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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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BOAC
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(British Overseas Airways Corporation) State-owned airline created in 1939 by merging two private companies, Imperial Airways and British Airways. Each was itself a merger of smaller companies, formed in the days since a pioneer firm, Aircraft Transport and Travel, took off on its first scheduled flight from Hounslow to Le Bourget on 25 August 1919 with a full load consisting of a single passenger, a few newspapers, a consignment of Devonshire cream and some grouse.
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In 1945 the government created BEA (British European Airways) to cover domestic and European routes, leaving BOAC with intercontinental travel. In the following decades each company introduced two widely known British aircraft (the *Comet and the *VC10 flying with BOAC, the *Viscount and the *Trident with BEA). By the Civil Aviation Act of 1971 the two companies were merged as British Airways, one of the last acts of BOAC being to place an order for five *Concordes.
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