Gulf Aviation was a

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

-based charter and scheduled airline that evolved into

Gulf Air Gulf Air ( ar, طيران الخليج ''Ṭayarān al-Khalīj'') is the state-owned airline and the flag carrier of Bahrain, which was founded in 1950 by British Pilot Freddie Bosworth as Gulf Aviation. Headquartered in Muharraq, the airline ...

. Its formal incorporation in 1950 was followed by constant change as the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

economies developed. The airline operation became a subsidiary company branded as

on 1 January 1974.

History

Gulf Aviation Company was established in

in 1949. The founder was a former RAF pilot, Freddie Bosworth. Bosworth's original business plan was based on establishing scheduled feeder and

cabotage Cabotage () is the transport of goods or passengers between two places in the same country. It originally applied to shipping along coastal routes, port to port, but now applies to aviation, railways, and road transport as well. Cabotage rights ar ...

services between some of the

Arab States of the Persian Gulf The Arab states of the Persian Gulf refers to a group of Arab states which border the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. ...

, alongside charter/air taxi services, aircraft handling services and flying training services. Scheduled operations based in Bahrain commenced on 5 July 1950 to Doha (

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

) and Sharjah (

Trucial States The Trucial States ( '), also known as the Trucial Coast ( '), the Trucial Sheikhdoms ( '), Trucial Arabia or Trucial Oman, was the name the British government gave to a group of tribal confederations in southeastern Arabia whose leaders had s ...

, latterly

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

) and on 28 September 1950 to Dhahran (

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

). The original fleet comprised several Ansons and, briefly, a de Havilland DH.86B Express. The

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 whic ...

was selected to replace these, but Bosworth was killed on a demonstration flight at Croydon on 9 June 1951 whilst preparing to introduce the type into service. During the course of the 1950s de Havilland DH.114

Heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

and

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

C-47/Dakota aircraft joined the fleet.C-47/Dakota aircraft converted for airline use are often referred to as DC-3 aircraft. In 1967 the airline introduced

Fokker F27 The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Euro ...

aircraft and so was able to operate current generation scheduled services with pressurised, air conditioned aircraft and cabin service. The Heron aircraft were replaced with Beechcraft B80 Queen Airs.

Ownership and subsidiary companies

Gulf Aviation was established as a limited company on 24 March 1950. Following the death of Bosworth in 1951, BOAC took a shareholding through its subsidiary BOAC Associated Companies.

Subsidiary companies

Gulf Helicopters Gulf Helicopters is a helicopter services provider mainly servicing the oil and gas industry in Middle East, Yemen, North Africa and India. It is a 100% subsidiary of Gulf International Services under the QatarEnergy umbrella, and has its headqua ...

was established in February 1973. Gulf Aviation held 74% of the shares with British Airways Helicopters holding the remaining 26%.

Aircraft operated

Accidents and incidents

*On 19 February 1958, a Gulf Aviation

de Havilland Heron The de Havilland DH.114 Heron is a small propeller-driven British airliner that first flew on 10 May 1950. It was a development of the twin-engine de Havilland Dove, with a stretched fuselage and two more engines. It was designed as a rugged, ...

( registered G-APJS) crashed into a hill in Italy during bad weather conditions. The aircraft had been on a ferry flight from

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

with three crew members on board, all of which were killed. *On 10 July 1960, the thirteen passengers and three crew on board a Gulf Aviation

Douglas C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in f ...

(registered VT-DGS) died when the aircraft was lost during a flight from

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

. As the wreckage could not be located, the cause for this worst accident in the history of the airline could not be determined. *On 17 August 1966, a Gulf Aviation C-47 (registered G-AOFZ) crashed after take-off from Muscat/Azaiba aerodrome due to an operating error. The aircraft was unable to climb or maintain altitude after take off due to lack of engine power on the port engine, and crashed 560 yds from the end of the departure runway (rwy 06.) All 20 people on board (18 passengers and two crew) survived the accident.Information about the 1966 Gulf Aviation crash at the Aviation Safety Network
/ref>

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulf Aviation Defunct airlines of Bahrain Airlines established in 1950 Airlines disestablished in 1974 1974 disestablishments in Bahrain