CARVAIR FLYING CAR FERRY

摘要

The late airline tycoon Sir Freddie Laker was best known as the founder of Laker Skytrain, the transatlantic airline service that pioneered low fares. But this wasn't Sir Freddie's first venture into aviation. He had started out buying surplus aircraft from the UK Government, parting them out and scrapping the remains. By the early 1950s he owned two companies based at Southend Airport (now London Southend Airport) in Essex - Aviation Traders Engineering Limited (ATEL), which specialised in aircraft maintenance, modification and component manufacturing; and Air Charter Limited, an airline that built its business supporting the Berlin Airlift. Another carrier, Silver City Airways, operated vehicle ferry services out of Southend with Bristol Type 170 Freighters, and when it dropped its service from the airport in 1952 Sir Freddie moved to fill the gap in the market. Air Charter started flying Bristol Freighters, capable of carrying three cars, in August 1954, and in 1955 it was renamed Channel Air Bridge.