BOAC and BEA Dolls

  BOAC, (British Overseas Airways Corporation), began in 1946, operating mainly long haul flights.

BEA, (British European Airlines), existed from 1946 until 1974, and operated both British domestic and European routes. 

The two airlines merged in 1974, to form BA (British Airways).

In common with some other doll manufacturers in the 1960s and early 1970s, Peggy Nisbet made a small range of dolls for both airlines.   In those days, flying off on a holiday to Spain was a huge adventure, and passengers were very keen to buy a souvenir of the flight - and this is how these two families of dolls was born!

BOAC Dolls

These dolls were produced as part of the "Jetsell" initiative - This was a Board of Trade promotion to the United States, that took place in April 1968.   The range consisted of 17 british characters, (though we can only trace 16 - all listed below), and only 1000 of each doll was produced.   These dolls may not have had a Peggy Nisbet model number, though we have some evidence to suggest that they may have included, (or been based on) dolls from the Tower Treasures "K" Series

Can you supply the name of the character missing from our list?   Is our list correct?

Pilot Steward Air Hostess Chinese Stewardess
Policeman Guardsman English Girl Indian Stewardess
Irish Boy Welsh Boy Scottish Dancer Boy Japanese Stewardess
Irish Girl Welsh Girl Scottish Dancer Girl Scots Piper

The gallery (below) is incomplete, having only six of the reported 17 characters available for a photo session; more pictures will be added as new members of the cabin crew fly in!

(We have also included two (rather poor) pictures of the box used for these dolls - Many collectors will recognise it)

BEA Dolls

As far as we can discover, the BEA dolls were made after the introduction of the BOAC range, and so would have been available after 1968.   The range of characters were mainly National Costume dolls.   We do not currently know how many were in the range, or who they were - Can you help fill in some gaps? 

We do know that our stewardess would have had a red duffel coat originally, but we guess she left it on an aeroplane somewhere . . .

We managed to find two pictures, (origin unknown), of the BEA Stewardess with her red duffel coat, which we have included on this slideshow



The doll pictures in the two galleries above will auto run as individual slide shows in their respective windows.

Press F5 (function key 5 on your keyboard), to re-start the slide shows.

Alternatively, you may control each slideshow manually – follow the steps below :

  • Place the cursor at the bottom of the window to access thumbnail and navigation control bar
  • Click on the “?” (question mark) symbol (bottom left hand side of the control bar) for a detailed explanation of the controls
  • See a full screen slideshow by clicking on the “Square with Arrow” symbol (2nd from right on the control bar)
  • Use the keyboard arrow keys to move forward and back through the slideshow, as desired
  • Use the “ESC” key to leave full screen mode

News

21st September 2023

 

Important Announcement

 

My dear wife, Christine, passed away on the 8th December, 2021, after 8 weeks in hospital. I was by her side, when she slipped away from me peacefully, with no pain or suffering.

 

Chris had been struggling with a slow decline in health, associated with a progressive, untreatable, and ultimately terminal lung disease, and finally succumbed to her old adversary, Pneumonia.

 

We had been friends for 55 years, together as a couple for 50 years, and married just a month short of 48 years, when she died.   

 

This website was Chris's idea, and I did all the technical stuff, to make it work.   After news of Chris's passing reached her close friends in the doll collecting world, I was deeply touched and gratified to hear their tributes to my dear wife, and I must thank them all for their kindness and support.   Ultimately, it was her doll friends that gave me the courage to continue with the website.

 

In the months before her eventual hospitalisation, Chris had outlined a number of additions and changes she wanted to make to the website, and it is my intention to honour those wishes, and to implement the changes we had considered, over the coming weeks and months.

 

I must apologise to all those who have written to us via the website, only to have your emails go unanswered.   Unfortunately, the email system had been hacked aroung the time Chris was going into hospital, and many emails must have been lost, as a result.

 

As you might imagine, I felt completely broken by Chris's loss, and it is only now, almost 22 months after her passing, that I have felt strong enough to even look at the website again.   

 

My aim is to continue with the website, and to implement Chris's aims for her many new ideas as soon as I can.   In the meantime, I have hopefully got the email system sorted out, and I will attempt to answer any enquiries as soon as I can, and to send replies with the same high degree of accuracy that a reply from Chris would have had.

 

From now on, I will be flying solo, whilst my co-pilot and guide will be soaring much higher, (though she is always in my heart, and in my thoughts).

 

My thanks to all our website visitors for your continued support

 

Dave (also known as Arthur), and Chris, (my lost love, Guinevere)

 

Christine Poulten

25th December 1949 - 8th December 2021