Olley Air Service
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| Founded | 1945 | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 1968 (absorbed into British United Island Airways) |
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| Hubs |
Croydon Airport (1945 — 30 September 1959) London Gatwick Airport (1 October 1959 — 31 October 1968) |
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| Fleet size | 14 aircraft (1 de Havilland DH 114 Heron, 8 de Havilland DH 104 Dove, 3 de Havilland DH 89 Dragon Rapide, 2 Airspeed Consul (as of April 1958)) |
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| Destinations |
British Isles, Continental Europe |
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| Headquarters | Croydon Airport (1945 — 30 September 1959) London Gatwick Airport (1 October 1959 — 31 October 1968) |
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| Key people | T.W. Morton, G.P. Olley, J. Fargher, P. Eskell |
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Morton Air Services was one of the earliest post-World War II private, independentBritish airlines formed in 1945. It mainly operated regional short-haul scheduled services within the British Isles and between the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. In 1953, Morton took over rival independent UK airline Olley Air Service. In 1958, Morton became part of the Airwork group. Morton retained its identity following the 1960 Airwork — Hunting-Clan merger that led to the creation of British United Airways (BUA). The reorganisation of the BUA group of companies during 1967/8 resulted in Morton being absorbed into British United Island Airways (BUIA) in 1968.
In 1945, former Royal Air Force pilot Captain T.W. "Sammy" Morton founded Morton Air Services. Prior to Morton's inception, "Sammy" Morton had flown scheduled services from London's old Croydon Airport to Paris Le Bourget with Amy Johnson in the 1930s
By the early 1950's, Captain Morton had built up a fleet of Airspeed Consul (see heading image) and De Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft and these were soon supplemented by more modern de Havilland Dove piston airliners to operate regular charter flights. These included general charter work, air ambulance services and racecourse charters. The latter's regularity was such that it amounted to a "quasi-scheduled" operation. Morton subsequently won traffic rights to operate fully fledged scheduled services from Croydon to the Channel Islands, Deauville, Le Touquet and Rotterdam.
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Wikipedia