Phase 3 - 1937-39 - Part 5 British Airways Mk 1
I am referring to this airline to British Airways Mk 1 to distinguish it from the present British Airways created in the early 1970s by the merger of B.O.A.C. and B.E.A.
This airline was formed in October 1935 by the merger of Hillman Airways, Spartan Airways and United Airways. One of the firms the Airline took over before it was merged with Imperial Airways to form B.O.A.C. was British Continental Airways, which according to some sources wanted to buy 12 Douglas DC-3s from Airspeed, which had a manufacturing license of Douglas aircraft via Fokker.
The Government selected British Airways Mk 1 to be its "Second Chosen Instrument" to take over Imperial Airways underdeveloped and unwanted network of European routes. The Government wanted British Airways to expand the European network and to develop a route to South America via Lisbon and Bathurst in West Africa. ITTL it was different because Imperial Airways was operating a bigger network of European routes and had established a line to South America by 1930, but the Government decided that the Firm had become too big and decided to transfer Imperial's European Division to British Airways.
According to Higham the Airline operated 58 aircraft during its existence, comprising: 7 Spartan Cruisers; 2 D.H.84; 11 D.H.86; 11 D.H.89, 8 Fokker F.VIII, 3 Ju 52/3m, 7 Lockheed 10 Electras and 9 Lockheed 14 Super Electras. According to Davies in A History of the World's Airlines it had 17 aircraft in 1939 consisting of 3 Junkers 52/3m, 13 Lockheeds and one Fokker.
I haven't decided how much bigger than OTL the domestic airlines would be ITTL yet so I'm not going to make an estimate of how many aircraft British Airways Mk 1 operated, except for the ones operating on overseas routes on contract for the British Government. In common with Imperial Airways in the last years of peace I'm going to guesstimate that it had a fleet 4 times bigger than OTL in 1939. All other things being equal it would have had 68 aircraft consisting of 12 Junkers 52/3m, 52 Lockheed airliners and 4 Fokkers in 1939.
ITTL it would have bought at total of 64 Lockheed airliners consisting of 28 Electras and 36 Super Electras.
Except that ITTL nothing of the sort happened.
The POD is 1933 when Imperial Airways issues a specification to Avro (strictly speaking Avro Whitworth ITTL, but more of that in a later post) for an airliner to operate on its European routes. The requirements of the specification were as follows:
Crew: 2
Capacity: 12-14 passengers
Maximum Speed: at least 250 mph
Cruising Speed: at least 200 mph
Range: 850 miles
The aircraft produced was the Avro Type 652-TTL (TTL = This Time Line). In common with the Avro 652-OTL (OTL = Our Time Line) the first aircraft flew on 7 January 1935, and the type was certificated in March 1935. Imperial Airways bought 16 of them, which were transferred to British Airways Mk 1 when it took over the European routes. ITTL British Airways Mk 1 acquired another 64 of them on its own account instead of the 64 Lockheed airliners that it would otherwise have bought making a total of 80 Avro 652-TTL plus sales to other airlines.