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{{Short description|Defunct airline of the United Kingdom (1921–1924)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox airline
| airline = Daimler Airway
| logo =
| caption =
| IATA =
| ICAO =
| callsign =
| founded = {{start date|1921|09|09|df=yes}}
| commenced = {{start date|1922|04||df=yes}}
| ceased = {{end date|1924|04|01|df=yes}}<br />(merged with [[British Marine Air Navigation Co Ltd]], [[Handley Page Transport]] and [[Instone Air Line]] to form [[Imperial Airways]])
| bases = [[Alexandra Park Aerodrome]], [[England]]
| hubs = [[Croydon Airport]], [[London]], England
| fleet_size = 6 [[de Havilland DH.34]]
| destinations = {{ubl|class=nowrap
| [[Amsterdam]]
| [[Hanover]]
| [[Berlin]]}}
| parent = [[Birmingham Small Arms Company]] group's [[Daimler Company]]
| headquarters =
| key_people =
| num_employees =
| website =
}}
'''Daimler Airway''' was an airline subsidiary of the [[Birmingham Small Arms Company]] (BSA)'s [[Daimler Company]]. It was created to use some of the assets of the failed ventures [[Airco]] and its subsidiary, [[Aircraft Transport and Travel]], which was acquired by BSA in February 1920.
==History==
Daimler Company established '''Daimler Air Hire''' as a private air hire company on 7 June 1919. [[Daimler Hire]]'s managing director was Lieutenant Colonel [[Frank Searle (1874-1948)|Frank Searle]] [[Companion in The Most Honourable Order of the Bath|CB]], [[Distinguished Service Order|DSO]], who had also been a senior manager of Daimler prior to his war service. During the [[First World War]] Daimler had acquired considerable aviation experience manufacturing [[Daimler Company#War work I|aero engines and aircraft]], including bombers. They built [[Gnome Monosoupape]] and [[Le Rhône|Le Rhone]] engines under Airco's licence. The last wartime aircraft Daimler produced was the [[Airco DH.10 Amiens]] bomber when they were building 80 aeroplanes a month. Their own test-ground beside the Daimler factory had been compulsorily purchased to become the main [[RAF]] testing ground for aircraft built in the Coventry district.<ref name=DCMB>Lord Montagu and David Burgess-Wise ''Daimler Century'' ; Stephens 1995 {{ISBN|1-85260-494-8}}</ref>
From April 1922 the Daimler Airway was the first company to begin operating [[de Havilland DH.34]] cabin biplane (tail number G-EBBQ),<ref>[http://jnpassieux.chez-alice.fr/html/Dh34.php DH.34 (in French)]</ref> flying from [[Croydon Airport]] London to [[Paris]].<ref>[http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/depts/bssm/aviation/precourse2004/british_airline_history3_0.pdf British Airline History, London Metropolitan University (2004)]</ref>▼
===Airco and Aircraft Transport and Travel===
In February 1920 the BSA group acquired [[George Holt Thomas|Holt Thomas]]'s failing [[Airco]] group and placed Airco subsidiary [[Aircraft Transport and Travel]] (Air Express) under the responsibility of Searle and Daimler Hire. In November 1920 BSA withdrew its financial support and AT&T, Air Express was placed in the hands of a liquidator.
===Daimler Airway===
[[File:DH34 Biplane 1.jpg|thumb|right|De Havilland DH.34<br>Daimler Airway livery red and white]]
In February 1921 those assets needed to form a new business to continue Air Express were purchased from the liquidator (Searle) to form what became Daimler Airway. When tenders were called by the Air Ministry for civil air services Searle and Woods Humphery persuaded the BSA-Daimler group to make a tender. It was accepted by the Air Ministry on 9 September 1921.<ref name=RH>Robin Higham, ''Britain's Imperial Air Routes 1918 to 1939,'' 1960, G T Foulis & Co, London</ref>
Searle remained managing director. Major George E Woods Humphery, an engineer and a former RFC pilot and general manager of Handley-Page Transport from June 1919, was appointed manager of Daimler Airway.<ref name=RH/>
▲
Managing their aircraft as Daimler Hire managed their cars – each to be used a minimum of 20,000 miles a year – Daimler Airway set its standard at 1,000 hours per year per aircraft (later raised at Imperial Airways to 2000 hours a year). This and other control of overheads let Daimler run much more efficiently than its competitors. Their DH34s were good reliable aircraft but in winter heavily muffled passengers missed heating in the cabins.<ref name=RH/>
From October 1922 until early 1924, Daimler Airway operated daily scheduled flights from [[Alexandra Park Aerodrome]] Manchester to Croydon Airport London. The northbound flight left Croydon in the late afternoon and the southbound flight departed Alexandra Park during the next morning. This timing enabled passengers from the north of England to connect at Croydon with Daimler's continental schedules.
In 1923 Daimler added further routes from Croydon to Amsterdam, Hanover and Berlin using their DH.34 fleet. This route dealt with floods of passengers. Woods Humphery was to succeed Searle (who was forced out) as general manager of Imperial Airways in 1925.<ref name=RH/>
===Imperial Airways===
Daimler Airway merged with [[Handley Page Transport]], [[Instone Air Line]] and [[British Marine Air Navigation Co Ltd|British Marine Air Navigation]] into [[Imperial Airways]] (IAL) effective 1 April 1924,<ref>''The Times'', Thursday, 17 Dec 1953; pg. 7; Issue 52807; col F. ''Jubilee In The Air II'' – British Pioneers On World Highways By Our Aeronautical Correspondent.</ref> bringing along its three remaining [[de Havilland DH.34]] aircraft. IAL immediately discontinued Daimler's route to the north of England, the monopoly airline not being interested in serving any UK points outside London. Daimler's Searle and Woods Humphery were respectively appointed Imperial Airways' Managing Director and General Manager. Woods Humphery was to become managing director of Imperial Airways in 1930.<ref>Imperial Airways Survey Of The Company's Affairs, Increase In Traffics, Profits Affected By Adverse Conditions, The Subsidy And Obsolescence, Divergent Departmental Views, Success Of Service To India, Sir Eric Geddes On Air Mail Charges ''The Times'', Tuesday, 30 Sep 1930; pg. 19; Issue 45631</ref>
==Accidents and incidents==
[[File:De havilland dh-18.jpg|thumb|right|Instone de Havilland DH.18]]
One [[de Havilland DH.18|de Havilland DH.18A]] aircraft, (registration G-EAWO) was transferred from [[Instone Air Line]] to Daimler Hire Ltd for operation on the Croydon-Paris route until the [[De Havilland DH.34]]s that Daimler had on order could be delivered. On 7 April 1922, two days after Daimler commenced operations with the aircraft, it collided with a [[Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens]] [[Farman F.60|Farman Goliath]] (registration F-GEAD) over [[Picardie]], France,<ref name="jacksonv2">Jackson, A.J. ''British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 2''. London: Putnam, 1973. {{ISBN|0-370-10010-7}}.</ref> {{convert|60|mi|km|0}} north of Paris. Seven people died in the [[First midair collision of airliners|first mid-air collision between airliners]].<ref>[http://jnpassieux.chez-alice.fr/html/Dh18.php DH.18 from jnpassieux.chez-alice.fr (in French)]</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.eurocontrol.int/ra-downlink/gallery/content/public/library/Review_of_ACAS_RA_Downlink_ver_10.pdf
|title=Review Of ACAS RA Downlink, An assessment of the technical feasibility and operational usefulness of providing ACAS RA awareness on CWP
|accessdate=2007-06-17
|page=20
|archive-date=27 September 2007
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927013525/http://www.eurocontrol.int/ra-downlink/gallery/content/public/library/Review_of_ACAS_RA_Downlink_ver_10.pdf
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>
As best as could be established each pilot was looking down to follow the Abbeville-Beauvais road, their height matching the downward visibility.<ref name=RH/>
On 14 September 1923, de Havilland DH.34 G-EBBS operating the evening service from Croydon to Manchester [[1923 Daimler Airway de Havilland DH.34 crash|crashed]] near [[Ivinghoe Beacon]], [[Buckinghamshire]], during an attempted forced landing due to bad weather. Pilots Pratt and Robinson and their three passengers were killed. This was the first fatal accident on a UK internal scheduled air service.
==See also==
* [[List of defunct airlines of the United Kingdom]]
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==Further reading==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071013040259/http://www.imperial-airways.com/History_page_1.html Imperial Airways History]
*[http://www.century-of-flight.net/new%20site/commercial/uk_civil.htm The History of British Airways ''Century of Flight''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022034345/http://www.century-of-flight.net/new%20site/commercial/uk_civil.htm |date=22 October 2017 }}
==External links==
* [http://www.britishairways.com/travel/history-1920-1929/public/en_gb British Airways history 1920–1929]
{{Portal bar|United Kingdom|Companies|Aviation}}
{{Airlines of the United Kingdom}}
[[Category:Airlines established in 1919]]
[[Category:Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom]]
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