The aircraft was a six-year-old Airspeed Ambassador 2, built in 1952 and delivered to BEA the same year.

In 1952, BEA took over service to London with an Airspeed Ambassador, which featured Cabin pressurisation that allowed nonstop routing avoiding a stopover in Athens.

This was also the year BEA introduced the first of a fleet of 20 Airspeed Ambassadors.

* March 13 – Airspeed Ambassador with BEA

In summer 1953, BEA introduced " Elizabethan " class Ambassador aircraft on its London – Jersey route.

Following the late-night arrival at Heathrow at 23: 30 hrs of flight BE 943 (" Bealine 943 "), BEA passed into history as of 00: 00 hrs the following day.

In 1946, British European Airways ( BEA ) inaugurated an RAF Northolt – Hamburg – Gatow scheduled service at a frequency of six flights a week, using Douglas DC-3 (" Pionair " in BEA terminology ) and Vickers Viking piston-engined aircraft.

The arrival at Heathrow on 30 July 1958 of a BEA Elizabethan inbound from Cologne marked the type's last service with the airline.

During the early-to-mid-1950s, BEA leased in aircraft that were bigger than its Tempelhof-based fleet of DC-3 / Pionair, Viking and Elizabethan piston-engined airliners from other operators to boost capacity, following a steady increase in the airline's passenger loads.

In early 1951, BEA introduced its first " Pionair " class Douglas DC-3, a Scottish Aviation DC-3 conversion featuring British instrumentation and an increased seating capacity of 32.

In addition to having 38 DC-3s converted to Pionair passenger carriers, BEA had a further 10 DC-3s modified as " Leopard " class freighters.

The same year BEA introduced its first tourist class on Viking services.

BEA referred to its re-configured, all-tourist class Vikings as " Admiral " class.

In June 1952, BEA re-launched the pre-war mid-day Silverwing service pioneered by Imperial Airways on the London – Paris route with re-configured 40-seat, all-first class Ambassadors.

The first of these " Discovery " class aircraft entered commercial service in a 47-seat, mixed-class configuration in April 1953, and the first production aircraft ( G-AMAV ) went on to win the transport class of the 1953 London to Christchurch, New Zealand, air race, with BEA MD Peter Masefield as team manager and co-pilot.

Initially, BEA operated its Tridents in a 79-seat, two-class configuration, comprising 15 first class and 64 tourist class seats.

The One-Eleven 510EDs ordered by BEA had a range of and were configured for 97 passengers in a single class while the Trident 3Bs entered service with the airline either in a 152-seat, single-class or a 130-seat, two-class configuration.

In BEA service the Herons were known as " Hebridean " class aircraft seating 14 passengers on regular commercial flights.

In 1958, BEA began replacing its ageing piston airliners with Vickers Viscount 701 turboprop aircraft in a high-density, 63-seat single class seating arrangement.

BEA Vickers Viscount variants # Viscount 700 | Viscount 701 G-ALWE RMA Discovery in bare metal finish livery incorporating a burgundy cheatline, a white roof and fin at Manchester in 1953.

BEA Douglas DC-3 freighter in early bare metal aircraft livery | colour scheme in 1951.

BEA's early liveries in the late-1940s to early-1950s mainly consisted of a bare metal finish with upper case, black British European Airways titles above the cabin windows on each side of the fuselage, the aircraft registration in bold, black capital letters on each side of the rear fuselage as well as on the underside of each wing, and a contemporary BEA logo on each side of the forward fuselage featuring a stylised wing and BEA in capital letters on each side of the nose.

BEA Viscount 701 G-ALWF RMA Sir John Franklin in bare metal finish livery incorporating a burgundy cheatline sep-arated by two thin, white lines above the cabin windows on static display at the Imperial War Museum's Duxford Aerodrome | Duxford Aero-drome.

By the early-1950s, the bare metal finish on most BEA aircraft had evolved to incorporate a burgundy cheatline separated by two thin, white lines above the cabin windows on each side of the fuselage.

Unlike the earlier bare metal / white tail, liveries worn by BEA aircraft, the new livery featured a dark-blue tail with a prominent display of part of the Union flag in the shape of an arrow that symbolised an aircraft ( composed of a fuselage with swept wings ) on each side.

The engines retained their natural metal finish as well while the wings were red, both on the upper and underside, with the BEA logo featuring the three-letter abbreviation of the airline's name in upper case white in a square appearing on each wing's upper side and the aircraft registration in bold, white capital letters on each wing's underside.

The Comets flew in the BEA livery, but had the Cyprus Airways logo and title affixed above their doors.

One of these is now on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, England, although it has been returned to its original BEA livery.

Two BEA Vickers Vanguard s in the airline's famous red, black and white livery sharing the airport ramp | ramp at London Heathrow Airport | Heathrow in 1965.

BEA Viscount 701 in the famous red, black and white livery at RAF Nutts Corner | Belfast Nutts Corner Airport on 1 June 1960.

British Airways Cargo Vickers Vanguard # Cargo operations | Vickers V. 953C Merchantman G-APEK still in basic BEA " Speedjack " aircraft livery | colours following the BEA-BOAC merger.

Lockheed Corporation | Lockheed's Lockheed L-1011 Tristar | L-1011 Tristar demonstrator on a world tour in Eastern Air Lines Aircraft livery | paint scheme overlaid with BEA # Late 1960s – mid-1970s | " Speedjack " decal s seen landing at Berlin Tempelhof Airport, Germany, in 1972.

British Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident # Trident 3B | Trident 3B G-AWZA still in basic BEA " Speedjack " aircraft livery | colours following the BEA-BOAC merger.

Weathered-looking de Havilland Heron # Variants | de Havilland Heron 1B G-ANXB in the " Speedjack " livery of BEA Scottish Airways on static display at Newark Air Museum, England.

However, BEA operated its Heralds, which wore the famous red, black and white livery, only for a few years because of high crew training, maintenance and spares costs.

Vickers Viscount in the " Speedjack " livery of BEA Scottish Airways ( back-ground ).

Following BEA's last scheduled Heron service from Barra via Tiree to Glasgow in March 1973 and successful route trials of the new Skyliners, which wore a modified BEA " Speedjack " livery incorporating dual BEA / British airways titles, the latter debuted on BEA's Scottish internal services from Glasgow to Barra and Campbeltown.

A BEA Comet 4B in the famous red, black and white livery seen landing at Berlin Tempelhof Airport | Berlin Tempelhof during 1969.

A British Airtours | BEA Airtours Comet 4B in basic BEA " Speedjack " livery at Galileo Galilei Airport | Pisa, Italy, in 1973.

Ex-British European Airways Trident 3B ( G-AWZK ) preserved at Manchester Airport in BEA " Speedjack " livery.

Three BEA aircraft in the famous red, black and white livery at Heathrow in 1964.

This livery, which was also known as the " red square " livery because of its prominent display of the red-square BEA logo in multiple locations on the aircraft, featured the Union flag near the front passenger door on the silver / light-grey lower fuselage.

Trident 3B G-AWZZ in BEA " Speedjack " livery, seen taxiing at Düsseldorf International Airport | Düsseldorf Lohausen Airport, Germany, in August 1973.