C L Air Surveys Ltd.

According to “British Civil Aircraft since 1919 vol 2” there was a growing demand between 1946 – 48 for the rapid transport of ship’s crews and spares and the delivery of machinery to the Overseas Food Corporation in East Africa and the carriage of pilgrims to the Near East. Halifaxes played a prominent part in this. The paragraph goes on to list several of the smaller airlines involved but does not mention C.L. Air Surveys. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the reason for purchasing them though. They were based at Ringway according to the same source.

I wonder for what C. L. Air Surveys used the two Halifaxes? Bond Air Services used them for freight, bringing soft fruit up from the Mediterranean to Bovingdon.

I think the only thing I can add which I don’t think has been mentioned before is that C. L. Air Surveys also used a couple of Halifaxes during 1947 – G-AIOH and G-AIOI. Both moved on to Bond Air Services in March 1948. Info from “Handley Page Aircraft since 1907”.

I never give up, rruckwell, but I haven’t encountered anything more, of late, regarding the activities of CL Air Surveys or Clairways in either the UK or East Africa. But my motto is nil desperandum!

Is anyone still looking into this – I realise it is from 4 years ago. I have just started to look through my later father’s log books, searching for aircraft he flew and who he flew for and I have found G-AHKG and VP-KEO. I believe he flew for BOAC and his G-AHKG flight was from Croydon to South Africa and back (June to Sept 1946). He later got a job in Nairobi and flew a number of Ansons including VP-KEO. 

But I was not aware that he did any aerial surveys as I believe he got the job as a charter pilot. This I know from my late mother who had a job in London for an ‘entrepreneur’: she told me that she was asked by him to go to an RAF auction to buy an Anson – which she did (for £100) – and was then asked if she could go out to Nairobi on it to set up an office where they would start a charter flight business.

Does anyone know more about CL?

Planemike, the bulk of the survey work being undertaken at the time were baseline surveys by the Directorate of Colonial Surveys (later the Directorate of Overseas Surveys) on behalf of the FCO – as you say there was a complete lack of accurate mapping. Work continued until 2001 when the unit closed. The photographic collection passed to the National Collection of Aerial Photography: https://ncap.org.uk/feature/directorate-overseas-surveys-dos

There’s one for sale on abebooks at £15 I think.

Indeed, ozplane. I shall look for the book.

Apologies for being late to the party but I’ve just finished re-reading “Feet off the ground” by Michael J Hopkins. ( Thanks Planemike, I’ll return it next week!). Hopkins was a ground engineer for Clairways and there are quite a few references to his work with them, including the flight when one of the Ansons crash-landed near Mreca. It appears that quite a lot of engineering work was carried out at Mombasa and that two UK Ansons, ‘IXO and’KFK were chartered to replace the crashed Ansons. It also appears that Clairways had an agency fior Austin cars in East Africa so it was quite a decent size operation. There is also an amusing paragraph about them trying out a Miles Aerovan which ended with a gentle terminal descent in to the Rift Valley. Hope this helps.

My continuing thanks to you both. It’s reassuring that there are still a few knowledgeable posters who have stuck with this forum to contribute to obscure topics such as this!

AA……      There are nine reference to Clairways in Wedekind’s book.  The contact back to Doncaster is specifically mentioned. No mention of Charles Lloyd by name.  I think we can be fairly sure Clairways grew out of C L Air Surveys.  This might help you a little “” and also Clairways, another British company from Doncaster, who also ran scheduled services to Aden, Hargeisha and Berbera, among other destinations in Somalia. Their business declined following the withdrawal of the British military occupation of Somalia in 1948, and the company closed down sometime during 1950″”.

There was considerable interest in aerial surveying in the late 40s and well into the 50s. Much of East Africa had not been mapped in any detail. Several companies using a variety of aircraft were active in this field.  Possibly the most well known was Spartan Air Service  from Canada who used a Mosquito during 1958 (among other more mundane fare at other times). The mapping work was carried out for several reasons not the least of which was the search for diamonds. They has been discovered at Shinyanga in about 1939 by Dr Williamson…….lead to the formation of Williamson’s Diamond Mines.  Think we have drifted a little….!! 

Oops photo didn’t load that time! –

There’s a nice photo of VP-KEO at Tabora on 

https://www.airphotographicinternational.com/products/vp-keo-avro-652-a…

Hi AA,

Reading the final paragraph of George Lindgren’s speech on 26/1 then I’d be inclined to think that CL Air Surveys was the parent company of Clairways particularly considering his statement –

I say that this is a financial racket in which a group of people took a risk, failed in that risk, and tried to get back their losses by a very speculative operation in East Africa. 

As to the demise of Clairways, I suspect that the crashes in 1948 of VP-KDW and VP-KEM (ex G-AHKI – my reference above to VP-KEL appears to be an error) in what is now Somalia and the crash in 1949 of VP-KEO at Nairobi, and the losses of those aircraft (which, presumably, were being used on the service between Nairobi and Aden), didn’t help matters (as intimated by George Lindgren MP in the 1949 parliamentary debate reported in Hansard). Rather than CL Air Surveys Ltd. becoming Clairways Ltd. (as suggested above), could it have been that the latter was a subsidiary of the former and could it have been the case that when the latter was brought down by BOAC becoming involved with the service between Nairobi and Aden,  it took the former with it?

Thank you, Mothminor, for the hyperlink to the Hansard report. It makes for very interesting reading and goes quite some way in shedding light as to the demise of CL Air Surveys Ltd..

Thank you also, Chumpy, for the extract from the 1950 ‘Aeroplane’ directory. I do hope that this is not a substantial volume such as to have necessitated seeking out the pit props to support your scanner whilst the book was on it!

Happy new year AA,

                                      This from the 1950 Aeroplane Directory.

Managed to find the 26/1/49 Hansard article (I’m sure I used the same search term before!). An interesting discussion starting not far from the bottom of the page under the heading  Aden – Nairobi Air Service –

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1949-01-26/debates/60cd26cd-c0e0-…

 “The Anson File” entry for C. L. Air Surveys states-

C.L.Ai r Surveys Operated six British-registered Anson Is on aerial survey work in Kenya, some later being given local registrations for the associated company Clairways Ltd.
Mk.I G-AHKF “Freddie the Fox”, HKG “George the Goat”, HKI, HKJ “Jack the Jaguar”, HRD, IRW. Also G-AHKK (ntu

Happy New Year too!

Thank you, gentlemen. And a happy new year to you too!

I’m most grateful to you for the information that you’ve provided, in particular the reference to the online copy of Lettice Curtis’ book (even if it does deal only with the pre-war activities of CL Air Surveys Ltd.).

Planemike, can you please elaborate upon the references to Clairways Ltd. in Wedekind’s book? Does it suggest that Charles Lloyd relocated his business activities to East Africa in the early post-war years? If so, does it say why? Furthermore does it say anything concerning the demise of the company, which would appear to have occurred in the early 1950s? Guttery’s ‘Encyclopaedia of Afican Airlines’ contains only five lines regarding Clairways Ltd..

C L Air Surveys Ltd. has come up as part of the research that I am undertaking concerning the aerial survey and photography companies, both large and small, which operated in the UK in the post-war years. I came to the subject expecting to find much had been written on it but was surprised at the dearth of published material. This could, of course, reflect the limited nature of my aviation history library and the paucity of online material may reflect the arcane nature of the topic. But if, for either or both reasons, there is material which exists but of which I am unaware, I shall be very grateful to be pointed in the direction of such.