Cavalier was a Short Empire flying boat with the registration G-ADUU that had been launched on 21 November 1936 and delivered to Imperial Airways.
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On 21 January 1939, the Imperial Airways Short Empire flying boat Cavalier, en route from New York City to Bermuda, lost power to its engines and ditched in heavy seas approximately 285 miles (459 km) southeast of New York.
Conceived in 1934 by Sir Eric Geddes, chairman of Imperial Airways, EAMS sought to greatly expand British civil aviation by shifting all ‘first class’ mail within the British Empire by air.
During World War II, the airline represented Imperial Airways/BOAC and in 1947 began its relationship with the newly created British European Airways (BEA).
On a return trip to the United Kingdom from India on an Imperial Airways Handley Page H.P.42 it disappeared without trace over the Gulf of Oman 1 March 1940 with eight on board.
In 1923 he was appointed by the government to the board of what would become Imperial Airways.
The airgraph was invented in the 1930s by the Eastman Kodak Company in conjunction with Imperial Airways (now British Airways) and Pan-American Airways as a means of reducing the weight and bulk of mail carried by air.
On 30 December 1933, an Imperial Airways aircraft crashed into a mast and demolished it.
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He was traveling to London to join the Secretary of State's Indian Council, when the Imperial Airways flight he was flying in, Handley Page H.P.42 "Hannibal", crashed in the Gulf of Oman killing everyone aboard.
After leaving the Royal Air Force he worked as a pilot for Handley Page Air Transport, Imperial Airways and KLM.
Imperial Airways (and its successor BOAC), Qantas and TEAL operated the Short Empire in commercial service, while the Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force and briefly the Royal Canadian Air Force used them on military operations during the Second World War, particularly for anti-submarine patrol and transport duties.
Three Argosys were lost during service with Imperial Airways, one being written off in a forced landing near Aswan, and one during a training accident, both in 1931, with no injuries in either accident.