absorbing all the AAJC airlines into
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 a ...
(BEA) started as part of the government plan for the full
nationalisation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
of all UK scheduled airlines, so operators such as
Railway Air Services
Railway Air Services (RAS) was a British airline formed in March 1934 by the Big Four railway companies (the GWR, LMS, LNER and SR) and Imperial Airways. The airline was a domestic airline operating routes within the United Kingdom linking up ...
and Scottish Airways were immediately subsumed and lost their identities. BEA also wanted Allied Airways, but Gandar Dower fought them until, on 11 April 1947, he couldn't run his scheduled flights because of a lack of serviceable aircraft, so BEA summarily confiscated the airline.
In what was seen as a very cynical move by their management, two days later, Fresson, who was still working for BEA after it had taken over Scottish Airways, was sent to Aberdeen to manage the transfer. He said of the event “I have always felt that at that moment Gandar Dower and I became friends in adversity. We had been blatantly robbed of many years' hard work and effort”. Gandar Dower was left with a few aircraft and a hangar at Dyce and held on for many years. He fought long and hard for compensation (including asking questions in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
directly about the matter)
and eventually received £132,530 from BEA on 30 May 1973.
Fleet List
The early livery consisted of the upper half of the fuselage and engine nacelles yellow and the lower halves purple - the colours of
Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club
Founded in 1855, the Amateur Dramatic Club (or ADC) is the oldest university dramatic society in England – and the largest dramatic society in Cambridge.
The club stages a diverse range of productions every term, many of them at the fully equi ...
of which Gandar Dower had been a member.
A thin white stripe separated the colours. Wings and tail surfaces were silver and registration letters were black. Other lettering was yellow on the purple surfaces. Later a plain silver scheme was adopted with black lettering.
Accidents and incidents
The following aircraft were involved in accidents and incidents while they were with the airline: G-ACAN, G-ACRH, G-ADFI, G-ACZE, G-ACZF, G-ADAH and G-ADDE. See the Fleet List above for details.
See also
*
List of defunct airlines of the United Kingdom
This is a list of defunct airlines of the United Kingdom.
See also
* List of airlines of the United Kingdom
* List of airports in the United Kingdom and the British Crown Dependencies
References
*
*
{{List of defunct airlines ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{Airlines of the United Kingdom
Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom
Airlines established in 1934
Aviation in Scotland
Defunct airlines of Scotland
1934 establishments in Scotland