Silver City Airways was an airline based in the United Kingdom that operated mainly in Europe between 1946 and 1962. Unlike many airlines at the time, it was independent of government-owned corporations; its parent company was Zinc Corporation, an Australian company involved mainly in mining and mineral processing. The name "Silver City" originated as a nickname of Broken Hill, Australia – an area famed for silver mines, including some owned by the airline's parent company.
The first commercial flight by Silver City departed London Heathrow for Sydney via Johannesburg in late November 1946. The following year, Silver City leased its first Bristol Freighter, moved its base to Blackbushe and participated in the airlift of Hindu and Muslim refugees between Pakistan and India.Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, p. 41, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010English-Australian charter Flight International 19 December 1946 page 683Silver City Airways — The Company: Why 'Silver City'? In 1948, control of Silver City passed from the Zinc Corporation to British Aviation Services.From all quarters, Another air-sea merger, From all quarters, Flight International, 19 February 1954, p. 158 In July of that year, the airline inaugurated the world's first air ferry service across the English Channel between Lympne Airport and Le Touquet Airport.Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, p. 42, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010 In 1948–49, Silver City participated in the Berlin Airlift.Silver City Airways — The Company: Aid to Berlin In 1949, it established a French sister airline.Silver City Airways — The Company: The End of the Adventure
In 1953, Silver City took delivery of its first Bristol Superfreighter.Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, pp. 43/4, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010Silver City Airways — The Company: The Superfreighter Arrives The following year, the company moved to a new permanent home at Lydd Ferryfield, Britain's first newly constructed post-war airport.Duke of Edinburgh with Silver City — First Visit to a British Private Airline, Flight International, 13 April 1956, p. 409High Risk: The Politics of the Air, Thomson, A., Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1990, p. 74Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, pp. 40, 42/3, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010Silver City Airways — The Company: A New Home The same year, Silver City Airways came under the control of P&O.Fly me, I'm Freddie!, Eglin, R. and Ritchie, B., Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1980, p. 75A Bigger British United, Air Commerce, Flight International, 1 February 1962, p. 158A Bigger British United, Air Commerce ..., Flight International, 1 February 1962, p. 159 By the mid-1950s, Silver City had become the biggest air cargo carrier in the United Kingdom while annual passenger numbers at its "Ferryfield" base had reached ¼ of a million. During that time, the airline also inaugurated air ferry services between Scotland and Ireland and from/to the Midlands.News Report — Government blocks plans, South East Business, May 2010, p. 13 This period also saw the launch of Silver Arrow, a London—Paris coach-air-coach/rail service, with the cross-Channel air portion operating between Lydd and Le Touquet. In 1957, Silver City accomplished its one-millionth Channel crossing. In summer 1958, Silver City's "Ferryfield" base recorded more aircraft movements than any other UK airport.Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, pp. 40, 42 Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010 That year, also marked the conclusion of Silver City's first decade of air ferry operations during which the airline operated more than 100,000 flights carrying over 200,000 vehicles and ¾ of a million passengers, with peak-day frequency exceeding 200.Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, p. 40, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010 In 1959, Silver City took over sister airline Britavia's Handley Page Hermes fleet and Manston base. That year, the airline also began oil industry support flights in Libya.Aeroplane — Matters of moment: B.U.A. Link with Silver City, Vol. 102, No. 2623, p. 8, Temple Press, London, 25 January 1962Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, pp. 42/3, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, p. 44, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010
By 1960, Silver City's 40,000 annual cross-Channel flights transported 220,000 passengers and 90,000 vehicles while network-wide freight haulage reached 135,000 tons a year. The following summer, the airline reached agreement with a French rival to co-finance construction of a branch line linking Le Touquet Airport with the nearby main railway line to reduce surface travelling time from/to Paris.Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, pp. 40/1, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010 Unsustainable losses as a result of the loss of the Libyan oil industry support flight contract, increasing competition from roll-on/roll-off ferries and the lack of suitable replacements for the ageing Bristol Freighters resulted in growing financial difficulties, culminating in Silver City's takeover by British United Airways (BUA) holding company Air Holdings in 1962.The ATL-98 Carvair: A Comprehensive History of the Aircraft and All 21 Airframes — 1: Corporate History - Channel Air Bridge, Dean, W.P. and O'Callaghan, M., McFarland & Co., Jefferson, N.C., USA, 2008, pp. 19, 35Aircraft (Gone but not forgotten ... SILVER CITY), Vol 43, No 3, pp. 40, 44, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, January 2010
History
The 1940s In 1946, Air Cdre Griffith James ("Taffy") Powell got in touch with W.S. Robinson, chairman of London-based mining company the Zinc Corporation. That meeting resulted in Robinson appointing Powell as the Zinc Corporation's adviser.
One of Powell's first visits in his new capacity took him to Broken Hill, Australia, also known as Silver City. This visit resulted in the decision to set up a new air transport operator to serve the mining industry, to be named Silver City.
Silver City Airways Ltd. was incorporated on 25 November 1946. British Aviation Services (BAS) (or Britavia), an early post-World War II airline holding company and air transport operator, became one of Silver City's shareholders, initially taking a 10% stake. Air Cdre Griffith James Powell was the first managing director of both BAS and Silver City.
Silver City's first base was at Langley Airfield, Berkshire.
The airline's initial fleet comprised four ex-military Douglas Dakotas and three Avro Lancastrians, the 13-seater civil version of the Lancaster Mark 3 bomber. Two of the latter were new aircraft that had been ordered by British South American Airways (BSAA).
Lancastrian G-AHBW operated the company's first commercial flight, from London Airport (Heathrow) to Sydney via Johannesburg in November 1946. This was followed by similar operations to Johannesburg via Karachi and to Malta before the end of the year.
In October 1947, Silver City became involved in the airlift of Hindu and Muslim refugees between Pakistan and India, following the Subcontinent's partitioning. This operation constituted the fledgling airline's first major engagement. Initially, the repatriation airlift was undertaken by four Dakotas. On short journeys, the authorities granted Silver City dispensation to raise the limit on the maximum number of passengers it could carry from 28 to 52 to airlift as many people as quickly as possible.
Also that year, Silver City moved its base to Blackbushe Airport, as a result of Langley's closure due to Heathrow's expansion.
Also in 1947, Silver City leased its first Bristol Freighter from the manufacturer to replace one of the four Dakotas that had originally been allocated to the repatriation airlift in the Indian subcontinent. Like the Dakotas it had operated on that airlift, Silver City was given dispensation to increase the maximum number of passengers it could carry on the Bristol Freighter above the normal limit of 32. Actual loads on this aircraft type often exceeded 100 passengers per flight, resulting in a total of 1,105 evacuees and their belongings being transported aboard Silver City's single Freighter over a period of nine days. The airline's Bristol Freighter fleet soon expanded to four aircraft. The Freighter would play a major role in the company's development over the coming years. Powell realised that the Bristol Freighter could be adapted to fly car owners with their vehicles from Britain to Continental Europe and the Channel Islands. This "air ferry" would allow British holidaymakers avoid long waits for sea ferries and time-consuming, bumpy rides in rough waters.
On 7 July 1948, a Silver City Bristol Freighter operated the first cross-Channel air ferry service, between Lympne near Folkestone in Kent and Le Touquet on France's northern Côte d'Opale coast, with good road connections from and to London and Paris respectively. The new service, which initially operated on a seasonal charter basis, became a year-round scheduled operation in 1949. In the beginning, there was a flat £32 one-way fare to take a group of four passengers along with their car across the Channel. Once opposition from British European Airways (BEA) to the carriage of passengers travelling without vehicles was overcome, a new fare structure was introduced. For example, a group of four travelling with a small car was charged only £27, while the comparable fare for four people travelling with a large car remained at £32. By the end of 1949, this operation fully utilised five Freighters, which carried 2,700 cars and 10,000 passengers. These figures represented a significant increase over the previous year when only 178 cars and their occupants, as well as some motorcycles and bicycles had been carried until the end of the season in September.
The same year, the Zinc Corporation sold its shareholding in Silver City to BAS, making the latter the airline's sole owner. Silver City subsequently became BAS's biggest operating division.
Silver City joined the 1948–49 Berlin Airlift with a single Bristol Freighter in September 1948.Bristol 170 Mk IIA G-AHJC on the Berlin Airlift (photo) Owing to heavy demand for additional civilian airlift capacity, the airline leased a further two Freighters from the Bristol Aeroplane Company. By the time the civil contribution to the Airlift was scaled down in February 1949, the company's three Bristol Freighters were the last twin-engined airliners employed in this operation. When it came to an end, the firm's Freighters had flown a total of about 800 hours.
In February 1949, Silver City established a French sister airline headquartered in Paris to operate vehicle ferry flights from Le Touquet Airport. The new company was registered under the name Société Commerciale Aérienne du Littoral (SCAL). A number of Silver City aircraft were registered to this company. These were transferred onto the French aircraft register. In addition, an agreement was reached to appoint the Automobile Club de France as Silver City's and SCAL's official representative in France. These steps were necessary to secure French approval to turn the seasonal charter flights Silver City had operated on this route into a full-fledged scheduled operation.The ATL-98 Carvair: A Comprehensive History of the Aircraft and All 21 Airframes — Part I: Getting off the ground, Dean, W.P. and O'Callaghan, M., McFarland & Co., Jefferson, N.C., USA, 2008, p. 12Fleet List 4 – Société Commerciale Aérienne du Littoral (SCAL) and Compagnie Air Transport (CAT)Airliner Classics (Silver City Airways ... Scheduled Services), p. 90, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, July 2013
The 1950s