From BCPA to TEAL: DC-6s over the Pacific

Aviation in New Zealand was a late bloomer and it wasn't until just before WW2 that the country was connected to the world by air travel. TEAL was a rather complicated beast but it prospered despite its joint ownership and benefitted from the less fortunate BCPA to be able to move beyond flying boats and into the era of land planes in the Pacific.

TEAL Douglas DC-6 ZK-BGC Aeroclassics 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

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Above: ZK-AMA takes off prewar. For lots more photos like this and info about TEAL's flying boats go to this great post at the flyingboatforum.

In the first year of operations 130 trans-Tasman flights were made and the Auckland service connected with a Pan Am route between San Francisco and Auckland. The war disrupted Pan Am's services, forced a drastic re-routing of the Empire route and even led to the flying boats being equipped for a time with machine guns and bombs to combat German raiders, but TEAL nonetheless plodded on with its two flying boats. Postwar TEAL's immediate aims were set out by the policy of acquiring more flying boats (Shorts Sandringhams and later Solents) and the setup of British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines. The former only had range for trans-Tasman and Pacific routes whilst the latter operation was to fly between Australia and North America using DC-4s and later DC-6s.

Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL) was formed in April 1940 by an unwieldy agreement between the New Zealand, Australian and British governments, which split ownership 4 ways (20% NZ Govt, 19% Union Airways (NZ's domestic airline), 38% BOAC and 23% Qantas). Its first aircraft, ZK-AMA 'Aotearoa' - a Shorts S.30 Empire flying boat, didn't arrive until literally moments (6 days in fact) before the start of World War Two. The arrival of a second aircraft (ZK-AMC 'Awarua') had to wait until April 1940 and services across the Tasman didn't begin until 30 April. The inaugural flight carried ten passengers and took 9 hours to connect Auckland with Rose Bay, Sydney. Nevertheless this was the final link in a continuous westward service across the British Empire and the foundations for all international flying from New Zealand.

TEAL did begin to move away from the age of the flying boat in 1951 when it began leasing Qantas DC-4s to operate a Christchurch-Sydney service, but at the same time it was also expanding its flying boat routes. In June 1950 it took over National Airways Corporation's Auckland-Suva service, then it began Wellington-Sydney and in December 1951 introduced the famous 'Coral Route' to Tahiti via Suva and the Cook Islands. These new services were flown with the 5 Shorts Solents.

The immediate future of TEAL was at this time interwoven with the fate of BCPA. The carrier had always been something of an orphan and had struggled to compete against the almighty Pan Am, which had the luxury of several benefits including its wealth of US dollars. Qantas Empire Airways (QEA) meanwhile was casting envious eyes over BCPA's Pacific routes. As early as 1950 QEA was putting forward submissions for the takeover of the loss making BCPA. On the plus side BCPA operated modern equipment having acquired four Douglas DC-6s by the end of December 1948. These aircraft were all named after ships commanded by Captain James Cook as follows:

• VH-BPE 'Resolution'
• VH-BPF 'Endeavour'
• VH-BPG 'Adventure'
• VH-BPH 'Discovery'
  

The DC-6s were fitted with 48 day seats which could convert to 37 sleepers. Briefly they gave BCPA an ascendency over Pan Am. In the end BCPA could never overcome the ownership constraints from its many masters (like TEAL it was owned by the Australian, New Zealand and UK governments). Finally in October 1953 BCPA's fate was sealed.

It was agreed that BCPA should be wound up. The deal was a complicated one but basically QEA acquired the Pacific routes and BCPA's 3 options for De Havilland Comets. The UK government gave up its shares of both BCPA and TEAL, the NZ government gave up its share of BCPA, and TEAL gained the three remaining BCPA DC-6s (VH-BPE was sadly lost on October 28 - for more info see here). Though a sad day for the staff of BCPA, which had provided excellent service across the Pacific since 1948, for TEAL it was a new beginning.

Above: ZK-BGA. Photo from Ed Coates always superlative site here.

In the end BCPA's DC-6s continued in service on the Pacific routes until May 15, 1954. They then joined TEAL which meant that Auckland's international airport transferred from Mechanics Bay on the Waitemata Harbour to Whenuapai where it remained until 1965. The DC-6s had an immediate impact with the Auckland-Sydney route reduced to only five and a half hours. May also saw the start of a twice weekly Auckland-Nadi service. One downside was that the end of flying boats also meant the end of services to Wellington until 1960.

Below: ZK-BGB inflight. This image comes from the excellent Air New Zealand's Flight Engineers blog with lots of info about TEAL's DC-6s which can be found here.

The 3 DC-6s became ZK-BFA, BFB and BFC but were re-registered as BGA-C in 1956. They enabled TEAL to consolidate its place on the trans-Tasman services and introduce new routes to Melbourne in 1957 and Brisbane in 1959. Only one Shorts Solent was kept in service after 1954, to ply the Coral Route. This aircraft, ZK-ANO 'Aranui' continued to fly the service until September 1960 when DC-6s tookover this service using the land strip at Bora Bora. By then however the DC-6s themselves were old news as TEAL had already taken delivery of its new Lockheed L-188 Electras.

The completion of a new airport nearer Tahiti's capital of Papeete allowed the Electras to takeover the Coral route and all three of the DC-6s were passed to the Royal New Zealand Air Force for use as troop transports. ZK-BGC 'Arahia' became NZ3633 but was sold on in 1965. She went to Canada for Pacific Western where she became CF-PWQ. In 1971 she joined Mercer Airlines as N90MA was converted to an aerial tanker and served with many operators until July 1994. Used for parts in Chandler, Arizona her cockpit was shipped to Finland and has been restored.

The departure of the DC-6s coincided with TEAL becoming wholly New Zealand owned and a new era for aviation in New Zealand. From 1961 TEAL would be competing with Qantas and BOAC on the world stage not co-operating, but that would still give it plenty of opportunities.

References

MacPherson, R. Airways - The first 50 years. 1936-1986
Moore, H.M. Silver Wings in Pacific Skies: Australia's First Trans-Pacific Airline