Cambrian Airways
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Cambrian Airways
Hey guys anyone have any information on the routes Cambrian used to operate? Have searched the net but have not managed to find anything! Any info much appriciated!
BYCREWLGW
BYCREWLGW
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Well they certainly operated from Heathrow to Cardiff. A pretty abysmal picture I took of one of their Viscounts at Heathrow in 1964 can be seen here:
http://www.brendan-mccartney.fotopic.net/p28288343.html
http://www.brendan-mccartney.fotopic.net/p28288343.html
Well, I know they used to operate from Liverpool to Heathrow ( Viscounts & 1-11s), LPL - IOM, LPL-Cardiff, LPL-Glasgow LPL-Belfast, LPL-Dublin & Manchester - Isle of Man all with Viscounts. The 1-11s also used to do charters from Liverpool to Palma & Malaga amongst other places.
V. Quick summary
Started off in 1935 at Cardiff with little light types of the time, worked through lots of deHavillands. BEA bought minority shareholding in 1956, DC3s were their first mainstream type. Developed routes primarily from Cardiff and Bristol plus other oddballs, Channel Islands as ever a common destination. The "crumbs from BEA's table" approach continued in 1963 when the BEA network from Liverpool and the Isle of Man was transferred to them, along with their first Viscounts. They got some secondhand One-Eleven jets in 1969 (Cambrian never had a new aircraft) for odd routes and started holiday charters to the Med with them. BEA expanded their shareholding, merged them gradually into similar operator BKS, and when British Airways came along in the early 1970s the name disappeared into the corporate branding but the routes carried on as BA.
By the end the route structure was still recognisably based on short-haul, somewhat seasonal operations from Bristol/Cardiff and Liverpool, including the charters to the Med plus a few marginal routes operated on BEA's behalf from Heathrow.
My first ever flight as a child was Cambrian Viscount G-AMOO, Liverpool to Isle of Man in 1966. Fare £3:18:0. Still have the ticket and timetable !
Started off in 1935 at Cardiff with little light types of the time, worked through lots of deHavillands. BEA bought minority shareholding in 1956, DC3s were their first mainstream type. Developed routes primarily from Cardiff and Bristol plus other oddballs, Channel Islands as ever a common destination. The "crumbs from BEA's table" approach continued in 1963 when the BEA network from Liverpool and the Isle of Man was transferred to them, along with their first Viscounts. They got some secondhand One-Eleven jets in 1969 (Cambrian never had a new aircraft) for odd routes and started holiday charters to the Med with them. BEA expanded their shareholding, merged them gradually into similar operator BKS, and when British Airways came along in the early 1970s the name disappeared into the corporate branding but the routes carried on as BA.
By the end the route structure was still recognisably based on short-haul, somewhat seasonal operations from Bristol/Cardiff and Liverpool, including the charters to the Med plus a few marginal routes operated on BEA's behalf from Heathrow.
My first ever flight as a child was Cambrian Viscount G-AMOO, Liverpool to Isle of Man in 1966. Fare £3:18:0. Still have the ticket and timetable !
1951
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I flew Glasgow Liverpool Cardiff in a Cambrian viscount.The 1-11 fleet had secondments to fly the IGS for BEA and they also did some work for Gulfair in the early seventies.The 1-11 also flew to a number of it destinations.
Summer 1956 Cambrian timetable :
Bristol airport was still Whitchurch at this time
Cardiff-Southampton-Paris : Daily
Cardiff-Whitchurch-Southampton-Paris : 1 a week
Cardiff-Dinard-Southampton-Dinard-Cardiff : Weekly W pattern
Cardiff-Southampton-Nice : 3 a week
Cardiff, Gloucester, Whitchurch to Guernsey, Jersey : 44 return flights a week
Liverpool-Guernsey/Jersey : 5 a week direct plus 4 via Cardiff
Cardiff-Whitchurch-Belfast : 3 a week
Cardiff-Heathrow : 3 a week
Obviously Channel Islands dominated things. Here's the detail of the Nice DC3 flight :
Cardiff 2200 : Mon, Tue, Sun
Southampton 2245/2310
Nice 0340/0510
Southampton 0940/1005
Cardiff 1050
1956 Fleet, 9 aircraft :
Dragon Rapide AJCL ALZJ (not used much on schedules)
Dove AIWF AJOT
Heron AOGO AOGU AORJ
DC3 AMSW AMSX
Things ramped down very much in the winter, but after the season above in 1956 Cambrian DC3s did a lot of work through Blackbushe on the Hungarian refugee airlift from Austria.
Bristol airport was still Whitchurch at this time
Cardiff-Southampton-Paris : Daily
Cardiff-Whitchurch-Southampton-Paris : 1 a week
Cardiff-Dinard-Southampton-Dinard-Cardiff : Weekly W pattern
Cardiff-Southampton-Nice : 3 a week
Cardiff, Gloucester, Whitchurch to Guernsey, Jersey : 44 return flights a week
Liverpool-Guernsey/Jersey : 5 a week direct plus 4 via Cardiff
Cardiff-Whitchurch-Belfast : 3 a week
Cardiff-Heathrow : 3 a week
Obviously Channel Islands dominated things. Here's the detail of the Nice DC3 flight :
Cardiff 2200 : Mon, Tue, Sun
Southampton 2245/2310
Nice 0340/0510
Southampton 0940/1005
Cardiff 1050
1956 Fleet, 9 aircraft :
Dragon Rapide AJCL ALZJ (not used much on schedules)
Dove AIWF AJOT
Heron AOGO AOGU AORJ
DC3 AMSW AMSX
Things ramped down very much in the winter, but after the season above in 1956 Cambrian DC3s did a lot of work through Blackbushe on the Hungarian refugee airlift from Austria.
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From the the Cambrian Airways Tribute Site:
Hard to believe it was that long ago. Unfortunately the Site doesn't seem to have much on route information
DIH
The 31st March 2006 marks 30 years since Cambrian was fully absorbed into British Airways.
DIH
WHBM there must have been somebody else running charters to Jersey then as I was 5 or 6 (which would have made it 1962-63) when I remember seeing the Dragon Rapides flying over Oxwich beach on their way to Jersey. Alternatively, my brain might be malfunctioning again 
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I can remember their CWL/BRS to MAN flight with DC-3s CS247 and CS 248. They even used Rwy 28/10 at Ringway.
I think most of their DC-3s were sold in Cyprus and are still out there in poor condition.
Be lucky
David
I think most of their DC-3s were sold in Cyprus and are still out there in poor condition.
Be lucky
David
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Cambrian also flew the Edinburgh-Belfast (Aldergrove) route at the end of the sixties or early seventies. The Cambrian routes could do with a bit of research as I had a hard time trying to get info on this for my book on the History of Edi airport. They also flew numerous rugby charters into Edi.
MGP
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Cambrian
For some years in the early 1950s Cambrian operated Staverton on behalf of Gloucester and Cheltenham Corporations. The airport manager was Captain Ronnie de Wilde.
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One of the Cambrian DC-3s was on the dump in Bahrain?in the 1970s when the 1-11 went out there for Gulf Air.It still had a Cambrian safety card in one of the seat pockets.
AVGAS DINOSAUR
As far as I remember from my days as an ATC Cadet on camp at St Athan in the early sixties, the last of their DC3s (three or four of them) went to a Morrocan company. I remember them parked at Rhoose (as Cardiff was in those days) in their new paint schemes and "CN" registrations prior to delivery.
As far as I remember from my days as an ATC Cadet on camp at St Athan in the early sixties, the last of their DC3s (three or four of them) went to a Morrocan company. I remember them parked at Rhoose (as Cardiff was in those days) in their new paint schemes and "CN" registrations prior to delivery.