A Cairns-Innisfail daily Puss Moth route is opened on June 1, 1936. During the summer, DH 84 Dragons are obtained and these are used to inaugurate Cairns-Normanton service on September 1.
On April 7, 1937, a weekly Cairns-Brisbane frequency is opened. Two new Dragon routes are opened in June: every two weeks to Portland Roads from Cairns on June 12 and under subsidy, the Normanton terminus is stretched to Burketown on June 15.
During the summer of 1938, Cairns-Mount Isa and Normanton-Koolatah flights begin. The carrier is purchased by and merged into Airlines of Australia (Pty.), Ltd. on October 25.
NORTH SEA AERIAL AND GENERAL TRANSPORT, LTD.: United Kingdom (1919-1933) . As an aeronautical branch of Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company, Ltd., North Sea Aerial Navigation Company is formed at Leeds on April 23, 1919. Equipped with several of the parent’s unsold and slightly converted Kangaroo reconnaissance-torpedo aircraft, North Sea inaugurates a commercial freight and express service from Soldiers’ Field at Leeds’ Roundhay Park to Gosport. Employing an Avro 504K, passenger flights are started in June over a route Scarborough-Hull-Harrogate; simultaneously, a daily express parcel operation is flown from Leeds to Scarborough.
In August, the long-nosed Kangaroo biplanes inaugurate service from Hull to London (Hounslow) via Leeds and also get in several charter flights from Hounslow to Amsterdam. During the September 30-October 5 British rail strike, company Kangaroos fly mail and passengers from Leeds to London (Hounslow). In October, Blackburn’s enterprise is renamed North Sea Aerial and General Transport, Ltd.
Flying a Kangaroo, R. W. Kenworthy inaugurates a short-lived Leeds to Amsterdam via Lympne all-cargo service on March 6, 1920. The service and the operator are both suspended on October 20 and remain shut down for over five years. The British colonial governments of Uganda and Kenya each subscribe ?2,500 for the development of an experimental seaplane service from Khartoum-Kisumu, Lake Victoria, and Blackburn Aircraft resurrects its suspended airline subsidiary in November 1926.
Employing Alan Cobham’s famous DH 50J exploring aircraft Pelican, T. A. Gladstone attempts the first flight between the Nile at Khartoum and Lake Victoria on January 2, 1927, only to crash upon takeoff. The RAF lends a Fairey IIID and Gladstone makes a successful proving flight the first week of February.
On February 15, a second flight, with mail, is made from Kisumu to Jinja; the Fairey IIID completes the run to Khartoum on February 15, where the RAF continues the mail to Cairo. The Fairey IIID crashes upon takeoff for the third test flight on March 13. The Pelican is repaired by October and Gladstone resumes flights from Khartoum to Kisumu.
On April 24, 1928, the African enterprise is merged with Alan Cob-ham’s aviation firm Alan Cobham Aviation, Ltd., to form Cobham-Blackburn Air Lines, Ltd.
Dormant for five years, Blackburn revives North Sea Aerial and General Transport, Ltd., in summer 1933 On July 1, in conjunction with East Yorkshire Motor Services, Ltd., a Blackburn Segrave and Fox Moth participate in a thrice-daily Humber ferry service (the air sector extends from Hedon to Waltham). Scheduled frequencies become nine per day on September 4, but are reduced to on-demand charter as of November 4. Flights end a year or so later.
NORTH SEA AIR TRANSPORT, LTD.: United Kingdom (19451967). Formed in November 1945 as a subsidiary of the Blackburn Aircraft Company and equipped with a Miles M.38 Messenger, NSAT is based at Hull’s Brough Airport. Following resumption of civil aviation in the U. K. in January 1946, the company soon begins flying ad hoc charters. A Percival P-28 Proctor 1 is provided in March, followed by a de Havilland DH 89A in May. The Proctor 1 is lost in a crash at Zurich on September 17. Two more Dragon Rapides join the fleet in November.
The first of two Miles M.57 Aerovans to be delivered on the year arrives at Hull in mid-May 1947. It is placed in service immediately, but is lost on June 14 in a takeoff accident from London’s Croydon Airport (one dead). Additional aircraft added to the fleet during the year include an Avro Anson I in July, an Avro 19 in October, and a second Aerovan, also in October. Ad hoc charters are flown to Continental destinations as well as several in Ireland, Scotland, and the Channel Islands.
Charter services remain approximately the same in 1948 and no aircraft are added to the fleet. The Avro 19 is lost in a crash at Port Erin on June 11. Destinations are more frequently visited but not changed significantly in 1949; however, the fleet is increased by the addition of a Percival Proctor 5, two DH 89As and a Lockheed 14 in October, and a Lockheed 12A in December.
A Dragon Rapide is sold in February 1950 and following the summer tourist season, the company elects to severely limit its charter business. By November 1951, all aircraft have been sold except for two DH 89As, one of which is sold in November 1952. The remaining Dragon Rapide, joined by a DH 104 Dove 1 in September 1958, is employed as Blackburn’s communications aircraft.
NSAT remains on the books as an airline company and during the next 12 years even undertakes a few charter flights. The Dragon Rapide is sold in July 1965 and in March 1967 the Dove is withdrawn and the company is allowed to disappear.
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