Bavaria Fluggesellschaft was a

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

airline founded in 1957 and was merged with Germanair to become

Bavaria Germanair Bavaria Germanair was an airline that came into being following the merger of Bavaria Fluggesellschaft and Germanair on 1 January 1977. The airline's main area of activity was operating charter flights from German airports to European holida ...

in March 1977.

History

This airline was founded in 1957 as Bavaria Fluggesellschaft Schwabe & Co. In January 1958 the first aircraft, a

Piper PA-23 Apache The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined light aircraft aimed at the general-aviation market. The United States Navy and military forces in other countries also used it in small numbers. Origin ...

, was used for

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

work. In 1959 the

Twin Beech The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beechcraft, Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 ...

was added. Three Douglas DC-3s were acquired in 1960 and flown until disposal in 1967 and by this time the main business was carrying freight on behalf of Lufthansa. With increased passenger traffic, a

Handley Page Dart Herald The Handley Page Dart Herald is a 1950s British turboprop passenger aircraft. Design and development In the mid-1950s Handley Page developed a new fast short-range regional airliner, intended to replace the older Douglas DC-3, particularly in ...

was added in 1964 and by 1966 three were in service and about 800,000 passengers were carried that year including on seasonal holiday flights to the United Kingdom. In order to expand further, the

BAC 1-11 The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...

jet airliner was added to the fleet in 1968 and a

Handley Page Jetstream The Handley Page HP.137 Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage. The aircraft was designed to meet the requirements of the United States commuter and regional airline market. The design was later improved and bu ...

small turboprop aircraft was added to the regional schedules. The latter aircraft was involved in a fatal accident on 6 March 1970 (see below). In 1974, a close cooperation was established with Germanair which culminated in the merger of both airlines to become Bavaria Germanair on 1 March 1977.

Fleet

* Beechcraft Twin Beech * Douglas DC-3 (1960-1967) *

(1968-1975) *

Jetstream 31 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin-turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the British ...

Accidents and incidents

* On 6 March 1970, D-INAH, a Handley Page Jetstream owned by Bavaria Fluggesellschaft departed Munich-Riem Airport, West Germany, for

Samedan Airport Samedan Airport, french: Aéroport de Samedan, it, Aeroporto di Samedan , also known as Engadin Airport,, french: Aéroport d'Engadin, it, Aeroporto d'Engadina, rm, Eroport da l'Engiadina is a regional airport in Samedan in the Engadin valley ...

, Switzerland. The aircraft crashed into snow about and left of Samedan Airport's

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

centreline. The aircraft was written-off and all nine passengers and both crew were killed. It was discovered that part of the

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...

wheel on the number one engine had been destroyed.ASN Aircraft accident Handley Page HP-137 Jetstream 1 D-INAH St. Moritz-Samedan Airport (SMV)
/ref>

Bibliography

* Gradidge, Jennifer M, ''The DC-1, DC-2, DC-3 - The First Seventy Years'', Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 2006,

References

{{Airlines of Germany Defunct airlines of Germany Airlines established in 1957 Airlines disestablished in 1977 1957 establishments in West Germany 1977 disestablishments in West Germany 1977 mergers and acquisitions German companies established in 1957