HISTORY
SPECIFICATIONS | COMPARE | HISTORY
Known by her builders simply as "serial number 45497/995", the Cloudmaster was completed on 13 June 1958 at the Douglas Aircraft Company's Santa Monica plant.
Bought in September that year by Harold Bamberg, founder of British independent carrier Eagle, she was delivered to his Blackbushe, Hampshire base in January 1959 and, after refit to his specification, entered service as G-APSA on 19 March.
G-APSA was immediately occupied on passenger charters and government contracts, planners taking full advantage of her long range and operational flexibility. Notably, she flew to Christmas Island (now Kiritimati) to assist the clean-up operation after a decade of nuclear tests.
An instant hit with discerning travellers, G-APSA helped Eagle to develop transatlantic schedules to Bermuda and New York in direct competition with the national carriers.