Flatspin, I've actually only been in the industry a few years, but even in the current world believe there are a lot of lessons to be learnt from the past, and always think it's interesting how aspects of history repeat themselves. Maybe I just spent too much time reading about these things as a kid and am now just a geek!
Funnily enough, Cambrian and Northeast were probably the two airlines that came to mind the most, prior to the whole Manx/Loganair/BRA saga, when thinking about the BA/BOAC/BEA strategies. Cambrian were picked up and dropped so often it's ridiculous.