An air ferry is a ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 service in which cars and passengers are transported by aircraft.

British services

The air ferry service was inaugurated by retired Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 officer Air Commodore Griffith J. ("Taffy") Powell, who founded an airline company called Silver City

Silver City (airline)

Silver City Airways was a private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline formed in 1946. The name Silver City was derived from the eponymous Australian mining town at Broken Hill, where the The Zinc Corporation was headquartered. Silver City's first commercial...

 in 1948. They used Bristol 170 Freighter

Bristol Freighter

The Bristol Type 170 Freighter was a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and airliner, although its best known use is as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively short distances.-Design and development:The...

 aeroplanes, developed from the Bristol Bombay

Bristol Bombay

|-See also:...

 military aircraft. The service operated until 1954 from Lympne airfield, and later from Lydd airport

London Ashford Airport

-Accidents and incidents:*On 17 August 1978, Douglas C-47B G-AMSM of Skyways Cargo Airline was damaged beyond economic repair in a take-off accident.-External links:******...

.

The service was popular through the 1950s. The ultimate air ferry aeroplane was the Aviation Traders Carvair

Aviation Traders Carvair

The Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair was a large piston-engine transport aircraft. It was a Douglas DC-4-based air ferry developed by Freddie Laker's Aviation Traders Limited , with a capacity of 25 passengers and five cars, loaded at the front.-Design and development:Freddie Laker's idea to...

, converted from the Douglas DC-4

Douglas DC-4

The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...

.

Airlines that offered air ferry services involving the British Isles

All the airlines below are defunct except Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus no longer offers transport of cars.

• Aer Lingus
  Aer Lingus
  Aer Lingus Group Plc is the flag carrier of Ireland. It operates a fleet of Airbus aircraft serving Europe and North America. It is Ireland's oldest extant airline, and its second largest after low-cost rival Ryanair...
  
  
• Air Ferry
  Air Ferry Limited
  Air Ferry Limited was a private, independent British airline operating charter, scheduled and all-cargo flights from 1963 to 1968.-History:Wg Cdr Hugh Kennard, the Air Kruise founder and a former Silver City Airways director, and Leroy Tours founder Lewis Leroy formed Air Ferry Ltd in 1961 as a...
  
  
• British United Air Ferries
  British United Air Ferries
  British United Air Ferries was a wholly private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations car and passenger ferry airline based in the United Kingdom during the 1960s. It specialised in cross-Channel ferry flights carrying cars and their owners between its numerous bases...
  
  
• British Air Ferries
• Channel Air Bridge
  Channel Air Bridge
  Channel Air Bridge was a private British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline specialising in cross-Channel vehicle-cum-passenger ferry services. Freddie Laker started Channel Air Bridge as a sister airline of Air Charter on a provisional basis in 1954. Operations...
  
  
• Silver City Airways

External links

• http://www.franceforfreebooters.com/travel/SilverCity.htm
• http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/cab.htm