Dan-Air Services Ltd, known as Dan-Air, was a British airline owned by the shipbroking company Davies and Newman. The business was launched in 1953 with a single aircraft. Dan-Air initially flew charter passenger and cargo flights out of Blackbushe and Southend airports. In 1954 Dan-Air created an engineering business, Dan-Air Engineering.
In 1960 Dan-Air moved to London’s Gatwick Airport, and began to offer scheduled services year-round. The company also moved into ‘inclusive tour’ charter flights, and, in 1961, acquired Scottish Airlines. Dan-Air was an early adopter of jet aircraft in Britain, buying two de Havilland Comet series 4 jets in 1966. Dan-Air established its first overseas base at Berlin’s Tegel airport in 1969.
The 1970s saw the business expand into the long-haul market, with flights to the United States and Canada. Dan-Air acquired Skyways International as the business grew. The company also became heavily involved in transporting oil industry workers involved in North Sea operations.
The company expanded its scheduled services and grew throughout the 1980s. At its peak in 1989, Dan-Air carried 6.2 million passengers. The company underwent an extensive re-branding exercise, adopting new livery, uniforms, stationery etc. However, 1989 was also a rare year when Dan-Air made a loss in all 12 months.
Decline came swiftly at the start of the 1990s, and Dan-Air lost £35 million in 1991, and £24 million during the last six months of its existence in 1992. The mix of aircraft owned by the airline was inefficient, management changes and financial difficulties all presented challenges. Attempts to merge Dan-Air with Virgin Atlantic failed and the business was sold to British Airways for £1 in 1992.
British Caledonian Airways (also known as BCal) was an independent airline, operating out of London’s Gatwick Airport. The company was formed in November 1970 when charter airline British Caledonian took over British United Airways, then the largest independent airline in the UK. The takeover enabled British Caledonian to become a scheduled airline.
Between 1970 and 1981 BCal was a subsidiary of Caledonian Airways Ltd. BCal itself had a number of subsidiaries including several hotels, and two package holiday companies. It also established Caledonian Airways Equipment Holdings and Caledonian Airways (Leasing) to acquire and sell aircraft for the business, as well as selling maintenance, management expertise and training to staff of other companies. In addition to the main passenger side of the business, British Caledonian Airways operated an air freight terminal at Heathrow.
In its first year of flying, the company carried 2.6 million passengers to destinations in the British Isles, Continental Europe, Africa and South America. The business soon moved into the transatlantic market, with flights to New York and Los Angeles.
British Caledonian made much of its Scottish connections in its branding. Flight attendants wore tartan uniforms, tailfins featured the company’s Scottish Lion Rampant logo, and most of its aircraft were named after well-known Scottish people and places.
In its early years BCal enjoyed various forms of government support, aimed at establishing a competitive airline industry. However, economic difficulties and the creation of competitor airline British Airways saw the company cut routes and the number of staff from 1974. The measures were successful and BCal was once again profitable in the following financial year. In 1978 British Caledonian Airways became the first airline to offer a ‘Business Class’ service, in addition to its First and Economy Class flights.
Throughout the 1980s the company struggled to grow, and in December 1987, British Airways took over British Caledonian. European regulators stepped in to try to ensure the airline industry remained competitive, and concessions were agreed over routes.
Date
1987 - 1989
Scope and ContentThree posters produced by Dan Air and British Caledonian. The poster from Dan Air shows types of aircraft used between 1953-1989 and is entitled 'Dan Air: evolution of an air line.' The British Caledonian Airways poster features a world map showing destinations to which it flew and the slogan 'British Caledonian Airways - A Better Way To Fly' (2 copies).
These posters were used in the 'Crossing the Atlantic' exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry.
Extent3 posters
Physical descriptionThe condition of the material is good. The posters are rolled.
Archival historyCollected by the museum for use in the Crossing the Atlantic exhibition, c 1994.
The Science and Industry Museum traces its existence back to 1963, when a joint committee was formed to investigate the establishment of a museum of science and industry in Manchester. The committee consisted of representatives from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), the University of Manchester, and Manchester City Council.
In 1965, the Department of the History of Science and Technology at UMIST began to collect historic artefacts to form the basis for the new museum. The Museum originally opened in October 1969 in premises on Grosvenor Street, Manchester.
In 1972, the Museum changed its name to the North Western Museum of Science and Industry, to reflect the regional scope of its collections. The Museum had rapidly outgrown its original premises, but the creation of Greater Manchester County Council (GMC) in 1974 and the closure of Liverpool Road Station by British Rail in 1975 provided the solution to its accommodation problem. GMC became firstly a co-funder of the Museum and then, following the decision to acquire the historic station to house the Museum, the sole funder. This brought a change of emphasis in collecting. Reborn as the Greater Manchester Museum of Science and Industry in 1983, the Museum narrowed its primary geographical focus to Greater Manchester. The site itself, the world’s oldest surviving passenger railway station, is treated as part of the Museum’s collections.
In 1985, the Museum was asked to take over the adjacent Air and Space Museum, which had been set up and run by Manchester City Council. As a result of the abolition of Greater Manchester Council in 1986, the Museum secured ongoing revenue funding from the then Office of Arts and Libraries (later the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and currently the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport). The Museum name changed to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, or MSIM, around this time.
In 2007, the Museum was rebranded as MOSI.
The Museum joined the Science Museum Group in 2012. It was rebranded to become the Museum of Science and Industry in 2015, and subsequently the Science and Industry Museum in 2018.
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