* 1968 – BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after take off.

* 1954 – BOAC Flight 781 A de Havilland DH. 106 Comet 1 explodes into the Tyrrhenian Sea killing 35 people.

** BOAC Flight 911 crashes in severe clear-air turbulence over Mount Fuji near Tokyo, Japan, killing all 124 persons on board.

* January 10-British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue and crashes in the Mediterranean Sea near Elba.

BOAC Flight 777 was shot down over the Bay of Biscay.

Howard died in 1943 when flying to Bristol, UK, from Lisbon, Portugal, on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines / BOAC Flight 777.

* BOAC Flight 712, where a flight attendant, Barbara Jane Harrison died saving passengers from an on-board fire and was posthumously awarded the George Cross.

* Barbara Jane Harrison, an air stewardess on BOAC Flight 712, who died on 8 April 1968 after helping many passengers escape from an onboard fire at Heathrow Airport.

It can even be a hazard for large aircraft ; the phenomenon is believed responsible for many aviation accidents and incidents including the in-flight break up of BOAC Flight 911, a Boeing 707, near Mt.

Albert had a ticket booked on BOAC Flight 911.

** German Junkers Ju 88 fighters shoot down a Douglas DC-3 airliner operating as BOAC Flight 777 during its flight from Lisbon, Portugal, to the United Kingdom.

* January 10 – A de Havilland Comet 1, operating BOAC Flight 781, crashes into the Mediterranean Sea near Elba following fatigue failure, killing all 35 people aboard.

* March 5 – After taxiing past the wreckage of Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 402, Boeing 707-436 G-APFE, operating as BOAC Flight 911, disintegrates and crashes near Mount Fuji in Japan shortly after take-off from Tokyo International Airport, killing all 124 people on board.

* April 8 – An engine falls off the BOAC Boeing 707-465 G-ARWE, operating as Flight 712, seconds after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport in England, setting the wing on fire.

* September 9 – To pressure British authorities into releasing Leila Khaled, a PFLP sympathizer hijacks BOAC Flight 775, a Vickers VC10 flying from Bahrain to Beirut with 114 people on board, and forces it to land at Dawsons Field in Jordan.

* A fifth plane, BOAC Flight 775, a Vickers VC10 coming from Bahrain, was hijacked on September 9 by a PFLP sympathizer and brought to Dawson's Field in order to pressure the British to free Khaled.

BOAC Flight 911 broke-up in flight in 1966 after experiencing severe lee wave turbulence just downwind of Mount Fuji, Japan.

Three former British European Airways ( BEA ) Vickers Vikings, which Laker had acquired in 1949 as well, were overhauled at ATL's Southend maintenance base and sold on to British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) at a profit.

Shortly after the takeover, Canadair began delivering its new Canadair North Star ( a version of the DC-4 ), and was able to deliver aircraft to Trans-Canada Airlines, Canadian Pacific Airlines and British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) well in advance of their contracted delivery times.

On leaving the RAF he joined BOAC in 1953 as a pilot, during which time he was an official in the British Air Line Pilots ' Association.

Imperial Airways, serving routes within the British Empire, and British Airways Ltd, serving European routes, were merged by the Chamberlain government in November 1938 to become British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ).

British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) was the British state airline created in 1940 from the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd.

In the Civil Aviation Act of 1946, the state-owned British European Airways ( BEA ) and British South American Airways ( BSAA ) were formed, and the full name British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) was finally applied and accepted throughout the Corporation.

A 1971 Act of Parliament proposed the merger of BOAC and BEA, finalised in 1974, forming today's British Airways.

On 24 November 1939, BOAC was created by Act of Parliament to become the British state airline, formed from the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd.

BOAC inherited Imperial Airways ' flying boat services to British colonies in Africa and Asia, but with the wartime loss of the route over Italy and France to Cairo these were replaced by the expatriate ' Horseshoe Route ', with Cairo as a hub, and Sydney and Durban as termini.

In 1943, the Brabazon Committee had laid down a set of civil aircraft transport types for the British aircraft industry to produce, but these were to be several years in coming, and particularly in the case of the tailwheel Avro Tudor, not what BOAC wanted.

Since 1941, the advanced pressurised Lockheed Constellation had been under development, and in 1946 BOAC was permitted to use dollars to purchase an initial fleet of five for the prestigious North Atlantic route ( there were no equivalent British types available ).

Throughout the whole of BOAC's existence, the argument over buying American or ( often delayed ) British products continued, and Parliament, the press, British manufacturers and the unions accused BOAC management of only wanting American aircraft.

On 22 April 1970, BOAC received its first 747, but the aircraft did not enter commercial service for almost a year, on 14 April 1971, due to BOAC's inability to settle crewing and pay rates for the 747 with the British Air Line Pilots ' Association.

On 1 September 1972, the British Airways Board was formed, a holding board that controlled BOAC and BEA.

On 31 March 1974, both the BOAC and BEA were dissolved, and their operations merged to form British Airways.

BOAC would have become one of the first operators of the Concorde, had it not merged to become British Airways.

In the 1940s flying from Dubai was by flying boats operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ), operating the Horseshoe line from Southern Africa via the Persian Gulf to Sydney.

She struggled for several years, working as a ticket agent for Eastern Airlines and for the British Overseas Air Corp ( BOAC ).

In November 1939, IAL was restructured into three separate companies: British European Airways, British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ), and British South American Airways ( which merged with BOAC in 1949 ), with the change being made official in 1 April 1940.

The final report called for the construction of four general designs studied by the committee and members of the state-owned airlines British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) and later British European Airways ( BEA ).

Formed as the British European Airways division of British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) on 1 January 1946, BEA became a crown corporation in its own right on 1 August 1946.

These organisational changes were accompanied by the adoption of a single, two-letter, IATA airline identification code for the entire airline, i. e., BA, the old BOAC / Overseas Division code.

In October 1951, British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) became a major shareholder in Gulf Aviation, holding a 22 % stake through the BOAC subsidiary company BOAC Associated Companies.

The so-called Caledonian Case established a precedent and constituted the legal basis for all airlines that had always wanted to operate charters to and from the US and Canada, but had been unable to overcome the objections of the established airlines, such as Pan Am and British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ), prior to the enactment of this law.

* November 24 – The British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) is formed by the merger of Imperial Airways and the original British Airways.

* March 19 – The British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) extends its Hong Kong service to Japan.

In 1949, BSAA merged with British Overseas Airways Corporation and BWIA became a subsidiary of BOAC.

Calcutta became a destination for the world ’ s first jet-powered passenger aircraft, the de Havilland Comet, on a British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) route to London.

Originally established as BEA Airtours in 1969, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of then state-owned British Airways ( BA ) following the British European Airways ( BEA ) — British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) merger of the early-1970s.

British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) 1963 – 65

The airline commenced commercial operations from its London Gatwick Airport base on 29 July 1966 with two former British Overseas Airways Corporation ( BOAC ) Bristol Britannia 102 series turboprops, initially operating under contract to Air France.