Originally Posted by
Shaggy Sheep Driver
Even after the war, for many years, we were hampered by lack of investment in a civil airliner capable of comfortable pressurised trans Atlantic flight, relying on Lancastrians, and the wartime US-built Liberators. BOAC eventually managed to buy some US aeroplanes such as the Stratocruiser. The Tudor was a failure, the Britannia of course came too late, and the Comet 1 had its well known serious problems with metal fatigue. It was the late '50s before there was a civil UK contender on the North Atlanic.
Actually the shortfall was realised early on. Civil flying was allowed to restart in the UK in January 1946, and just three months later the first of a quite sizeable Lockheed Constellation fleet was delivered, brand new, to BOAC. Lancastrians and flying boats (of which a whole new fleet was built immediately post-war) were for Colonial routes which had shorter stages.
I believe there was a lot of investment across multiple manufacturers, but it was mis-applied and led to types that were outdated. Among other things, some of the long-haul designs were ludicrously under-sized, with new designs for 20 or 25 passengers. I think the government civil servants who drove the plan and doled out the money thought that only they, and a select few others, were going to use such services.