• Cambrian Airways

The original Cambrian Air Services was founded by air-minded Welsh steel-wire rope manufacturer, Stanley Kenneth Davies, on 25 April 1935 with a capital of £750 and a single DH Gipsy Moth (G-ABOA). Until the Second World War the company pursued charter, training, pleasure flying and target-towing activities based at Pengam Moors, Cardiff. Cambrian Air Services resumed business in January 1946 and had the distinction of operating the first post-war charter between Cardiff and Bristol, flown by Auster Autocrat, G-AFWN, hired especially for the occasion. By the end of 1947 the company was thriving with a mixed fleet of Austers, a single DH Rapide and a Parnall Heck, G-AEMR.

With the advent of BEA associate agreements, Cambrian became the first company to take advantage of the scheme under which the Cardiff to Weston-super-Mare scheduled air shuttle was revived in conjunction with the route’s pre-war pioneer operator, Western Airways. Two additional Rapides were obtained for this venture, while its partner flew Avro Ansons over the short hop across the Bristol Channel until their withdrawal at the end of the 1948 season. Cambrian maintained the service alone thereafter and in mid-1949 was awarded further routes linking nearby Barnstaple in North Devon, Cardiff with Birmingham, the Channel Islands and London. However, from May 1949 only Barnstaple and the Channel Islands were ever activated, the latter proving especially popular with holidaymakers, necessitating many weekly return services. Another equally successful move was the summer placement of an Auster at Pwllheli in North Wales to provide pleasure flights for holidaymakers from the nearby Butlins Holiday Camp.

Apart from routine scheduled flying, Cambrian’s Rapides, now numbering seven, were frequently also used for military charter work, in one instance participating in ‘Exercise Emperor’ supplementing No.622 Squadron RAF in transporting personnel and supplies between various bases within the British Isles. During 1951 for the first time Cambrian’s licences became valid for a five-year period and included permission for Cardiff-Liverpool route which was inaugurated on 7 April 1951. Approval for Haverfordwest-Swansea-Cardiff-London was also secured and this service commenced in 1952, in which year Cambrian doubled its passenger figures and flew over a million revenue miles.

Benefiting from the recent merger of Morton and Olley Air Services, three DH Doves, two Rapides and two Airspeed Consuls were acquired together with redundant routes radiating from Bristol to Southampton, the Channel Islands and Paris. Takeover of Staverton-based Murray Chown Aviation in 1953 and management of the airport, added Gloucester/Cheltenham to the network map through a summer service to the Channel Islands, flown via Bournemouth for customs clearance purposes. Another summer-only route linked Cardiff with Dinard, but the licence for London (Northolt)-Land’s End remained dormant.

Moving base to the enhanced facilities of Cardiff’s Rhoose airport in 1954 allowed the airline to consider the purchase of larger equipment to provide additional capacity for summer holiday traffic. Having earlier bought several DH Doves, two larger Douglas Dakotas were obtained late in the year and on 20 June 1955 one of these aircraft inaugurated a weekly service connecting Cardiff and Bristol with Nice. Commensurately, the Rapide fleet, which had faithfully served the airline throughout its formative years, was run down with just a single example retained as a company ‘hack’. By this time Cambrian Airways, as it became known from 23 May 1955, was flying almost 27,000 passengers annually over an unduplicated route network of some 2,668 miles. Three months later Cambrian suffered a fatal accident with the loss of Dove G-AKSK when its pilot shut down the wrong engine in response to power loss. Later, in early November, services to Paris were interrupted by a strike of French air traffic controllers, but resumed after a six-week break by operating into the air force base at Creil, north of the capital.

Two DH Herons arrived early in 1956 in time to initiate a new service between Cardiff, Bristol and Belfast from May. That same month marked the beginnings of a long association with BEA with the entering into of a 10-year operating agreement, resulting in new services being initiated to the Channel Islands from both Liverpool and Manchester, where connections could be made with BEA’s trunk routes. In common with a number of other small carriers, Cambrian participated in the airlift of Hungarian refugees from Linz and Vienna, contributing 16 round trips carrying almost 500 passengers, flying the operation’s final sortie on 14 December 1956. Services at Bristol were switched from Whitchurch with the opening of the city’s new Lulsgate airport in May 1957, as were those from Swansea a month later when Fairwood Common airport was commissioned, from where a Cambrian Heron made the first scheduled departure for Jersey.

The acquisition of a one-third stake by BEA during February 1958 was not sufficient to cushion Cambrian from the effects of a general slump in air traffic. Indeed, with almost the entire fleet advertised for sale and suspension of all but one scheduled route for the winter period, it looked as though the airline was on its knees after suffering substantial losses. Nevertheless, Cambrian emerged in March 1959, revitalised by the lease-purchase of three Pionair Dakotas from BEA to resume services from Liverpool to the Channel Islands and Cardiff-Bristol to Southampton and Paris.

Cautious traffic predictions fortunately reached expectations, up 52% on international sectors in 1960 with a network total of almost 55,000 passengers, prompting an increase in the Dakota fleet to eight aircraft for the 1961 season. In collaboration with Aer Lingus, a service connecting London, Bristol and Cardiff was commenced to the newly-opened Cork airport on 16 October 1961, and earlier in the year work was commenced on a £50,000 in-house maintenance facility at Rhoose. Continued traffic growth persuaded Cambrian to begin re-equipping with Vickers Viscounts in 1963, opportunely available from BEA, which was disposing of its early 700-series models. The airline’s first commercial turboprop service took place on 2 February 1963, carrying a party of Welsh rugby supporters to Edinburgh, while the introduction of the new aircraft also coincided with the award of BEA’s relinquished routes across the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man.

With the ideal vehicle now available, inclusive tour business began to figure more prominently in Cambrian’s activities and in 1964 an extensive programme was undertaken for Clarksons-Hourmont Holidays, mainly at weekends from Bristol and Cardiff to Italy, Spain, Belgium and Yugoslavia. The Viscounts were also used for nightly cargo and newspaper flights to Belfast and the Isle of Man from Liverpool, during the course of which one aircraft crashed on approach to Speke airport in July 1965, claiming the lives of the two crew members. The lease of an Aer Turas DC-4 covered this unfortunate loss until a replacement became available some months later.

In March 1967 BEA established British Air Services to oversee its holdings in both Cambrian and BKS, as a result of which, in November 1967, both companies became wholly-owned subsidiaries of the state corporation. The gradual integration of the BKS and Cambrian became more evident in 1969, when both carriers adopted British Air Services livery, though retaining individual logos. At the same time the BKS maintenance facility at Southend was closed down and all Viscount engineering work was transferred to Rhoose. Withdrawal of the last Dakota at the end of October 1968 saw a slight pruning of the overall network, but this was offset to some degree by the award of the former British Eagle route between Liverpool and London, ultimately flown five times daily. Jet equipment in the shape of BAC 1-11-400s first appeared in the Cambrian fleet in January 1970, operating the key trunk routes, while one aircraft was based at Berlin for German internal services on behalf of BEA. With the additional capacity offered by the new jet airliners, Cambrian Holidays was launched to market Mediterranean vacation packages for regional holidaymakers from Bristol and Cardiff.

Replacement of the earlier Viscounts with 800-series models was completed in 1971, although two V701s remained on the books for a while on charter to BOAC for its Prestwick feeder services. During 1972 a BAC 1-11 was based at Gatwick for inclusive tour flights on behalf of BEA Airtours and a more unusual operation from this location saw a weekly schedule to Dubrovnik in association with JAT Yugoslav Airlines. With BEA itself being subsumed into the new British Airways organisation, all of its domestic services, including Cambrian’s, were progressively integrated into the new entity’s Regional Division. Thus, after several decades of valuable service to the people of Wales, its only truly national airline was consigned to history.