The Speedbird is the stylised emblem of a bird in flight designed in 1932 by

Theyre Lee-Elliott Theyre Lee-Elliott (28 May 1903 – 24 December 1988) was an English artist who created notable Art Deco logos such as the Speedbird and painted the ballet and religious art. He was born David Lee Theyre Elliott in 1903 in Lewes. He was educate ...

as the

corporate logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

for

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

. It became a design classic and was used by the airline and its successors –

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the pass ...

and

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

– for 52 years. The term "Speedbird" is still the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally ass ...

for British Airways.

History

Imperial Airways

The original Speedbird was designed in 1932 for Imperial Airways by Theyre Lee-Elliott. It was initially used on advertising posters and luggage labels.Glenn H. Morgan
Theyre Lee-Elliott (1903–1988): Graphic Designer, Artist and Writer
(retrieved 11 September 2015) Later, it was applied to the nose section of the company's aircraft and could be seen for example in 1938 on the company's

Short S.30 The Short Empire was a medium-range four-engined monoplane flying boat, designed and developed by Short Brothers during the 1930s to meet the requirements of the growing commercial airline sector, with a particular emphasis upon its usefulness ...

improved C-class flying boats.

BOAC

With the creation of BOAC in 1939 the logo was retained, continuing to appear on the noses of aircraft throughout

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

despite the military-style

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

that had replaced the airline

livery A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...

. From 1950 BOAC gave the Speedbird greater prominence on the aircraft using it on the tail fin, either in

navy blue Navy blue is a very dark shade of the color blue. Navy blue got its name from the dark blue (contrasted with naval white) worn by officers in the Royal Navy since 1748 and subsequently adopted by other navies around the world. When this color ...

on a white background or vice versa, and also using it widely elsewhere, such as on airport buses. With the advent of

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

and the adoption of

s to identify aircraft and their operators, BOAC chose the name of their now well-known logo, "Speedbird", as their call sign when in flight. In the mid-1960s the design of the Speedbird was slightly altered, with a slimmer "body" and larger "wing", and on the tailfin coloured

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

on a navy blue background. Elsewhere the colours used for it were mostly a combination of

cyan Cyan () is the color between green and blue on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 490 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue. In the subtractive color system, or CMYK col ...

and white.

British Airways

In 1974, BOAC was merged with

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 ...

and others to form

. The speedbird logo was retained unaltered, but returned to the nose section of the aircraft. A prominent

Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

design now occupied the fin. The Speedbird survived for another ten years, finally being retired in 1984. It was replaced by the speedwing, which was itself replaced by the current speedmarque in 1997. ba b747-400 g-bnle arp

As British Airways prepared for

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

, a new corporate look was adopted in 1984, developed by

Landor Associates Landor is a brand consulting firm founded in 1941 by Walter Landor, who pioneered some research, design, and consulting methods that the branding industry still uses. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company maintains 26 offices in 20 countr ...

. Referred to as the ''Speedwing'', the red flash on the lower dark blue part of the fuselage bore a slight resemblance to the original 1930s design. The current ''Speedmarque'' ribbon bears a tangential resemblance to the original Speedbird. "Speedbird" continues to be used by British Airways as the ICAO callsign for its main international services. On its domestic services, it uses the callsign "Shuttle". Hatton Cross tube station (open 1975) still has "Speedbird" decorating its platform pillars. In 2019, the Speedbird emblem returned to use by British Airways with the unveiling of their BOAC-liveried Boeing 747-400 retrojet to celebrate 100 years of BA and its predecessors.

Design significance

Theyre Lee-Elliott was a graphic artist and painter working in London in the 1930s. The Speedbird is among his best known works. The minimalist, stylish and

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

design representing a bird in flight it is instantly recognisable and has a timelessly modern appeal. Lee-Elliott was influenced by the ''

'' work of

Edward McKnight Kauffer Edward McKnight Kauffer (14 December 1890 – 22 October 1954) was an American artist and graphic designer who lived for much of his life in the United Kingdom. He worked mainly in poster art, but was also active as a painter, book illustrator ...

and the logo echoes Kauffer's angular bird forms in his 1918 poster for the '' Daily Herald''. Other notable works by Lee-Elliott include posters for the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

and the Airmail logo. Many of his paintings and original artworks are in the collection of the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Other Speedbirds

A somewhat different ''Speedbird'' logo was designed for

Piedmont Airlines Piedmont Airlines, Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered at the Salisbury Regional Airport in unincorporated Wicomico County, Maryland, near the city of Salisbury. The airline is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Airline ...

in 1948. '' Speedbird House'' was an office block at Heathrow Airport. It was originally the headquarters of BOAC and, until the company moved, of British Airways. ''Speedbird Way'' is a road near the Colnbrook Bypass, close to Heathrow Airport. ''Speedbird'' is also the name of one of the British Airways Sailing Club yachts.

References

{{British Airways British Airways British Overseas Airways Corporation Imperial Airways Aircraft markings Graphic design