• British Airways Helicopters

Since its origins in July 1947 as the Helicopter Experimental Unit of British European Airways, based at Yeovil, British Airway’s helicopter subsidiary played a significant role in the development of civilian passenger-carrying helicopters. A small fleet of three Sikorsky S-51s and two Bell 47Bs were obtained to assess the practicality of commercial helicopter operation. At this stage available machines were not economically viable for regular operations, but some experimental mail services were undertaken. Early in 1948 scheduled mail runs using S-51s were trialled in the West Country leading to a General Post Office contract for the carriage of mail in East Anglia. Between June and September 1948 S-51 G-AKCU, successfully carried 500,000 letters and 13,636 kg of parcels over a network radiating from Peterborough. The operation was terminated in mid-April 1950 as uneconomic, but from 1 June the world’s first sustained scheduled passenger helicopter service was commenced between Cardiff, Wrexham and Liverpool. Despite losing £2,300 in the first six months, it was continued until 31 March 1951.

A similar project in 1951-2 linked London’s Northolt airport with Birmingham, maintained as a freight service until early 1954. The Helicopter Experimental Unit’s helicopters also provided life-saving assistance during Holland’s devastating floods in the winter of 1953-4. With the delivery of the new Bristol 171, Northolt-Heathrow-Southampton was opened to passengers on 15 June 1954. In the following summer, an eight-times daily service was initiated between Heathrow and Central London, which by the time of its termination in May 1956 had carried 3,833 passengers. The final passenger service linked Birmingham’s Elmdon airport with Leicester and Nottingham between July and November.

After this lengthy evaluation, the Helicopter Experimental Unit concluded that successful helicopter passenger operations would have to await the emergence of a suitable multi-engine design. Over the next few years, various types were tried and tested, most notably the Bristol 173 and the revolutionary Fairey Rotodyne hybrid, six of which were ordered with the hopes of starting regular services from London to the continent, prior to the project’s cancellation in 1962. Although something of an anomaly, the Helicopter Experimental Unit survived over the next few years with commercial contracts, mainly crop spraying in East Anglia, police surveillance, television and film work and Decca Flight Log testing. Needing to replace its ageing DH Rapides on the Isles of Scilly service, two Sikorsky S-61s were purchased in 1964, at which time the unit’s name was changed to British European Airways Helicopters (BEAH). Regular passenger flights between Land’s End (St Just) and the Scillies were taken-over by helicopter from 1 May 1964. These were later switched to nearby Penzance, following the construction of a dedicated heliport on the outskirts of the city.

In the winter of 1965-6 G-ASNM operated an air-bridge between Guernsey and Jersey, where the airport’s runway was being resurfaced. Around this time BEAH began air support for the flourishing North Sea oil exploration industry, based at Beccles on the Suffolk coast. A joint company, International Helicopters, was formed with Okanagan Helicopters of Canada, each providing an S-61. However, this partnership did not last long and BEA bought out the remaining share late in 1965. Enjoying a period of substantial growth, focus had switched to Scotland and by 1978 the S-61N fleet alone had grown to 23 machines, most of which were operated from Aberdeen and Sumburgh in the Shetlands. Between 1971 and 1979 a contract was held for 24-hour standby Air Sea Rescue flights from Aberdeen and at Sumburgh until 1983, during which numerous daring rescues were performed, resulting in the saving of many lives. Peaking in 1982, a fleet of 36 helicopters was operated, including the 44-seat Boeing-Vertol Chinook, but these were sold off in 1985 as new oil exploration began a slow decline. They were replaced with long-range Aerospatiale Super Pumas, more suitable for overseas contracts that were then being sought. Re-titled British Airways Helicopters on the amalgamation of BEA and BOAC, by September 1986 BA had decided to divest itself of the inherited helicopter operations. The business, including the fleet of 31 machines, was then sold at a £140m loss to Robert Maxwell’s Mirror Group Newspapers, to be renamed in turn British International Helicopters.