At the end of the 1971 summer season Air Holdings accepted a purchase proposal from T. D. (Mike) Keegan for British Air Ferries. The company changed ownership on 01 October. British & Commonwealth held a major financial stake in BAF parent company Air Holdings at 29 percent. For this reason it was instrumental in the sale noting the poor performance of BAF and lack of growth in the market. It became a subsidiary of Keegans Stansted based Trans- meridian Air Cargo (TMAC), which he controlled with 58-percent of the shares. The balance was held by Charles St George (18 percent) and Merchant Bank (24 percent). The BAF com- pany officers were Chairman T. D. “Mike” Keegan, directors Charles A.B. St. George, L.L. Orr, A.L. Macloed, financial director Alan Judd, and director of sales Dennis R. Day. The company had 300 employees and a fleet of seven Carvairs (-AREK, -ASDC, -ASHZ, -ASKG, -AOFW, -ASKN, -AXAI), two DC-4s (-BANP and -BANO) and one DC-6.
Thomas Dennis Keegan was born in Liverpool in September 1925. At age 17 he worked for a company in Whales assembling Wellington bombers. He joined the RAF at age 18 and became a flight engineer on a Lancaster. He never liked his name so at this time he changed it to Mike. Keegan was well known at Southend because of his association with Crewsair, which he co-founded in 1948. He also owned the Flarepath Cafe at the airport and is remembered for sleeping there on many occasions. He was also a co-founder of BKS Air Transport. The com- pany was established on 12 October 1951 when four of the Crewsair directors resigned to form their own charter airline and maintenance company. The four were T.D. (Mike) Keegan, James W. Barnby, Cyril J. Stevens and Captain J.P. Falconer. They were all multi-experienced entre- preneurs and elected to accept a DC-3 (G-AIWE) from Crewsair, instead of pay out for their shares. The new company was registered as an engineering operation and set up a base at Southend. On 7 February 1952 the name was changed to BKS Aero Charter using the initials of three of the founders Barnby, Keegan and Stevens. It was operated until June 1970 when it became Northeast Airlines. The Northeast name was retired in 1976 when it became part of the British Airways regional division.
Mike Keegan was also known in British aviation circles from his aircraft sales company, which he previously operated out of the Luton. In 1958–59 Keegan found himself short on cash. He went to the London docks and somehow got a job as a stoker on coal-burner to gain pas- sage to the United States. Upon arrival he checked himself off and managed to purchase a Piper Apache. He ferried it from Boston to Southend and sold it as (G-ARCW). Then he did the same thing again and purchased another Apache and flew it back (G-AREW). Making a handsome profit he resolved his cash flow problems.
Keegan gained control of Stansted based Trans-Meridian Air Cargo in 1967. It was founded by Captain A.H. Benson as Trans-Meridian Flying services on 05 October 1962. Benson estab- lished it as a long distance charter carrier based at Luton. The executives included Viscount Long of Wraxall as chairman, A.H. Benson managing director, R. Huggins director, and Cap- tain A.J. Burridge as Chief Pilot. Benson’s original operation was primarily transporting ship crews from Rotterdam to Hong Kong. The name was derived on one of these flights when a crewmember commented on how many meridians were crossed. Eventually Transmeridian was referred to as T-Mac (TMAC).
estate broker, who contracted to Keegan to handle his aviation interest. In 1965 Keegan became deeper involved with T-Mac when he leased the carrier a DC-4B he had acquired from United Airlines. John Gaul retired in 1968 creating a struggle between Keegan and Benson to gain con- trol of the company. Keegan eventually won causing Benson and his group to resign and move on to Monarch Airlines. In December 1969 Transmeridian took delivery of its first CL-44 even- tually receiving the ninth and final aircraft on 29 January 1972. Keegan was quite successful with T-Mac and became a master of short-term leases for specific routes.
With the acquisition of BAF Keegan along with his sons began their attempt to resurrect the declining car-ferry business. The BAF base was maintained at Southend operating the cross channel flights to Ostend and Rotterdam. The new dark blue paint scheme and change in serv- ice was touted in an advertising campaign for the “New” British Air Ferries— BAF. The Carvair was configured for 17, 40 or 65 seats with cargo hold of 69 or 42-feet, as loads demanded. The Cargo service was upgraded to a 24-hour operation in an effort to utilize the aging Carvairs.
Keegan was no stranger to the car-ferry market being involved with BKS Aviation and the Bristol Freighter. The airline also operated DC-3s between Newcastle and London slowly expand- ing from 1952 to 1964 eventually building a large network. BKS operated from Teesside, New- castle, and Leeds to London, Glasgow, Belfast, Bergen, Jersey, Ostend, Basle, Dusseldorf, Paris, Biarritz and Bilbao. There was additional car-ferry service between Liverpool and Dublin. BKS also converted specific aircraft for airlifting racehorses for Dublin bloodstock charters. Bases were maintained at Woolsington Airport, Newcastle, Teesside airport, and Middleton St George. The maintenance base was at Southend, home of Aviation Traders and the original Carvair pro- gram.
BKS competed against Aer Lingus with the Bristol freighter before the introduction of the Carvair. Because of financial problems the Liverpool-Dublin service was withdrawn at the end of the 1961 season. Even if BKS had not withdrawn from the car-ferry market it is doubtful it could have competed against the Aer Lingus Carvairs that were introduced in early 1963. Con- versely, Aer Lingus even with the Carvair was never able to overcome the foothold that BKS had in the Bloodstock Charter market. In a strange turn about in 1971, Keegan returned to the car-ferry business with the Carvair, which is the aircraft he would have competed against seven years earlier if BKS Transport had survived.
Another interesting note in the Keegan Carvair story transpired in December 1959 when he purchased the Vickers Viking fleet from the bankrupt Independant Air Tours through his company Bembridge Car Hire. The Vikings were sold or leased to other carriers. He was unable to obtain the three DC-4s owned by Independant. However, Freddie Laker purchased one of the Skymasters, G-APNH for Air Charter where it served prior to conversion to Carvair 11. It was later written off in an incident at Le Touquet just eight months before Keegan took over BAF.
Throughout the end of 1971 the future of BAF remained in limbo fueled by rumors and speculation. It was assumed that BAF would be lost in the Transmeridian operation. However, BAF was operated as a separate company. Combined advertising literature showed the Carvair but it was dominated by the ability of the Transmeridian CL-44s. British Air Ferries was slowly merged into TMAC operations but remained under BAF colors.
Transmeridian advertised in Flight International for 10 more CL-44 crews to increase the fleet to nine aircraft. Keegan assigned Alastair Pugh to evaluate the CL-44 for car-ferry serv- ice. Pugh had been Deputy Editor of Flight Magazine in the 1950s prior to joining Channel Air Bridge as Product and Development manager. It was announced to the press that the five remain- ing active BAF Carvairs would soon be retired. The local press was advised the CL-44s would expand the Southend service to Basle and Geneva. Sadly BAFs Chief Pilot Captain Robert Lan- gley, who had been with Carvairs since the beginning, was terminated. Keegan put pressure on Southend airport officials that unless the runways were extended, facilities improved, and
landing fees reduced the operation would be moved to Stansted home of Transmeridian. Southend officials held firm knowing that Stansted did not have freight or passenger facilities to handle the volume. They did agree to reduce landing fees for BAF aircraft operating the Le Touquet and Ostend services.
Keegan backed off and announced a plan to replace the Carvair with the CL-44s on the Stansted to Basle and Ostend service. The market was already unprofitable but two CL-44s were converted. Plans were announced in February 1972 for two CL-44 aircraft to be set up in a five- car 75-seat configuration. Carvair builder Aviation Traders was contracted to fabricate a bulk- head to separate the passenger compartment from the cars. The passenger cabins were installed at Southend. The service began in March 1972 and the second aircraft came on line in May. The loads did not materialize and the aircraft was not suited for the 35-minute flight to Ostend. The CL-44 could not be unloaded and turned quickly. It was a perfect example of how a long- range aircraft is not suited for the short to intermediate range market. The service was termi- nated in July. Keegan had been convinced by Alastair Pugh’s report that the CL-44 was suited for car-ferry service. Although it may have performed well on very long haul it proved a poor choice for short car-ferry segments.
The car-ferry market was shrinking by 1973 and BAF was the only airline still offering the service. A 1973 issue of Aviation News stated, “BAF is led by Mike Keegan one of the most dynamic men in British independent airline operations.” Keegan stated that BAF was waiting government approval to operate another long haul route to Bordeaux France and possibly Ger- many by the end of the year. Also the short haul routes to Le Touquet, Ostend, and Rotterdam would continue and were as popular as ever.
BAF had eight line engineers at the time. They were responsible for covering all the flying and maintenance. They did not fly on the Le Touquet, Ostend, and Rotterdam service unless there was a problem. Any off route, long haul or charters required an engineer, who had to be proficient on engines, airframe and electrical. Keegan expected him to get the aircraft around the route without calling for help or using too many spare parts.
After the CL-44s were withdrawn from car-ferry routes Keegan experienced a shortage of aircraft for the service. He did not have enough serviceable Carvairs to maintain the routes. A deal was struck with French carrier TAR in 1973 to purchase the two ships that BAF had been leasing for a year. Transmeridian had a DC-7F that was surplused and had become too expen- sive to operated since it burned 115/145 Av-gas. The grade of fuel was becoming increasing hard to obtain and was quite expensive. Keegan made a deal to trade the DC-7 as part of the pur- chase for the two Carvairs. The deal almost collapsed when the DC-7 was to be delivered to Nice. The crew taxied the aircraft out to runway four at Stansted but could not keep Number Three engine running without it backfiring and dying. The Captain taxied back to the ramp where the plugs were cleaned and adjustments were made. The second time the ferry flight tax- ied out it began to fowl plugs again. Keegan told the crew to get it out of here the best way you can. It took off on runway four with Number Three not performing. After climb out it was shut down and flown to Nice on three engines. It was written up at Nice as running rough. The exchange for the Carvairs was completed and nothing was mentioned about the DC-7 prob- lems. With the Keegan takeover aviation trade journals stated that BAF had an improved image with the seven Carvairs. Ships 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 17 were being refurbished with new interiors, piped music, better sound proofing, and new color scheme. The seating capacity was reduced from the current 21 (originally 23) to 17. Optional configurations of 17, 40, and 65 were avail- able depending on bookings. BAF owned seven Carvairs and two DC-4s at this time. The Car- vairs were AREK, ASDC, ASHZ, ASKG, AOFW, ASKN, and AXAI. All eventually received the new livery except–ASDC, which was the first of two ships that were stripped of all paint for cargo service.
presently converted to Carvair standards for BAF. The press was also told it was on the conver- sion line at Southend and would fly shortly.2This is quite puzzling and not possible since the Carvair production line at Stansted ended with Carvair 20 in 1965. The last one built, Carvair 21, was completed three years later in 1968 at Southend. Carvair 17, G-AXAI, pictured in the article in the new livery was actually the last one physically completed. It was built in 1964 then stored less engines and instruments until 1969 when it was completed. This was prior to Kee- gan gaining control of BAF. Obviously there was no Carvair being converted. The press state- ments in reference to the refurbishing were either wishful thinking or misstated by BAF officials. It was no secret that the Carvair was outdated and a more modern replacement was needed if car ferry service was to survive. BAF management left open the possibility that the Britten- Norman Mainlander would be the replacement. Britten-Norman displayed a model of the air- craft in BAF colors at the 1972 Paris Air Show.
During the Carvair era and until 1973 it was always accepted that Aviation Traders did all overhauls and refurbishing since it was an Air Holdings company. Keegan did not purchased Aviation Traders along with BAF. He announced that he would take over the two old Channel Airways hangars at Southend. Channel Airways was originally founded at Southend in 1946 as East Anglian Flying Services Ltd. He intended to establish a new aircraft maintenance company and completely refurbished the hangars and hired more than 100 experienced aircraft engineers. Keegan was well experienced in production and factory operations and previously set up a fac- tory to produce farm equipment, wheelbarrows and pig troughs.
The new organization was named Hawke Aircraft Parts. The company not only manufac- tured and repaired aircraft parts but also established a fiberglass production facility. Keegan’s youngest son Rupert became involved in car racing and within a short time the company began producing fiberglass shells and racecar components. He purchased Hawk Motor Racing and del- egated a Carvair to transport the company sponsored formula racecar driven by his son Rupert. The aircraft “Big John” even had a special modified color scheme similar to the BAF livery of the time. The upper fuselage was painted white with a light gray bottom and the stripe the length of the fuselage was eliminated. The BAF letters were on the forward fuselage and tail and British Air Ferries titles above the windows.
The demand for car-ferry service had been declining for some time because of the cross- channel roll-on roll-off sea ferries yet BAF continued to operate from Lydd concentrating on bulk freight. Company officials reasoned that if it relinquished the routes to Rotterdam, Ostend and Le Touquet a competitor could petition for the routes and BAF would not be able to get them back. Although Bristols and Carvairs operated from Lydd it is not geographically suitable to compete since it is not on the coast and does not have a rail link for freight transfer. Even- tually economics won out and after 17 years the final Carvair service from Lydd operated to Ostend on 29 January 1971. The closing of the base at Lydd meant all the Carvairs would oper- ate from Southend.
In 1972 several attempts were made to resurrect the Carvair by inaugurating Coventry — Jersey and Bournemouth — Channel Island service. Basle service was also re-instated. The attempts were not successful and the Coventry, Jersey, Bournemouth, Channel Island service was soon dropped.
BAF car ferry business declined to less than 5 percent of total traffic by 1975. Keegan announced that he was keeping only four Carvairs. BAF officials were aware of a decline for some time and concentrated on the cargo business and on-call charter service. The Carvair got a reprieve in the summer of 1975 when there was a sudden increase in demand for car-ferry service to Basle Switzerland. Although BUAF dropped this service in 1967 because of lack of traffic, BAF attempted to resurrect it in 1972. In an effort to capitalize on an unexpected and sudden demand Keegan’s BAF re-introduced the service again for 1975. The traffic was noth- ing close to that of 1967. However, Carvairs operated three times per week in the 55-passenger
two-car configuration. BAF had six Carvairs at this time with only four in the car-ferry con- figuration. Carvair five was on wet lease to Paulings International in Oman and seven was con- verted to an all cargo configuration, leaving only ships nine, 12, 13, and 17 to operate the service. It was obvious at Transmeridian-BAF that the Carvair had seen its day. Several ships had already been offered for sale prior to the 1975 and as the season ended BAF began placing indi- vidual Carvairs up for sale or lease. During the 1975 season Caroline Frost flew as F/O on many of the cross channel flights. In July of 1976 at the age of 26, Frost was promoted to Captain and commanded the first all female crew on cross channel service. Once again the Carvair and BAF was credited with an aviation first. It is most unfortunate that this landmark event came just before the end of the BAF car-ferry era.