Airwork Services
[1][2] In the early days, Airwork's chief pilot was Captain Valentine Baker MC, DFC, who later formed the world-famous Martin-Baker company with Sir James Martin.
Airwork moved out of Heston in 1935 due to a lack of adequate space and relocated to Gatwick, where it continued with a contract to maintain Whitley bombers for the RAF.
With the outbreak of World War II the word 'Reserve' was dropped, and the 50 ERFTS establishments were consolidated into 20 Elementary Flying Training Schools (EFTS).
There were also engineering contracts that included the manufacture of Avro Lancaster wings and modifications on Douglas Bostons, as well as the preparation, maintenance and repair of Hawker Hurricanes, Whitleys, Vought Corsairs, Grumman Hellcats, Consolidated B-24 Liberators and North American P-51 Mustangs.
Following the war, Airwork purchased Perth Aerodrome from the local Council, and developed a highly successful flying school for commercial pilots.
This expansion was financed by its wealthy shareholders, including Lord Cowdray, Whitehall Securities, the Blue Star shipping line, Furness Withy and Thomas Loel Evelyn Bulkeley Guinness.
During the early post-World War II years, charter flights using Handley Page Hermes and Vickers Viking airliners, primarily flying out of Blackbushe Airport, constituted the bulk of Airwork's commercial air transport activities.
These incidents cast doubt on the aircraft's reliability and the airline's safety record, as a result of which the firm lost its monopoly in the trooping business.
[7][9][10][11] In 1952, Airwork applied for UK and US authority to operate scheduled transatlantic all-freight services from London via Manchester to New York City's Idlewild airport (later JFK).
[12] The same year, on 14 June, Airwork began operating quasi-scheduled low-fare services from the UK to East, Central, Southern and West Africa using Vikings.
[3][19] The first joint Airwork—Hunting all-economy Safari/colonial coach class[nb 3] service from London to Nairobi routed via Malta, Benghazi, Wadi Halfa, Khartoum, Juba and Entebbe.
Although this compared unfavourably with British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), whose regular scheduled services took only 24 hours, load factors averaged 93% during the first nine months of operation.
[20] In June 1953, Airwork and Hunting jointly launched a fortnightly Safari/colonial coach service between London and Salisbury, entailing one round trip per month by each company.
[20] In June 1954, Airwork and Hunting launched a joint Safari/colonial coach service to West Africa linking London with Accra via Lisbon, Las Palmas, Bathurst and Freetown.
[23] Following long-delayed approval of Airwork's application for a scheduled transatlantic London – Manchester – New York all-cargo service, flights eventually commenced in early 1955, using aircraft chartered from US supplemental carriers.
[nb 6][12] By 1957, Airwork and Hunting-Clan had converted their successful East, West and Southern African Safari/colonial coach flights into regular "third-class" scheduled services.
However, the Government forced the independents to maintain additional stops that were no longer needed, as a result of replacing Vikings with technologically advanced Douglas DC-6s and Vickers Viscounts.
To secure their traffic rights between the UK and the newly independent African nations, Airwork and Hunting-Clan began participating in revenue-sharing agreements with BOAC and the destination countries' flag carriers.
[30] It involved a Handley Page HP.81 Hermes 4A (registration: G-ALDF) operating an international non-scheduled passenger flight from Blackbushe to Khartoum via Malta.
It involved a Handley Page HP.81 Hermes 4A (registration: G-ALDB) operating a trooping flight from Blackbushe to the RAF station in Fayid, Egypt.
The accident investigators concluded that the captain's failure to prevent the aircraft from stalling while making a single engine approach was the probable cause.
The captain's distraction by a flickering red undercarriage indicator light during the critical final approach stage was cited as a contributory factor.
It involved a Handley Page HP.81 Hermes 4A (registration: G-AKFP) operating an international non-scheduled passenger flight from Blackbushe to Singapore via Karachi, Delhi and Calcutta.
[36] A major contract was secured in September 1952 when Airwork was selected by the Royal Navy to operate the Fleet Requirements Unit (FRU) at Hurn Airport, near Bournemouth.
The Oxfords were replaced in June 1957 by fourteen Boulton Paul Balliols that provided a service to the trainee trackers and plotters of the School of Fighter Control that had relocated to Sopley from RAF Bolt Head in Devon.
In 1971 Airwork added an English Language School to the facilities at Perth to service a training contract with the Imperial Iranian Navy.
It also provided a complete flying grading service for the Royal Navy's Britannia Flight at Roborough, near Plymouth – something that under its present guise it continues to do today.
Following the creation of the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman Air Force (SMOAF) in March 1959, Airwork was appointed to provide maintenance and technical support.
Spares provisioning and personal recruitment were provided from Airwork's UK headquarters at Hurn and the nearby Supplies Division in Ferndown.
Questions were asked in the Houses of Parliament and the reputation of Airwork – at least in the UK – was dealt a grievous blow, (although this was not supported by the facts; the MOD and BAe had produced incorrect engineering drawings).
