Talk:Hugh Kennard

Comments

This article looks quite good and is very close to MilHist B-Class, with good structure, detail, referencing, and an infobox. Couple of things, the lead should be longer, at least one decent-sized paragraph that summarises the whole article. Also rule of thumb is that only air officers (Air Commodore and above) have rank included in their name at the start of the lead para. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 20:35, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

External links modified

InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 04:49, 8 November 2017 (UTC)

Invicta Airways vs Invicta International Airlines

At the risk of some of this being discounted as WP:OR, I must object to the re-writing of history across a number of articles related to Invicta Airways. Indeed, a search on Wikipedia for "Invicta Airways" almost draws a blank, which is faintly ridiculous, as I shall now explain.

The text as it stands, with my proposed corrections;

In November 1964, Kennard formed Invicta International Airlines Invicta Airways Ltd at Manston, following a takeover of Air Ferry by Air Holdings Ltd. Although based at Manston, the head office was at Ramsgate. On 3 January 1969, Invicta International Invicta Airways was merged with British Midland. Invicta became "British Midland – Invicta Cargo.

The merger was forced by London merchant bank Minster Trust. In July, the air cargo operation was sold back to Kennard, who formed a new company, Invicta Airways (1969) Ltd. In February 1973, European Ferries Group acquired a 76% holding of Invicta.

And it was in this period that the name was changed to Invicta International Airlines, not back in 1964!

I am 99.8% certain major sources will confirm these details, and it is simply that one or more editors, acting in good faith, have accidentally reversed history, placing Invicta International first, instead of last.

But, for those who need something more concrete, I can offer;

1. The British Aircraft Register held by the CAA at https://www.caa.co.uk/aircraft-register/g-info/search-g-info/#. Here you will find numerous examples, such as Douglas DC-4 G-ASPM, shown as owned by British Eagle (1964-67), Invicta Airways Ltd (1967-69), British Midland (1969), Invicta Airways (1969) Ltd, and finally Invicta International Airlines Ltd.
2. British case law; Donovan v Invicta Airways Ltd, concerning the employment of Wing Commander Cornelius John Donovan by Invicta Airways Limited for some months during 1965. The Donovan case is mentioned in the Malcolm Finnis book and added to the article, where it is just left as plain "Invicta". In contrast, the legal notes are quite clear on the matter; see https://vlex.co.uk/vid/donovan-v-invicta-airways-793080337
3. Airliners.net photo database, showing a variety of aircraft belonging to Invicta Airways, and marked simply "Invicta", for the period 1965-71 (see https://www.airliners.net/search?airline=31315)
4. Airliners.net photo database, showing a variety of aircraft belonging to Invicta Air Cargo, and marked as such, for the period 1971-72 (see https://www.airliners.net/search?airline=31313)
5. Airliners.net photo database, showing a variety of aircraft belonging to Invicta International Airlines, and marked as such, initially all upper-case for the period 1971-73, followed by lower-case "invicta international" in later years (see https://www.airliners.net/search?airline=31321)

Regarding Airliners.net; whilst a single photograph from a random source might be considered questionable, particularly in terms of date, a whole series of photos from a variety of well-known aviation photographers, builds to provide a comprehensive picture (if you will pardon the pun), and confirms the fact that....

Invicta Airways came first.

Invicta International Airlines (and several other related varieties) came later.

If anybody has access to the book by Finnis, Malcolm (2006). Take-off to Touchdown, the Invicta Airlines story., perhaps they would confirm that the existing citations already cover all of the above? WendlingCrusader (talk) 23:06, 29 January 2025 (UTC)