Excerpts from "The Hillman One-Name Study":

Edward Henry Hillman and Hillman’s Airways
1931-1935 

Brush-making, drummer boy, brewer’s drayman, cavalry sergeant, cabman, “flying buses”, “moths, gypsies, rapides and dragons”, grandfather to British Airways – Edward Hillman could turn his hand to anything!

In these days of frequent and major changes in international airline names and alliances, it is interesting to look back to some of the earliest days and the fledgling airlines that included Hillman’s Airways in the UK. Hillman’s Airways was one of the very early airlines that were amalgamated into what is now British Airways.

The airline was founded by Edward Hillman, a bus company operator who simply added light aircraft to his fleet of passenger carrying vehicles and paid the drivers of both the same salary. I wonder how the airline pilots of today would view that as a proposal?! Edward Henry Hillman was born on the 19th March 1889, in Croydon. In 6 brief years apparently, he developed not only the largest coach fleet in the world at the time, but also latterly the fledgling airline. He died at the end of 1934, aged only 45.

Edward Henry Hillman died on 31st December 1934. His gravestone in Romford cemetery, Essex, bears a relief in stone of the De Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft that Hillman’s Airways was the first to use, and the touching and appropriate inscription:

Erected to the Memory of My Beloved Husband Edward henry Hillman. Who Departed This Life 31st December 1934. Aged 45 Years. A Memory That Will Not Fade, A Love That Cannot Die. Is With Thee In Thy Rest In The Home Beyond The Sky.

Also His Beloved Wife, Eliza Kate Hillman. Who Departed This Life 23rd October 1936, Aged 46 Years.

He is buried together with his wife Eliza Kate, who died shortly afterwards on 23rd October 1936, aged 46.

The fullest details of the man, his family, saloon coach services and Hillman’s Airways can be found in the book “The Triple Alliance” by Neville Doyle.

    Hillman’s Airways
As early as 1931 Edward Hillman was already diversifying into the new world of air-taxi and charter flights. He initially purchased two De Havilland Puss Moth aircraft from Brian Lewis and Company, the De Havilland distributors who supplied all of the 25 aircraft he eventually used.

Hillman’s Airways’ – registered initially on 12th November 1931 as Hillman’s Saloon Coaches and Airways Ltd. – inaugural flight was on the 1st April 1932 from Maylands Aerodrome in Essex (now a golf course), to Clacton-on-Sea, also in Essex, using a three-seater De Havilland Puss Moth (DH-80A). This was a distance of only 18 air miles in half an hour across the Wash but was then however 47 miles by road in 2-3 hours, and taking at least an hour today. The aircraft fleet was augmented soon afterwards by De Havilland Fox Moths (DH-83).

Operations were cut-price with no frills. There were no flights in winter. The Romford area of Essex is today virtually a suburb of London on the east side of the city. Hillman developed the airfield with hangers, workshops and a reception area for the passengers. It became known as Maylands, as well as the Hillman’s Aerodrome, but he was quick to correct Flight Magazine when they called it the “Gallows Corner Aerodrome” for the Essex Aviation Display – perhaps concerned at the image this conjured up in potential passengers’ minds!

The inaugural international flight was exactly a year later to Paris in the new De Havilland Dragon biplane (DH-84). The one-way tickets cost just £3 10s! A timetable indicates that the journey started by road from Bow Road, Charing Street in London to Maylands Aerodrome, in a time of 45 minutes. This was followed by a 2-hour 10 min flight across the Channel to Le Bourget airfield, and a further 30-minute drive to 25 Rue Royalev, in Paris. Two flights a day were carried out each way. Special weekend rates were offered. Day Return tickets for Paris cost £4 15s 0d – this was 10s cheaper than the Air France single cross-Channel fare at the time. Fifteen kilos was the baggage allowance.

At this time Imperial Airways was the national flag carrier airline. Later Hillman routes included Belfast, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Hull, Ramsgate, Paris, Antwerp and Brussels from “London”. Hillman’s Airways also took on a contract with the Post Office for regular airmail flights to London, Liverpool, Belfast and Glasgow, which made a secure basis for the business between December 1934 and December 1935.

The first aircraft used were De Havilland DH-80 Puss Moths followed with DH-83 Fox Moths – all biplanes – of various models. Hillman also had a DH-60m Moth aircraft, and a DH-60 G III Moth Major aircraft registered in his name. This was in addition to his later DH-84 Dragons, DH-89 Dragon Rapides and DH-86 Express aircraft. The Fox Moth aircraft was developed as an air-taxi in 1932 from the original Tiger Moth, many of whose components were used. The pilot sat in an open cockpit near the centre of the length of the plane, while the 4 passengers were in a small cabin towards the front. These aircraft operated the Hillman’s Airways flights from Clacton to Maylands to Ramsgate. Everything was done to minimise the costs of air travel, including paying minimal staff wages.  The aircraft were painted in a blue and white livery, reminiscent of the Hillman coach service.

       The end of the runway
The end of Hillman’s Airways came in October 1935, less than a year after Edward Hillman’s death. Edward A.J. Hillman, his son (then presumably only about 23 years old), took over as Managing Director. He resigned however, in February 1935, less than two months later, in complete disagreement with the Board’s future Policy. The bankers d’Erlanger, together with Whitehall Securities, took over the interest in the company, and orchestrated the merger with Spartan and United that led to the formation of (Allied) British Airways – the government’s second “chosen instrument” – after Imperial Airways.

One aircraft originally used by Hillman’s Airways remains visible to the public in the UK today – this was the DH-89 Dragon Rapide originally registered as G-ADAH in January 1935. It went on to serve with British Airways, Northern and Scottish Airways, Airwork and finally Allied Airways. There followed a period when it was stored, then broken up, before being collated and restored – but sadly in Allied Airways livery named “Pioneer”. It can be seen today, airworthy but non-flying, at the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology.

Installation is simple:

Download the file from Flightsim.to. Inside the .zip folder is the yummy parts. Extract the file from the .zip folder to a location of your choice. Depending on the way you extract the file, you will either open that and copy and paste the main file into your community folder, or extract the main file directly into your community folder. Sorry if this sounds confusing, however, some people extract files to a folder such as their downloads folder (this is what I do to maintain control of all of my downloads). If you are like me, you know the main folder is inside that folder you extracted to your downloads folder. Some people extract the main folder directly. If that is what you do, paste it into the community folder. The file name you should be pasting into your community folder will read "CAR_DH89_Dragon_Rapide_G-ADAH"

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The model and textures used for this repaint were made by DG Designs. Art work by Canuckshaw.

LEGAL STUFF

This repaint is released as FREEWARE. You may use and modify it (for personal use only) in any way you wish, but 
you may NOT use it in any kind of money-making endeavor, and you may NOT publicly 
distribute any copies of it, whether modified or not, without my expressed consent. 

CONTACT

Questions and/or comments about this repaint are always welcome via Flightsim.to or via Private Message on Discord.