The Speedbird logo dates from the early 1930s. The commissioned artist, who also devised the name, for Imperial Airways was Theo Lee-Elliott, onetime British table tennis champion (!) who later ran an art studio and did many 1920s-30s art nouveau corporate images. It ran right through to current times in the various incarnations of Imperial, BOAC and British Airways, still being of course the BA callsign. The design still appears in various places, one which will be difficult to remove is that incorporated in the mosaic murals on the station platforms of the London Underground extension to Heathrow, done in the 1970s.
G-AGHP was built 1943, and quickly passed in a few months through the USAF and RAF to BOAC. Understand that the latter in wartime was virtually just an arm of the military. DC3s were used quite extensively, especially immediately after 1945, for some quite long haul flights, from the UK to Africa and the Middle East, as well as BOAC's extensive routes within and between points in those continents - there were still various UK colonies there, and no other carrier to do them anyway. Cairo was a significant BOAC hub.
Here on line is the 1947 BOAC DC3 (always known as the Dakota in the UK) timetable for the thrice-weekly service from London to Lagos. It took three days, overnighting at Lisbon, Bathurst and Accra. Lots of Speedbird logos around the page !
ba47-06.jpg (1091×1292) (timetableimages.com)
AGHP was sold in 1947 to Hong Kong Airways, which BOAC part-owned, but was badly damaged before delivery, must have been near to a write-off, but was repaired, and then transferred to the new BEA. Reduced to cargo, it crashed, breaking up midair in a storm near Paris in 1958 while carrying a Formula 1 racing car to the Monaco Grand Prix, Description of the loss, from the racing team's perspective, is here
Plane crash comment by Tony Brooks - TNF's Archive - The Autosport Forums