c1946-74 British European Airways (BEA) Wire Cloth Pilots Wings Airline

B.E.A. pilot's wings nice embroidered padded badge. VGC.


British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974.

BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The airline was also the largest UK domestic operator, serving major British cities, including London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast, as well as areas of the British Isles such as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.2 BEA also operated a network of internal German routes between West Berlin and West Germany as part of the Cold War agreements regulating air travel within Germany. The company slogan was Number One in Europe.

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.

Operations commenced from Croydon and Northolt airports, with DH89A Dragon Rapides and Douglas DC-3s.

code 12f

Having established its main operating base at Northolt, BEA operated its first service from Heathrow in April 1950; by late 1954, all Northolt operations had moved to Heathrow, which remained the airline's main operating base until the merger with BOAC in 1974

Code: 1718