Британские Южноамериканские Авиалинии: История и Судьба

Defunct state run airline in the United Kingdom (1944–1950)

British South American Airways (BSAA) was a state run airline of the United Kingdom in the mid to late 1940s responsible for services to the Caribbean and South America. Originally named British Latin American Air Lines, it was renamed before services started in 1946. BSAA operated mostly Avro aircraft: Yorks, Lancastrians and Tudors and flew to Bermuda, the West Indies, Mexico and the western coast of South America. After two high profile aircraft disappearances it was merged into the British Overseas Airways Corporation at the end of 1949. Most of BSAA's aircraft were given individual aircraft names beginning with "Star", which have long been used in long range celestial navigation.

British Latin American Air Lines (BLAIR) was formed on 25 January 1944 by shipping interests (Royal Mail Lines, Pacific Steam Navigation Company, Lamport & Holt Line, Booth Steamship Company and Blue Star Line) to complement the companies' shipping services to South America; at the end of 1945 the company was renamed British South American Airways. The chairman of the new company was J W Booth. The initial aircraft – until the Avro Tudor II was available – would be Avro Lancasters converted by Avro into the same configuration as Avro Lancastrians and the crews were being sought from former Pathfinder Force members: the general manager Don Bennett had been the force commander during the war. The single route to be flown was Hurn Lisbon Bathurst Natal Rio de Janeiro Montevideo Buenos Aires. On 1 January 1946, the airline's first Avro Lancastrian, Star Light, flown by Don Bennett and R. Clifford Alabaster, undertook the first flight from the newly opened Heathrow Airport; it was on a proving flight to South America. The first commercial flight followed ten weeks later. With the approaching nationalisation of British airlines, the airline came under the control of the British Overseas Airways Corporation and with the passing of the Civil Aviation Act 1946 – which set up three nationally owned corporations – BSAA became a government owned corporation on 1 August 1946 charged with developing services from the UK to South America. This responsibility was then expanded later in 1946 to routes to the West Indies, Central America and the west coast of South America. In January 1947 the airline reached an agreement with British West Indian Airways which would become an associate. BSAA would buy the majority of shares in BWIA and provide technical advice and general supervision. In May 1947 the airline started a series of test flights to Bermuda using a converted Avro Lancaster which was refuelled in mid air over the Azores to complete the flight in 20 hours. On 2 August 1947, Avro Lancastrian Star Dust crashed in Argentina with the loss of all on board. In the first financial year under government control (August 1946 – March 1947) the airline made a surplus of £20,507. The two other airline corporations BOAC and BEA made a combined loss of £10,234,781. On 31 March 1947 the corporation had a staff of 1,031 and had carried 5,397 passengers since August 1946. On 30 January 1948, Avro Tudor Star Tiger, with a crew of six and 25 passengers bound for Bermuda, disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. The remaining Tudors were grounded while an investigation was undertaken. In February the chief executive, Don Bennett, was dismissed by the board. In March the Tudor aircraft were again allowed to fly, initially only as freighters. In the financial year April 1947 – March 1948, the Corporation made a loss of £421,481. The Tudor returned to passenger service on 18 August, with a new service to Kingston, Jamaica. In December the Tudors replaced the Avro Lancastrian on routes to Havana, Cuba, and to the west coast of South America. From September 1948 the airline based Avro Tudors at Wunstorf to support the Berlin Airlift, mainly by each carrying 2,300 gallons of petrol or 2,100 gallons of fuel oil; by April 1949 the airline had five aircraft operating the Airlift. By December 1948 the airline had transported over 1,000,000 gallons of petrol into Berlin from Wunstorf in over 700 flights, using mostly Tudor V tankers, each fitted with five tanks. On 17 January, in a repeat of the Star Tiger incident, the Tudor Star Ariel disappeared over the Atlantic on a flight from Bermuda. It had seven crew and 13 passengers. Pending investigation, the Tudors were withdrawn from service by the airline. By March 1949, with the loss of the Star Ariel unexplained, the permanent grounding of the Tudor IVs for passenger flying, and the lack of other long range aircraft, the government proposed amalgamating the airline with BOAC. BSAA passengers to Bermuda were already being carried by BOAC aircraft via New York. The airline did have Saunders Roe Princess flying boats on order, but they would not be delivered until 1951, and the transfer of Canadair North Star which were on order for BOAC was considered. On the passing of the Air Corporations Act 1949, British South American Airways Corporation became the South American Division of BOAC; the change became effective from 1 January 1950.

The airline used Langley Airfield for maintenance before transferring all operations to London Heathrow Airport.

On 2 August 1947, the Avro Lancastrian Star Dust disappeared on a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile; fifty years later remains of the aircraft were found to have crashed into an Argentine mountain.