Thank you, ericmunk, for your explanation. Do you happen to know the date (roughly, at least) when D-ARPF changed from natural finish to camouflage?

I have a couple of other questions.

You mentioned that KLM staff had gone on strike between 8 and 22 October 1940, so presumably made no flights to Lisbon in this period. In Post # 78, I gave a figure of 40 for the number of flights made to and from Lisbon in October 1940 and also gave information about the loads. This came from a history of Whitchurch, as I recall. If KLM were on strike for two weeks, does this mean that more than the normal number of flights were carried out on non-strike days? Or did the BOAC crews fly the KLM aircraft when the KLM crews were on strike?

The other question is whether you have any information of the precise dates that the leasing of individual aircraft started? And the dates when the lease agreement for each aircraft ended ?

Here’s another image of D-ARPF, the ex-KLM DC-3 [note starboard passenger door, again], not at Lisbon on this occasion:

This is a letter in the opposite direction. It was posted in Bern on 11 September 1941, the postmark is a “Transit” one; from there it went to Chiasso (pencilled towards the top left hand corner), which is in the south of Switzerland, on the border with Italy. It has an international railway station. The letter then travelled from Chiasso to Rome by train and from Rome to Buenos Aires by LATI, apparently in I-BOLI though I can see no evidence for that (perhaps it’s on the reverse of the cover).

The interesting thing is that one of Hart Preston’s photo shows I-BOLI landing at Natal and that is dated by some as 23 September 1941. Could it have been carrying this very letter, I wonder? Is that the evidence for saying it was carried by I-BOLI?

Anyway, as you can see, there was even a printed air mail sticker saying ‘LATI’:

I would be grateful, steve-p, if you could check the date of the excellent map you linked. I ask because there are several hangars and buildings on the north side of the airfield and I’m not sure that they had been built by 1939 (I’ll come on to this more fully in a moment). Also, the area to the north of the airfield and the area between Hensgrove and Whitchurch both seem more built up than I would have expected in 1939.

Below is a plan of the airfield as in “Air Pilot” in 1937, with North at the top. On the south side of the airfield, the hangar on the left is a showroom; to its right is the public hangar; next along, as marked, are the “Club House” and the Traffic Office” (the latter being the passenger terminal building); and, finally, just north of the “Traffic Office” is what was called the Public Hangar. Just south (more or less) of the “Club House”, in the forecourt of the building complex, is another black rectangle: this was a squash court!

In his history of Whitchurch, Ken Wakefield does not mention the erection of buildings on the north side of the airfield until the sub-section on ‘1943’ and, only then, at the end and just before the sub-section on ‘1944’. His description of events does not always follow chronology strictly, so I don’t know how significant the positioning of the following words is but here is what he wrote:

“On the North Side, numerous buildings and huts were erected for use as offices and workshops by BOAC, KLM and the ATA. A Type T12 hangar was shared by BOAC and KLM and an adjacent Bellman hangar was used by the ATA. Eventually there were five hangars in this side of the airport with one of them – the most westerly – used as a depot by the Bristol Aeroplane Company“.

Here’s the 1937 plan:

Thanks for your reply, ericmunk. “An incipient book” sounds like a great project.

I should say that my involvement here is a combination of (a) an aviation interest that has lain dormant for more than 50 years, (b) several boxes of books and magazines from that period -and earlier – and, since (a) lay inactive and (b) unopened for so very long, (c) a rather steep learning curve in very recent times. My experience of flying is not quite as old as the period about which we’re talking (my first three flights were in a Vickers Viking, a Bristol Wayfarer and a modified Tiger Moth) but I find the subject interesting and this thread (and others here) most stimulating.

I was not familiar with the ‘politics’, clashes and in-fighting that you describe but I am not surprised. I have read about similar tensions in connection with the Stockholm Run. At the time we’re talking about, KLM was concerned about its survival as a company and the British authorities about the survival of the country – different perspectives, different priorities. As in most situations in life, different priorities generate personal tensions. Differences that, to a dispassionate outsider, may seem best resolved by rational discussion between cool heads, escalate dramatically (“spiral out of control” is a common phrase). There is a mathematical proposition that presents the process graphically but, not being a mathematician, I cannot recall what it is called.

As indicated in your link, Jur, “Ibis” (G-AGBB/PH-ALI) was something of an ‘unlucky’ aircraft.

On 15 November 1942 (O/B, I believe), it was attacked by a lone German aircraft, escaping into cloud with only minor damage. Then, on 19 April 1943, it was attacked a second time, some 3.5 hours from Whitchurch O/B to Lisbon, this time by a number of Bf-110s. Piloted by Capt. Parmentier, “Ibis” headed for the deck and got away with punctured fuel tank, thankfully empty. Nobody was injured. The passengers included the Assistant Air Attache in Portugal and four Irish novice priests, who perhaps had flown from Ireland on BOAC’s DH.91 service to Whitchurch.

On 1 June 1943, it was a case of third time unlucky. “Ibis” left Portela at 0730 hours GMT and, three hours later, called Whitchurch to say it was under attack. It had encountered eight JU 88s and the outcome was never really in doubt. I have heard the stories about that flight and have never studied it but there are elements that cause me doubt. It would seem odd that the Ju 88s would patrol in a bunch of eight to ‘catch’ this plane; I would have expected them to spread out more in order to cover a wider area. Were these eight just part of a much larger force out on the hunt for Leslie Howard and the “secret pact” document? Likewise, if the ‘secret pact’ document was the principal target, what purpose would the shooting down of “Ibis” have served? It would have delayed matters, no doubt, but did it prevent the pact from going ahead?

Anyway, after this tragedy, night flights were introduced and, since the KLM aircraft lacked both flame-damping exhaust covers and an astro-dome, they were unsuitable and therefore withdrawn for a while. In the three years from July/August 1940 to 26 July 1943, KLM made 1622 Lisbon flights, with a 94% regularity, and carried almost 10,000 passengers.

BOAC then increased its frequency on the Lisbon Run to four per week, with the returning I/B flights timed to arrive around dawn, because Whitchurch lacked approach lights and had no proper flarepath. I presume that the Dutch crews were employed on these BOAC flights – again, can anyone confirm this?

From 4 August 1943, BOAC resumed a twice-weekly Whitchurch-Gibraltar service. Also in the summer of 1943, the Lisbon flights were extended to Fez in Algeria, though, in September, this was changed to Rabat in Morocco. On 24 October 43, a weekly Whitchurch-Madrid-Lisbon service was started; in November, a service to Algiers via Gibraltar O/B and Rabat-Gibraltrar I/B, too. For these flights, the aircraft would usually stop elsewhere (Chivenor, St Mawgan and Portreath) to top up their fuel tanks before departing these shores. Commonly, these services were flown by BOAC crews in RAF uniforms and BOAC aircraft now bearing military roundels and service numbers. For a period, departures were from Lyneham and arrivals back at Whitchurch, though, from 31 December, Whitchurch again became the airport for both O/B and I/B flights.

One report says that KLM did not resume the Whitchurch-Lisbon-Gibraltar service until 29 March 1944, which seems a long break. Perhaps someone else can help!

On 18 April 1944, KLM made its 1000th return flight to Lisbon for BOAC , using “Buizard” (G-AGBD/PH-ARB)

There has been discussion earlier of the location of the airports around Lisbon. Here I turn to the other end of the route – Whitchurch. If you look at a map today, Whitchurch seems to be the southern part of the Bristol city conurbation. What was the airport at Whitchurch is almost entirely built over, with little evidence of a previous existence.

Although the map below is from a road map published in 1958, it is a reprint of the 1957 edition which was probably compiled in 1956. It is therefore about 10 years after the end of WWII and Whitchurch is still Bristol’s airport. It is marked prominently on this map by the red circle enclosing a red cross. Bristol’s current airport is not marked but was known as Lulsgate in my youth and you will find Lulsgate Bottom in the bottom left-hand corner of the map below.

I have added the scale at the bottom of the map. Very approximately, 3 miles is about 5 Kms.