Crilly Airways Ltd was a former British airline founded by entrepreneur Frederick Leo Crilly. The airline operated passenger services between several cities in England in the mid-1930s. The airline started with a capitalization of £12,000.

History

Crilly Airways started up running two eight seat

de Havilland Dragon The de Havilland DH.84 Dragon is a successful small commercial aircraft that was designed and built by the de Havilland company. Design and construction Following the commercial success of its single-engined de Havilland Fox Moth that had fir ...

s from Braunstone, a suburb of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. The first of these two aircraft was christened ''Spirit of

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

''. They also operated a

de Havilland Fox Moth The DH.83 Fox Moth was a successful small biplane passenger aircraft from the 1930s powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy Major I inline inverted engine, manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. The aircraft was designed late in 1 ...

and two

General Aircraft Monospar The General Aircraft Monospar was a 1930s British family of touring and utility aircraft built by General Aircraft Ltd (GAL). Design and development In 1929, the Monospar Company Ltd was formed to pursue new techniques of designing cantileve ...

twin-engined monoplanes. In 1935, Crilly Airways sought government approval to operate an air service between

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

but was refused. It was the Irish government's intention to operate a national airline between the two countries. The airline was the first to offer a

frequent-flyer program A frequent-flyer program (American English) or frequent-flyer programme (British English) is a loyalty program offered by an airline. Many airlines have frequent-flyer programs designed to encourage airline customers enrolled in the program ...

me. Crilly Airways bought four twelve-seater Fokker F.XIIs from

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

. Using these planes, the airline was the first to run an airmail service between Portugal and England, opening this service on 1 February 1936. At the Portuguese capital,

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, one of the Fokker F.XIIs was christened ''Lisboa'' ("Lisbon") by Menina Maria do Carmo Carmona Costa, the young granddaughter of the nation's president. It was Crilly's intention to extend this service to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

and West Africa, but this plan came to nought when the Spanish government refused the airline permission to overfly its territory during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. Unable to survive financially following the failure of the Portuguese venture, the company ceased trading on 9 September 1936 and entered receivership.

British Airways Ltd. British Airways Ltd was a British airline company operating in Europe in the period 1935–1939. It was formed in 1935 by the merger of Spartan Air Lines Ltd, United Airways Ltd (no relation to the US carrier United Airlines), and Hillman's ...

bought the aircraft and started the company British Airways Iberia Ltd. with Crilly as managing director. But this company also soon went bankrupt. The planes were then sold, via shady deals, to the

Spanish Nationalists Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...

in the Spanish Civil War.

References

External links

Crilly Airways timetableCommemorative stamp flight Lisbon-London

Photo of Crilly Airways DH Dragon at Granja do Marques Airfield (Sintra nr Lisbon)1935, Torre do Tombo archive

Photo of G-ADZJ Fokker 'Lisboa' at Granja do Marques Airfield (Sintra nr Lisbon)1936, Torre do Tombo archive

Photo of first passenger Croydon-Lisbon {{Airlines of the United Kingdom Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom

History

See also

References

External links