EAGLE AVIATION LIMITED

HISTORY: EAGLE AVIATION LIMITED formed on the 14 April 1948 by Harold Bamberg, a former wartime pilot, with a nominal capital of £100 as Eagle Aviation Ltd at Aldermaston. The initial fleet comprised two wartime bombers converted for carrying fruit and vegetables. During 1953, Eagle Aviation's steadily growing passenger charter operations included for the first time aerial cruises around the Mediterranean. Eagle, which by that time had set up Eagle Airways as a new company to run the scheduled side of the business (leaving Eagle Aviation in charge of all non-scheduled operations, including trooping flights), inaugurated its first scheduled service on 6 June 1953 from London (Blackbushe) to Belgrade (via Munich), followed by London - Aalborg and London - Gothenburg. On 26 July 1957, Eagle formed an overseas subsidiary, named Eagle Airways (Bermuda), in preparation for the launch of transatlantic scheduled services between Bermuda and New York, using Viscount 800 turboprop aircraft. Within a year of launching its first transatlantic scheduled route, the airline's North Atlantic scheduled operation extended to Montreal, Baltimore, Washington and Nassau. Having raised his holding to 60% in February 1963, on 9 August, the airline's official name changed to British Eagle International Airlines (the name Bamberg had given the new holding company on 1 March).