Railway Air Services
Railway Air Services (RAS) was a British airline formed in March 1934 by four railway companies and Imperial Airways. The airline was a domestic airline operating routes within the United Kingdom linking up with Imperial's services.
The railways were the "big four": London Midland & Scottish, London & North Eastern, Great Western Railway and Southern Railway.
Prewar routes
The airline's main operating and maintenance base was at London's Croydon Airport pre and post war, and at Liverpool Airport during World War Two. The most important RAS route flown was between London and Scotland (London-Birmingham-Manchester/Liverpool-Belfast-Glasgow). Stroud (1987) pp.37-40. The trunk service commenced on 20 August 1934, using the airline's newly delivered DH.86 Express biplane airliners, which operated once daily in each direction. The service was mainly aimed at passengers wishing to connect at Croydon Airport with IALs flights to the Continent. RAS were unhappy with winter operations at Manchester's small airfield at Barton Aerodrome and the flights switched to the larger Liverpool (Speke) from the late October, resuming through Barton on 15 April 1935.Second World War
In 1939 the operation of civil aircraft was restricted and part of the RAS fleet was placed under government control. The aircraft were involved in communications flights for the military within the British Isles. By 1940 the Royal Air Force had taken over all the military communications tasks and the airline returned to flying routes 'of national importance'. In practice, wartime operations were restricted to the Liverpool-Belfast-Glasgow route carrying government and other 'priority' passengers and mail. Stroud (1987) pp.70-75.Postwar operations
Railway Air Services resumed peacetime flights in early 1946, now also using their newly acquired Avro Ansons and ex-RAF Douglas DC-3 Dakotas. The airline operated its Dakotas, with their higher passenger carrying capacity, on their non-stop flights from Croydon to Glasgow (Renfrew) Airport. A new twice-daily RAS scheduled service commenced on 29 July 1946, using the Avro Ansons, which linked linking Croydon with Manchester Ringway and Belfast (Nutts Corner) Airport.Nationalisation
In August 1946, the UK government formed the British European Airways Corporation (BEA) a state-owned airline. The airline was given a monopoly of scheduled air services within the United Kingdom and to continental Europe. From 1 August RAS operated all its services on behalf of BEA until it ceased operations on 31 January 1947 with the state Corporation acquiring the RAS aircraft, staff and routes. Stroud (1987) pp.91-92Aircraft types operated
Stroud p=115-116 Merton Jones pp=364-365- Avro XIX (1945-1947)
- de Havilland Dragon (1934-1939)
- de Havilland Express (1934-1947)
- de Havilland Dragon Rapide (1935-1947)
- Douglas Dakota (1946-1947)
- Junkers Ju 52/3m (1946-1947)