Alan Campbell Orde

Pioneer Aviator, Test Pilot and Airline Chief

Fiona Somerville

• Publisher: Fonthill Media
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781036157159
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

After a hair-raising First World War career in the Royal Naval Air Service, Alan Campbell Orde immediately began to make his mark on the fledgling world of British civil aviation. He was one of the first commercial airline pilots after the war, later diversifying as an instructor in China and as chief test pilot for Armstrong Whitworth. In 1937 he became operations manager of the original British Airways, which was rapidly emerging as the ‘second force’ to Imperial Airways. Here he utilised the latest American airliners and organised Chamberlain’s famous Munich flights.

During the Second World War, after the two airlines merged into BOAC, Campbell Orde, as operations director, was central to organizing the airline’s invaluable assistance to the RAF with schemes such as the North Atlantic Ferry Service, which supplied British troops in North Africa and opened links to Russia.

After the war, Campbell Orde became BOAC’s operations development director, resisting government pressure to have the airline rebuild its fleet using British aircraft. Driven by an ambition to make BOAC a world leader in civil aviation, he steered it towards the acquisition of more advanced and more efficient US and Canadian airliners.

Alan Campbell Orde: Pioneer Aviator, Test Pilot and Airline Chief is the story of a remarkable career in aviation and man whose impact on British civil aviation can still be felt today.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Prologue
• 1 A Dangerous Wartime Career
• 2 Flying for Britain’s First Civil Airline
• 3 Interlude in China
• 4 Chief Test Pilot for Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Ltd
• 5 Atalanta Ups and Downs
• 6 Joining British Airways
• 7 Equipping with Modern Aircraft
• 8 1938—The Year of Significant Expansion
• 9 The Merger of British Airways and Imperial Airways
• 10 BOAC Takes Over in 1940
• 11 New Chairman, Overseas Tours
• 12 Studying the USA and Canadian Industry
• 13 Post-War Equipment Problems—the Critical Years: 1946–1950
• 14 Catching Up in the 1950s
• 15 Retirement
• Appendix 1: Alan’s log-book pages of his flights with AT&T, and Air Post of Banks
• Appendix 2: Pilots known to have flown with AT&T
• Appendix 3: The Tudor saga: notes from Alan’s diaries and the Courtney Committee reports
• Appendix 4: Alan’s first report after visiting US and Canadian factories in 1944 (extracts)
• Appendix 5: Alan’s talk to the Bristol Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 26 October 1944 (extracts)
• Appendix 6: Chairmen of British Airways, Imperial Airways and BOAC, and ministers responsible for Civil Aviation
• Appendix 7: Alan’s work on the IATA technical committee
• Appendix 8: Approximate number of aircraft in BOAC service (1940–1974)
• Appendix 9: Aircraft passenger capacity
• Appendix 10: BOAC quoted prices for new aircraft types
• Appendix 11: Buying the Comet and coping with its grounding
• Appendix 12: Aircraft types flown by Alan
• Appendix 13: Tributes to Alan from his personal secretaries
• Appendix 14: BOAC results: 1949/50 to 1973/74
• Bibliography
• Index