The 1940s In 1946,
Air Cdre Griffith James ("Taffy") Powell got in touch with W.S. Robinson,
chairman of
London-based
mining company the
Zinc Corporation. That meeting resulted in Robinson appointing Powell as the Zinc Corporation's adviser. Owing to heavy demand for additional civilian airlift capacity, the airline leased a further two Freighters from the
Bristol Aeroplane Company. By the time the civil contribution to the Airlift was scaled down in February 1949, the company's three Bristol Freighters were the last twin-engined
airliners employed in this operation. When it came to an end, the firm's Freighters had flown a total of about 800 hours.
The 1950s By 1950, the number of cars and passengers carried on Silver City's cross-Channel services roughly doubled to 5,000 and 24,000 respectively. The success of Silver City's Lympne — Le Touquet air ferry service resulted in subsequent introduction of additional routes across the
English Channel and to other parts of the
United Kingdom. Over the coming years, Silver City pursued a policy of continuous fare reductions to fill the additional capacity on its growing air ferry network. This included new car ferry services between
Southampton (Eastleigh) and
Cherbourg as well as between
Southend (Rochford) and
Ostend and a
DC-3 passenger service linking
Gatwick and Le Touquet. Both of the former commenced in spring 1952, while the latter was inaugurated the following year. As a result, the number of vehicles carried doubled from 5,000 to 10,000 between 1950 and 1952 and quadrupled to 40,000 by the end of the following year. The latter was the consequence of an average 40% fare reduction. BAS's takeover of
Air Kruise, an independent
charter and pleasure flight operator based at Lympne, in March 1953 brought a fleet of all-passenger
de Havilland Dragon Rapides and Douglas Dakotas. This acquisition resulted in formation of Silver City's "Passenger Division". in
RAF markings during 1953 for use on freight flights to and through the
Suez Canal Zone In summer 1953, Silver City leased a
Breguet Br.763 to participate in the
second Little Berlin Airlift on the
Hamburg (Fuhlsbüttel) —
Berlin (Tempelhof) route. A total of 127 round trips carried of freight with up to three round trips being made in a day, each leg taking 52 minutes' flight time. In 1953, Silver City also took delivery of its first stretched Mark 32
Bristol Superfreighter, the first of six. The
Superfreighter's elongated nose enabled it to accommodate three cars or to be fitted with 60 seats in an all-passenger
Super Wayfarer configuration. The new Superfreighters joined a fleet of nine standard Mark 21 Freighters. became increasingly inadequate. The search for a suitable location to site a new, purpose-built airport began in 1953. Interim moves to
Southend and
West Malling were followed by final selection of an area covered by grazing land on the edge of the
Dungeness shingle desert on the
Kentish coast close to the village of
Lydd. This site would host Britain's first newly constructed post-war and first privately owned airport. It would feature two runways, a
control tower, passenger terminal with a restaurant, maintenance area and petrol station. The new airport — named
Ferryfield — opened on 14 July 1954, after six months' work costing £400,000. However, it took almost another two years for the official opening ceremony to be performed at
Ferryfield, which occurred on 5 April 1956. On that day,
the Duke of Edinburgh arrived at
Ferryfield just before 11.00 am on board the
Royal Heron. The occasion marked the Duke's first visit to a private British airline at an all-new, privately owned airport. Following his tour of the airport's facilities, the Duke boarded one of Silver City's scheduled air ferry services to Le Touquet on Superfreighter G-AMWD. During the 19-minute flight, the Duke flew the aircraft at its scheduled en route height of 1,000
ft. The Duke's reception at Le Touquet Airport was followed by an informal lunch hosted in his honour by the president of the French Aero Clubs in the airport restaurant. The Duke then departed, flying the Royal Heron to
London Airport. Also in 1954, control of Silver City passed to P&O via General Steam Navigation, which had acquired a 70% stake in BAS, the airline's
parent company. It was also the year Silver City complemented its Gatwick — Le Touquet all-passenger operation with a vehicle ferry service. Also in 1957, Silver City completed its one-millionth Channel crossing since its inaugural Lympne — Le Touquet air ferry service took to the air in July 1948. In May of the same year, the crew of a Silver City Dakota made the first sighting of the
Lady Be Good, a WW II bomber that had disappeared in 1943 while returning from an operation to Naples, in the Libyan Desert. In 1959, Britavia transferred its five-strong
Hermes 4A fleet to sister airline Silver City, as a consequence of the loss of a trooping contract to
Eagle. The Hermes were based at Manston, from where they operated
Silver Arrow all-passenger services to Le Touquet and
inclusive tour charters to
European destinations until parent company BAS's acquisition by
British United Airways (BUA)
parent Air Holdings in 1962. Following growing financial difficulties, Silver City was taken over by BUA parent Air Holdings in 1962. The takeover was officially announced in January of that year. Air Holdings were the owners of
Channel Air Bridge, a rival air ferry operator based at
Southend in
Essex, which operated similar services from Southend to the
Continent. The BUA-BAS merger removed BUA's last remaining independent competitor in the air ferry business. The addition of Silver City's 650,000 annual ferry passengers increased the yearly combined total to just under one million, accounting for two thirds of BUA's total passengers. However, the change in ownership failed to staunch the airline's losses. These amounted to £650,000 during the first half of 1962. By the end of the year, the Silver City name ceased to be used as all aircraft had either been repainted in BUA colours or retired. Despite the poor financial performance, 1962 turned out to be the busiest year in Silver City's 16-year history. During that year, the airline and its French partner CAT carried 96,272 vehicles and 238,748 passengers on 43,064 flights, representing increases of 10%, 6% and 12% compared with 1961. In addition, over 43,000
tonnes of cargo were carried. However, these record-breaking traffic statistics did not alter the fact that the airline's air ferry operation was no longer economically viable. With the advent of new, high-capacity roll-on/roll-off ferries competition intensified. Established aircraft manufacturers were not interested in producing reasonably priced replacements for the ageing Bristol Freighters/Superfreighters that were suffering from wing
fatigue. The airline's long-standing policy of stimulating the market by continuously reducing fares had resulted in uneconomic
yields in the absence of a corresponding reduction in costs. The Hermes fleet had continued in operation serving several UK airports, mainly on inclusive tour flights, with the last example being retired from service in late 1962. On 1 January 1963, Air Holdings merged Silver City with Channel Air Bridge to form
British United Air Ferries. ==Fleet details==