Aviation Traders
Encyclopedia
Aviation Traders Limited (ATL) was a war
-surplus aircraft and spares trader formed in 1947. In 1949, it began maintaining aircraft used by some of Britain
's contemporary independent airline
s on the Berlin Airlift
. In the early 1950s, it branched out into aircraft conversions and manufacturing. During that period it also became a subcontractor for other aircraft manufacturers. By the end of the decade, it was taken over by the Airwork
group.
at Bovingdon
in Hertfordshire
, England
, in 1947 to trade in war-surplus aircraft and spares. Two years later, Laker shifted his fledgling business to new premises at Rochford
aerodrome (later Southend Municipal Airport
) near Southend-on-Sea
, Essex
, England.
ATL initially specialised in converting numerous war-surplus bombers and transporters into freighters. This included the conversion of Handley Page Halifax
bombers into freighters, six of which were sold to Bond Air Services, an early post-war independent British
airline. Bond Air Services based these planes at Wunstorf
aerodrome in West Germany
to carry essential supplies into West Berlin
during the Berlin Blockade
of 1948-49. Bond Air Services furthermore contracted Aviation Traders to service these planes. In return, Aviation Traders got half of Bond Air Services' freight charges. Following the end of the Berlin Airlift in 1949, Laker had most of the Halifaxes he had supplied to various independent airlines during the Airlift scrapped at its Southend
facilities.
Aviation Traders (Engineering) Ltd, ATL's engineering division, was formally established in 1949. Laker put Jack Wiseman, a fully qualified aircraft maintenance engineer with whom he had worked for a brief period at London Aero Motor Services (LASM), in charge of his new engineering business.
Three former British European Airways
(BEA) Vickers Viking
s, which Laker had acquired in 1949 as well, were overhauled at ATL's Southend maintenance base and sold on to British Overseas Airways Corporation
(BOAC) at a profit.
The following year, ATL's engineering arm cannibalised a number of unairworthy York
s and Lancaster
s Laker had purchased to rebuild the salvaged parts into three airworthy Yorks.
ATL also became one of many post-war aircraft manufacturers seeking to develop a successor to the then ubiquitous Douglas DC-3
piston airliner
that continued playing a prominent role in the fleets of many of the world's airlines well into the 1950s. ATL's answer was the ATL-90 Accountant
, which first flew on 9 July 1957. The Accountant was designed for 28 passengers and, like the more successful Avro 748
, Handley Page Dart Herald
, Fokker Friendship and YS-11
, was powered by two Rolls-Royce Dart
turboprop
engines. At the time, ATL was competing in the DC-3 replacement market with Avro
, Handley Page, Fokker
and Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation
(NAMC). These were well-established aircraft manufacturers with much deeper pockets. ATL could not match the scale of its competitors' investments, both in the design and development of the aircraft itself as well as in marketing the aircraft to potential customers. In addition, the simultaneous development of five competing designs - the ATL-90 Accountant, the Avro 748, the Handley Page HPR 7 Dart Herald
, the Fokker F-27 Friendship
and the NAMC YS-11
saturated the market. As a consequence, the Accountant failed to attract orders. This led to the programme's termination. It also resulted in the prototype
's destruction.
Subsequent conversion work proved more successful. Some Avro Tudor
airliners were fitted with large freight doors to carry cargo for Air Charter Ltd
(one of ATL's sister companies) as Supertraders. Twenty-one Douglas DC-4
airliners were converted into car ferries as the ATL-98 Carvair
, a major task that included replacing the aircraft's original forward fuselage with an extended version incorporating the flight-deck above the cargo hold and a side-hinged nose door through which five cars could be loaded, one at a time, by means of a mobile, ground-based "scissor" lift. Twenty-five passengers could be accommodated in the remaining rear fuselage
whose cross-section remained unaltered. The fin was enlarged to offset the destabilising effect of the enlarged forward fuselage. Many of these piston-engined Carvair aircraft were operated from Southend Airport
on short routes across the English Channel
or North Sea
. The eventual provision of competing fast ferry services by large hovercraft
(the SR.N4) meant that the age of the car-carrying airliner that commenced with the Bristol Freighter
concluded with the Carvair.
ATL furthermore re-engined Argonauts
, BOAC's Canadian
-built Douglas DC-4
s, with unused Rolls-Royce Merlin
piston
engines, which it sourced from the 88 spare Merlins Laker had acquired earlier along with BOAC's Halifaxes and several Avro Tudors purchased from the Government.
In 1951, ATL won a contract from Bristol Aircraft
to manufacture wing centre sections for Bristol Freighters. Between the beginning of 1952 and the end of 1955, ATL built 50 wing sections for Bristol Aircraft. During that period ATL had grown into a large engineering and manufacturing organisation.
In 1956, ATL purchased over 250 surplus ex-Royal Air Force
Percival Prentice
trainer
aircraft, about 20 of which were converted for civilian customers.
In 1958, Laker announced his decision to sell both ATL and Air Charter to Airwork for £
600,000 cash plus a further £200,000, subject to the valuation of stock. The deal became effective in January 1959, when both companies joined the Airwork group.
Sir Freddie Laker Arrives
THE END of the Second World War left a lot of aircraft spares about. Also, there were many training and cargo aircraft that could be used for civilian purposes.
A young entrepreneur called Freddie Laker, formerly a LAMS flight engineer, saw such an opportunity and, initially using a lockup garage in Streatham, built up a parts and maintenance base at Southend airport in 1947 under the name of Aviation Traders.
By 1951 the maintenance side of the business had grown so much that Aviation Traders (Engineering) Limited leased a hangar at Stansted and so Sir Freddie’s association with Stansted recommenced.
To make way for Aviation Traders several red London Transport double deck buses and Green Line coaches stored at Stansted after the war had to be removed.
1951 also saw Freddie Laker branch out into the airline business, with the purchase of Surrey Flying Services and Fairlight. As Air Charter London he started passenger and trooping charter flights from Stansted with AvroYorks and Tudors. Destinations included the Woomera rocket range in Australia and the nuclear testing centre on Christmas Island in the South Pacific.
The next year the engineering operation had taken over another hangar. This time surplus Miles Marathon four engined airliners had to be removed from it and scrapped.
Up to 1954 most of Aviation Traders’ work at Stansted involved maintaining Avro York aircraft or dismantling them for spares. It was also becoming a major centre for ex RAF spares, including engines, tyres etc.
A big boost came in 1954 when Aviation Traders secured a contract to build Bristol Freighter fuselage sections and got financial backing to buy up all the remaining Avro Tudor aircraft to convert them into “Super Traders”. It also won a contract to refurbish 100 ex RAF F86E Sabre jet fighters.
The Avro Tudor conversion involved making a double freight door on the port side of the aircraft, strengthening the floor and upgrading the main landing gear and braking system.
In 1948 Silver City Airways had commenced a car/air ferry service between Lympne and Le Touquet using the Bristol Freighter. By the mid fifties there were several such services and in April 1955 Air Charter started its car air ferry routes out of Southend to Calais and Ostend.
With Air Charter’s experience Laker saw there was a need for a bigger aircraft and using Aviation Traders he converted surplus wartime four engined DC4/C54 Skymaster aircraft into car transporters at Stansted.
Named the Carvair it was capable of carrying up to six cars and 23 passengers with a range of 2,100 miles and under the British United Air Ferries name in the 1960s it opened up car/air ferry routes to Basle, Strasbourg and Geneva.
In September 1958 Air Charter took delivery of two brand new Bristol Britannia aircraft for its trooping flights to Hong Kong and Singapore. On 1 April 1960 Air Charter become part of the British United Airways group based at Gatwick.
BUA operated up to nine Bristol Britannias on trooping flights from Stansted, but after the loss of the contract to British Eagle at Heathrow, operations ceased at Stansted on 1 October 1964.
Aviation Traders remained at Stansted servicing the Bristol Proteus turbo-prop engines of the Bristol Britannia and the Pratt and Whitney JT4 jets of the new Boeing 707.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
-surplus aircraft and spares trader formed in 1947. In 1949, it began maintaining aircraft used by some of Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's contemporary independent airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
s on the Berlin Airlift
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied...
. In the early 1950s, it branched out into aircraft conversions and manufacturing. During that period it also became a subcontractor for other aircraft manufacturers. By the end of the decade, it was taken over by the Airwork
Airwork Services
During the post-war period Airwork also further expanded its business into civil aviation. 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.Airwork's other air...
group.
History
Aviation Traders Ltd (ATL) was established by Freddie LakerFreddie Laker
Sir Frederick Alfred Laker was a British airline entrepreneur, best known for founding Laker Airways in 1966, which went bankrupt in 1982...
at Bovingdon
RAF Bovingdon
RAF Bovingdon was a Royal Air Force station, located to the west of Bovingdon, two and a half miles south of Hemel Hempstead and two and a half miles south east of Berkhamsted, in Hertfordshire, UK....
in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, in 1947 to trade in war-surplus aircraft and spares. Two years later, Laker shifted his fledgling business to new premises at Rochford
Rochford
Rochford is a small town in the Rochford district of Essex in the East of England. It is sited about 43 miles from Central London and approximately 21 miles from the Essex county town, Chelmsford...
aerodrome (later Southend Municipal Airport
London Southend Airport
London Southend Airport or Southend Airport is a regional airport in the district of Rochford within Essex, England.During the 1960s, Southend was the third-busiest airport in the United Kingdom. It remained London's third-busiest airport in terms of passengers handled until the end of the 1970s,...
) near Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, England.
ATL initially specialised in converting numerous war-surplus bombers and transporters into freighters. This included the conversion of Handley Page Halifax
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engined heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...
bombers into freighters, six of which were sold to Bond Air Services, an early post-war independent British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
airline. Bond Air Services based these planes at Wunstorf
Wunstorf
Wunstorf is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approx. 22 km west of Hanover. The following localities belong to the city of Wunstorf: Blumenau , Bokeloh, Grossenheidorn, Idensen , Klein Heidorn, Kolenfeld, Luthe, Mesmerode, Steinhude, Wunstorf....
aerodrome in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
to carry essential supplies into West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
during the Berlin Blockade
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied...
of 1948-49. Bond Air Services furthermore contracted Aviation Traders to service these planes. In return, Aviation Traders got half of Bond Air Services' freight charges. Following the end of the Berlin Airlift in 1949, Laker had most of the Halifaxes he had supplied to various independent airlines during the Airlift scrapped at its Southend
London Southend Airport
London Southend Airport or Southend Airport is a regional airport in the district of Rochford within Essex, England.During the 1960s, Southend was the third-busiest airport in the United Kingdom. It remained London's third-busiest airport in terms of passengers handled until the end of the 1970s,...
facilities.
Aviation Traders (Engineering) Ltd, ATL's engineering division, was formally established in 1949. Laker put Jack Wiseman, a fully qualified aircraft maintenance engineer with whom he had worked for a brief period at London Aero Motor Services (LASM), in charge of his new engineering business.
Three former British European Airways
British European Airways
British European Airways or British European Airways Corporation was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. The airline operated European and North African routes from airports around the United Kingdom...
(BEA) Vickers Viking
Vickers VC.1 Viking
The Vickers VC.1 Viking was a British twin-engine short-range airliner derived from the Vickers Wellington bomber and built by Vickers Armstrongs Limited at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Viking was an important airliner with British airlines...
s, which Laker had acquired in 1949 as well, were overhauled at ATL's Southend maintenance base and sold on to British Overseas Airways Corporation
British Overseas Airways Corporation
The British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...
(BOAC) at a profit.
The following year, ATL's engineering arm cannibalised a number of unairworthy York
Avro York
The Avro York was a British transport aircraft that was derived from the Second World War Lancaster heavy bomber, and used in both military and airliner roles between 1943 and 1964.-Design and development:...
s and Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
s Laker had purchased to rebuild the salvaged parts into three airworthy Yorks.
ATL also became one of many post-war aircraft manufacturers seeking to develop a successor to the then ubiquitous Douglas DC-3
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
piston airliner
Airliner
An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...
that continued playing a prominent role in the fleets of many of the world's airlines well into the 1950s. ATL's answer was the ATL-90 Accountant
Aviation Traders Accountant
|-See also:...
, which first flew on 9 July 1957. The Accountant was designed for 28 passengers and, like the more successful Avro 748
Avro 748
The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed by the British firm Avro in the late 1950s as a replacement for the now-aged DC-3s then in widespread service as feederliners. Avro concentrated on performance, notably for STOL operations, and found a dedicated...
, Handley Page Dart Herald
Handley Page Dart Herald
The Handley Page Dart Herald was a 1950s British turboprop passenger aircraft.-Design and development:In the mid 1950s the Handley Page Aircraft Company developed a new fast short-range regional airliner, intended to replace the venerable Douglas DC-3, particularly in third-world countries...
, Fokker Friendship and YS-11
NAMC YS-11
The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner built by a Japanese consortium, the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation. The program was initiated by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1954, the aircraft was rolled out in 1962, and production ceased in 1974.-Development and design:In...
, was powered by two Rolls-Royce Dart
Rolls-Royce Dart
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9-External links:*...
turboprop
Turboprop
A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
engines. At the time, ATL was competing in the DC-3 replacement market with Avro
Avro
Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.-Early history:One of the world's...
, Handley Page, Fokker
Fokker
Fokker was a Dutch aircraft manufacturer named after its founder, Anthony Fokker. The company operated under several different names, starting out in 1912 in Schwerin, Germany, moving to the Netherlands in 1919....
and Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation
Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation
The Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation , or NAMC, was the manufacturer of Japan's only successful civilian airliner, the YS-11.- History :...
(NAMC). These were well-established aircraft manufacturers with much deeper pockets. ATL could not match the scale of its competitors' investments, both in the design and development of the aircraft itself as well as in marketing the aircraft to potential customers. In addition, the simultaneous development of five competing designs - the ATL-90 Accountant, the Avro 748, the Handley Page HPR 7 Dart Herald
Handley Page Dart Herald
The Handley Page Dart Herald was a 1950s British turboprop passenger aircraft.-Design and development:In the mid 1950s the Handley Page Aircraft Company developed a new fast short-range regional airliner, intended to replace the venerable Douglas DC-3, particularly in third-world countries...
, the Fokker F-27 Friendship
Fokker F27
The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker.-Design and development:Design of the Fokker F27 started in the 1950s as a replacement to the successful Douglas DC-3 airliner...
and the NAMC YS-11
NAMC YS-11
The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner built by a Japanese consortium, the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation. The program was initiated by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1954, the aircraft was rolled out in 1962, and production ceased in 1974.-Development and design:In...
saturated the market. As a consequence, the Accountant failed to attract orders. This led to the programme's termination. It also resulted in the prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
's destruction.
Subsequent conversion work proved more successful. Some Avro Tudor
Avro Tudor
Avro's Type 688 Tudor was a British piston-engined airliner based on their four-engine Lincoln bomber, itself a descendant of the famous Lancaster heavy bomber, and was Britain's first pressurised airliner...
airliners were fitted with large freight doors to carry cargo for Air Charter Ltd
Air Charter Limited
Air Charter was an early post-World War II private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline formed in 1947. The airline conducted regular trooping flights to Cyprus as well as worldwide passenger and freight charter flights from its bases at Southend Airport and...
(one of ATL's sister companies) as Supertraders. Twenty-one 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...
airliners were converted into car ferries as the ATL-98 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...
, a major task that included replacing the aircraft's original forward fuselage with an extended version incorporating the flight-deck above the cargo hold and a side-hinged nose door through which five cars could be loaded, one at a time, by means of a mobile, ground-based "scissor" lift. Twenty-five passengers could be accommodated in the remaining rear fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
whose cross-section remained unaltered. The fin was enlarged to offset the destabilising effect of the enlarged forward fuselage. Many of these piston-engined Carvair aircraft were operated from Southend Airport
London Southend Airport
London Southend Airport or Southend Airport is a regional airport in the district of Rochford within Essex, England.During the 1960s, Southend was the third-busiest airport in the United Kingdom. It remained London's third-busiest airport in terms of passengers handled until the end of the 1970s,...
on short routes across the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
or North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. The eventual provision of competing fast ferry services by large hovercraft
Hovercraft
A hovercraft is a craft capable of traveling over surfaces while supported by a cushion of slow moving, high-pressure air which is ejected against the surface below and contained within a "skirt." Although supported by air, a hovercraft is not considered an aircraft.Hovercraft are used throughout...
(the SR.N4) meant that the age of the car-carrying airliner that commenced with the Bristol 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...
concluded with the Carvair.
ATL furthermore re-engined Argonauts
Canadair North Star
The Canadair North Star was a 1940s Canadian development of the Douglas C-54 / DC-4 aircraft. Instead of radial piston engines found on the Douglas design, Canadair employed Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in order to achieve a 35 mph faster cruising speed. The prototype flew on 15 July 1946 and...
, BOAC's Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
-built 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...
s, with unused Rolls-Royce Merlin
Rolls-Royce Merlin
The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled, V-12, piston aero engine, of 27-litre capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited designed and built the engine which was initially known as the PV-12: the PV-12 became known as the Merlin following the company convention of naming its piston aero engines after...
piston
Piston
A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tight by piston rings. In an engine, its purpose is to transfer force from...
engines, which it sourced from the 88 spare Merlins Laker had acquired earlier along with BOAC's Halifaxes and several Avro Tudors purchased from the Government.
In 1951, ATL won a contract from Bristol Aircraft
Bristol Aeroplane Company
The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aero engines...
to manufacture wing centre sections for Bristol Freighters. Between the beginning of 1952 and the end of 1955, ATL built 50 wing sections for Bristol Aircraft. During that period ATL had grown into a large engineering and manufacturing organisation.
In 1956, ATL purchased over 250 surplus ex-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...
Percival Prentice
Percival Prentice
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Ellison, Norman H. Percivals Aircraft . Chalford, Stroud, UK: Chalford Publishing Company, 1997. ISBN 0-7524-0774-0....
trainer
Trainer (aircraft)
A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate in-flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristics and a simplified cockpit arrangement—allows...
aircraft, about 20 of which were converted for civilian customers.
In 1958, Laker announced his decision to sell both ATL and Air Charter to Airwork for £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
600,000 cash plus a further £200,000, subject to the valuation of stock. The deal became effective in January 1959, when both companies joined the Airwork group.
Aircraft (re-built)
- Aviation Traders CarvairAviation Traders CarvairThe 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...
- Aviation Traders AccountantAviation Traders Accountant|-See also:...
Sir Freddie Laker Arrives
THE END of the Second World War left a lot of aircraft spares about. Also, there were many training and cargo aircraft that could be used for civilian purposes.
A young entrepreneur called Freddie Laker, formerly a LAMS flight engineer, saw such an opportunity and, initially using a lockup garage in Streatham, built up a parts and maintenance base at Southend airport in 1947 under the name of Aviation Traders.
By 1951 the maintenance side of the business had grown so much that Aviation Traders (Engineering) Limited leased a hangar at Stansted and so Sir Freddie’s association with Stansted recommenced.
To make way for Aviation Traders several red London Transport double deck buses and Green Line coaches stored at Stansted after the war had to be removed.
1951 also saw Freddie Laker branch out into the airline business, with the purchase of Surrey Flying Services and Fairlight. As Air Charter London he started passenger and trooping charter flights from Stansted with AvroYorks and Tudors. Destinations included the Woomera rocket range in Australia and the nuclear testing centre on Christmas Island in the South Pacific.
The next year the engineering operation had taken over another hangar. This time surplus Miles Marathon four engined airliners had to be removed from it and scrapped.
Up to 1954 most of Aviation Traders’ work at Stansted involved maintaining Avro York aircraft or dismantling them for spares. It was also becoming a major centre for ex RAF spares, including engines, tyres etc.
A big boost came in 1954 when Aviation Traders secured a contract to build Bristol Freighter fuselage sections and got financial backing to buy up all the remaining Avro Tudor aircraft to convert them into “Super Traders”. It also won a contract to refurbish 100 ex RAF F86E Sabre jet fighters.
The Avro Tudor conversion involved making a double freight door on the port side of the aircraft, strengthening the floor and upgrading the main landing gear and braking system.
In 1948 Silver City Airways had commenced a car/air ferry service between Lympne and Le Touquet using the Bristol Freighter. By the mid fifties there were several such services and in April 1955 Air Charter started its car air ferry routes out of Southend to Calais and Ostend.
With Air Charter’s experience Laker saw there was a need for a bigger aircraft and using Aviation Traders he converted surplus wartime four engined DC4/C54 Skymaster aircraft into car transporters at Stansted.
Named the Carvair it was capable of carrying up to six cars and 23 passengers with a range of 2,100 miles and under the British United Air Ferries name in the 1960s it opened up car/air ferry routes to Basle, Strasbourg and Geneva.
In September 1958 Air Charter took delivery of two brand new Bristol Britannia aircraft for its trooping flights to Hong Kong and Singapore. On 1 April 1960 Air Charter become part of the British United Airways group based at Gatwick.
BUA operated up to nine Bristol Britannias on trooping flights from Stansted, but after the loss of the contract to British Eagle at Heathrow, operations ceased at Stansted on 1 October 1964.
Aviation Traders remained at Stansted servicing the Bristol Proteus turbo-prop engines of the Bristol Britannia and the Pratt and Whitney JT4 jets of the new Boeing 707.
External links
- www.atl.aero – ATL (Aviation Traders Ltd)
- Armstrong, P. (2005). The Flight of the Accountant: a Romance of Air and Credit, Flight to insolvency