Imperial Airways research.

[wc_taylor]

Hi all,

I'm a History undergraduate at the University of Exeter and I'm conducting a primary source based investigation into Imperial Airways in the 1930s, focussing particularly on its political and cultural significance to the British perception of the late - Empire.

One thing I'd love to examine is an Imperial Airways pilots memoir or autobiography - however, I have so far been unsuccessful in tracking one down. So I thought it might be worth asking if anyone here knew of any material of that sort, that I may have overlooked in my initial sweep.

Many thanks,
Joe

[fltplanner]

Hi Joe,
Try BA Speedbird Centre. Google "BA Heritage Centre" for contact info. All Imperial history and more is there.

[renfrew]

Have you seen?------
The Log of a Merchant Airman by John Lock
Britain's Imperial Air Routes by Robin Higham
Tales from the Golden Age of Air Travel by Tom Quinn
Adventurous Empires by Phillip Sims.
The Seven Skies by John Pudney.

[treadigraph]

"Beyond the Blue Horizon" by Alexander Frater is his account of recreating Imperial's route to Australia by modern airlines in 1978. He quotes contemporary accounts by crew and passengers throughout the book which may be of interest.

It's a good read, too!

[Planemike]

Highways to the Empire .... Colin Cruddas.
British Airways An Airline and it's Aircraft Volume 1 : 1919 -1939 The Imperial Years .... R E G Davies.
Merchant Airmen The Air Ministry Account of British Civil Aviation : 1939 - 1944.

Just had a look at Ron Davies's book, it contains an extensive bibliography and index which will supply you with many leads to information.

Agree with fltplanner. A trip to BA Museum/Heritage centre would be very worthwhile. Contains a mountain a fascinating information.

Should have said......"Welcome to the Forum" Joe !!!....

[Warmtoast]

wc_taylor


There's a fascinating thread here on PPRuNe about a trip to the Far East that started from Poole Harbour in May 1940 shortly after Imperial Airways had become BOAC. See here: http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/48484-rma-caledonia.html

[one11]

On your specific request for biographical material..All Weather Mac autobiography of R H McIntosh MacDonald & Co 1963
..before Isbn numbers.

[WHBM]

The political and cultural aspects of the operation were probably a little remote from the pilots of the day, who would concern themselves more with the actual operation, the different weather conditions encountered, and such like. It would be the management and, behind the scenes, the sponsoring government, who would be more into these aspects.

One thing to bear in mind is that the intercontinental flights to the Empire (Africa/Asia/Australia) were just as concerned, if not more so, with air mail as much as passenger transport. Mails were given priority and passengers could actually be offloaded if the mail load was heavier than anticipated. Very few people actually travelled by these aircraft, but a significant proportion of the population had relatives overseas in the Empire, and maintained contact by letter in those days. the Christmas air mail flights and last posting dates for these were significant points all across the country. Payment by the Post Office made the operations commercially possible.

Descriptions of such flights by passengers (there are a fair number around) often include mentions of their handful of fellows, typically a mix of senior government officials, the wealthier expats (which included the few women passengers) and a notable proportion of those from the aviation industry itself involved in aspects of the operation. Commercial sales people, visiting friends/family, holidaymakers, and children, such a high proportion of passengers today, are generally notable by their absence.

"Beyond the Blue Horizon" by Alexander Frater is his account of recreating Imperial's route to Australia by modern airlines in 1984. He quotes contemporary accounts by crew and passengers throughout the book which may be of interest.

It's a good read, too!Without a doubt the best book ever produced for "general" (ie non-technobuff unlike us lot) readers on the pre-war operation. It may get you hooked on old aircraft history for life :)

[one11]

The political and cultural aspects of the operation were probably a little remote from the pilots of the day, who would concern themselves more with the actual operation, the different weather conditions encountered, and such like. It would be the management and, behind the scenes, the sponsoring government, who would be more into these aspects.

I agree with WHBM that there may be a mis-match between your objectives and the belief that pilot biographies would be a good source. I also support all those recommending the Frater book. The social history of air travel is remarkably undocumented relative to the hardware and commercial and military aspects. I am only aware of two books, which are themselves closely connected. They are Air Travel - A Social History by Kenneth Hudson (Adams & Dart 1972) and Diamonds in the Sky by the same author & Julian Pettifer (Bodley Head 1979 ISBN 0-370-30162-5) The latter was an updated version of the former made in conjunction with a BBC TV series of the same name. Pettifer was the presenter.

Concerning the comments on the make - up of the passenger lists, I think it may be in one of these books that there is a comparison of the Far East services of Imperial and the competing Dutch KLM service to their then East Indies colony. This noted that the Imperial service was aimed primarily at Government related traffic to various British or British dominated territories on the way to India and beyond. Consequently , having many stops was not seen as a disadvantage. KLM on the other hand needed to get its passengers to their territories as fast as possible. This had the unintended consequence that business traffic from Britain to Singapore in particular always flew KLM with the result that Dutch passengers had difficulty in finding space.

For good coverage of the KLM v Imperial competition to the far east there is a another pilot biography, that of Ivan Smirnoff, Russian born KLM captain - The Smirnoff Story by Anne Robertson Coupar Jarrold 1960.

[A30yoyo]

This seems relevant and much of it online https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cgZbhpiygpcC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=george+woods+humphrey&source=bl&ots=dPNOugBR_K&sig=jnV_Tto3lpCFjYXAi-Iai7KCEE8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiwm93YqbvSAhVEKcAKHWqtAjk4ChDoAQhAMAw#v=onepage&q=george%20woods%20humphrey&f=false

[wc_taylor]

Thanks all for a fantastic response - there are some great leads here and I shall enjoy investigating them all.

WHBM and JENKINS - Thanks for some really interesting thoughts. In principle I support what you're pointing out in that a pilot's memoir won't have much to do with the social and cultural aspects of the Empire. What I'm more interested in is whether from analysis of the writing we can conclude anything on how the pilots themselves considered their position - can we identity any subtextual references to some sense of Imperial duty? Can we deride what their attitudes towards the people and places they were flying to were, and if so what does that tell us about the men of the operation? Conversely, if we can't find this does that tell us that by the time period the collective Imperial sense was found lacking, even amongst the men most intimately involved in connecting the Empire?
I may very well be on a wild goose chase here, but I'm rather keen, after reading endless histories that never seem to escape government records and reports, to attempt to add a human factor to my research. We shall see what turns up!
I agree that passenger lists and the relationship between passenger and cargo payload is interesting. Indeed, the fact that IA was mainly used by government officials to travel between the dominions, and not run as a commercially viable passenger service, tells us something of its perceived importance to the 1930s Empire and its Government.
On post, its significance is undeniable - one only has to look at the BA fleet today and still see the RM crest flying! The Empire Air Mail Scheme has featured rather heavily in my work thus far.

Many thanks to all the kind people with suggestions and comments, you are a testament to your community!

[Sam Rutherford]

Welcome!

We did a load of research for the Crete2Cape - feel free to send me an email (not PM) please.

Cheers, Sam.

[WHBM]

Indeed, the fact that IA was mainly used by government officials to travel between the dominions, and not run as a commercially viable passenger service, tells us something of its perceived importance to the 1930s Empire and its Government.
From our positions inside the aviation world we have to advise that quite a lot of what appears to be "commercial" aviation even nowadays is sustained by the government. Routes such as London to Washington, or even more (apparently) the Swiss daily flight between Geneva and New York which carries many UN staff, receive their revenue from government offices. as do, in varying proportions, a considerable number of other routes as well. Even the supposedly "business" airport at London City, not that far from Westminster of course, sees notable numbers of MPs and senior civil servants going through it.

It was true that in former times, with air services and even developments of aircraft types heavily supported by government, they tended to think they were the only people who justified travel by air. Some of the immediate post-WW2 British designs for long-haul aircraft had surprisingly low passenger capacity, down to a dozen or so, and reading the reports of the time it seems that only government officials were thought worthy of travelling on such services.

[IANUT]

On the political and cultural significance of Imperial Airways to the British perception of the late - Empire, you might like to rummage through Gordon Pirie's 2009 book Air Empire, and especially his 2012 book Cultures & Caricatures of British Imperial Aviation.

[Sam Rutherford]

Thank you!

[megan]

Another book you may try is "The Story of Trans Atlantic Flight" by David Beaty. Not an academic treatise by any stretch of the imagination, but gives an overview of the issues, finance, politics, technical etc. As a WWII pilot David joined BOAC at wars end and flew the UK - Dorval route in the airlines converted Liberator bombers, the same type he flew in Coastal Command.

[Sam Rutherford]

Ordered, thank you!

[GarBalls]

Hi Joe:

FYI - have a huge amount of Imperial Airways source material relating to Capt Jack Sydney SHEPPARD (1900 - 1982) who was my father in law, and was one of the Senior Captains on the Cairo to Cape Route during the 1930's and early 40's, initially based in Cairo.

Jack is also a remarkable example of "SELF HELP" in the Edwardian era, who leaving school at 12 became a motor mechanic, WW1 fighter pilot, 'RAF Flying Officer', founder of QANTAS, and - of especial interest to you Joe an Imperial Airways Senior Captain flying Empire Flying Boats.

The basic details for Jack are in Graces Aviation Guide. Aftet a career in the RAF and as a founding pilot of QANTAS, he joined Imperial Airways in 1930. He flew H series e.g. 'Hanno', Hercules and from 1937 C series Empire Flying Boats. There were 42 of the latter in service and Jack flew at least 8.


I have photos and amateur film footage (including early colour).

Another member of the family had all his logbook. I have most of his final 'gear" (uniform / pilots flying kit / manuals).

Jack retired in the mid 1940's and became a horse trainer and farmer in Kildare in Ireland. He remained friendly with many Imperial Airways Pilots (such as Kingsford-Smith), continued to fly small aircraft in Ireland. He finally retired to South Africa in 1970, living for another 12 years.

IF THIS OF INTEREST call me or text me on 00 353 87 24 24 570

Best regards,

GARRETT JOHN HICKEY
(Son in law of Capt Jack Sydney SHEPPARD)

[Lou Scannon]

I heard that the local pub, The Goddards Arms in Clyffe Pypard near Lyneham, had closed and become some sort of Museum to Imperial Airways.

Might be worth checking.

[Sam Rutherford]

Hi WC Taylor, could you send me an email?

sam (at) prepare2go dot com

Thanks! Sam.

[Mr Oleo Strut]

Hi all,

I'm a History undergraduate at the University of Exeter and I'm conducting a primary source based investigation into Imperial Airways in the 1930s, focussing particularly on its political and cultural significance to the British perception of the late - Empire.

One thing I'd love to examine is an Imperial Airways pilots memoir or autobiography - however, I have so far been unsuccessful in tracking one down. So I thought it might be worth asking if anyone here knew of any material of that sort, that I may have overlooked in my initial sweep.

Many thanks,
Joe

Joe,
The SolentSky musueum ot Southampton would be a very good place to visit for info about imperial Airways (and, course the Spitfire). You can climb aboard their Sandringham flying boat and get a good feel of what aviation at that period was actually like. Solent Sky (http://www.solentskymuseum.org/)
Good luck,
Oleo

[Sam Rutherford]

I've got a fair amount of data on this, feel free to send me an email...

[juliea]

Hi Jo
I am a post graduate student at Essex doing some similar research. How did you get on.. would be great to hear your thoughts.

[WHBM]

There's a substantial amount of Imperial Airways timetables and some other ephemera such as tickets on this airline historic timetable website. Many of the timetables have all the pages, and the residual details around the actual times are of interest in themselves. If nothing else they can give researchers some original artwork to illustrate their studies.

Imperial Airways - Indian Trans-Continental Airways (http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/iaw.htm)

[Bobmont]

I'm an aviation writer researching the life of the legendary Irish aviator, 'Darby' Kennedy. His career started with Imperial Airways in 1935 flying HP42s and Short L17 airliners after time spent at the Air Training School at Hamble. Subsequently, he qualified as a seaplane pilot flying on the Lake Victoria and Nile routes. He was a founder member of the British Air Line Pilot's Association before leaving Imperial Airways to return to Ireland in 1938.

Darby died in Spain in 2015 aged 102 and I understand he may have contributed personal reminiscences to Imperial Airway or Handley Page groups - I am very anxious to trace this material and any other relevant information on this outstanding pilot.

[Aerodynamik]

Two more books I can recommend by pioneer pilots of the time are:

Pioneer Pilot by William Armstrong
Brackles: Memoirs of a Pioneer of Civil Aviation by Frida Brackley

[Gipsy Queen]

Two more books I can recommend by pioneer pilots of the time are:

Pioneer Pilot by William Armstrong
Brackles: Memoirs of a Pioneer of Civil Aviation by Frida Brackley

Only just noticed this thread and probably too late to make any useful contribution.

Very many years ago, I had a brief acquaintance with Capt. Gordon Olley, one time Chief Pilot of Imperial Airways and the first person to log one million miles. I treasure his autographed book. "A Million Miles in the Air" has been out of print for ages but eBay or Amazon may come up with a used copy. If you are looking for specific events or dates, you may not find his writings of much help - he can be vague on details but with a view to social history, it could be useful. In any event, it is an entertaining read.

As an unconnected and wholly irrelevant aside, I once shared a breakfast with Capt "Flaps" Rendall when weather/gremlins had trapped us in Hanover. He also had flown the North Africa routes before the War.

[crewmeal]

There are plenty of youtube clips available including the BBC's 'High Flyers' documentary which outlines the beginning of Imperial Aiways back in the gay old times of the 20's

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Imperial+airways

[Arthur Bellcrank]

Slightly before the Imperial Airways years, but an interesting read and gives information regarding pre Imperial Airways operations is "Airways to the East 1918 - 1920" (and the collapse of No 1 aerial route RAF) by Clive Semple.
Published by Pen & Sword, ISBN 184884657-6.
Information about the Imperial Airways aircraft and routes is covered in "The Sky their Frontier" by Robert Jackson,