Stephen Wheatcroft (economist)

[1][2][3] Wheatcroft was commissioned into the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1943, and trained in Canada as a Fleet Air Arm pilot.

He served aboard HMS Indomitable in the British Pacific Fleet, participating in the bombing of Japanese oil fields in Sumatra.

Having returned for a short time to the LSE after demobilisation, Wheatcroft was recruited by British European Airways, serving as Commercial Planning manager from 1946 to 1953, gaining "an encyclopaedic knowledge of the industry".

In 1967, he was appointed assessor/ technical adviser to Sir Ronald Edwards's official committee of inquiry into the civil air transport industry; the result was a 1971 Act of Parliament leading to the amalgamation of BEA and the British Overseas Airways Corporation, forming British Airways in 1974.

He remained a board member and chairman of British Airways Helicopters until 1982 when, growing tired of executive corporate life, he returned to independent consultancy, operating Aviation and Tourism International with colleague Geoffrey Lipman from 1983 to 2000.