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The Hon. Mrs Victor Bruce
(10th of November 1895 – 21st of May 1990) was a British
record-breaking racing motorist, speedboat racer, aviator in
the 1920s and 1930s, and later, successful businesswoman. She
is less-commonly referred to as Mary Petre Bruce, Mildred Bruce,
Mildred Mary Bruce, or Mary Victor Bruce, in contemporary references.
On the 7th of August 1934, she founded Commercial Air Hire Ltd.,
that immediately started newspaper delivery flights between Croydon
and Paris, using two DH.84 Dragons. In 1935, Air Dispatch Ltd.,
that she had founded on 9 July 1934, started operating weekend
freight (later also passenger) services from its base at Croydon
Airport to Le Touquet and Le Bourget, Paris. In April 1935, Commercial
Air Hire started passenger shuttle services between Croydon and
Heston airports, under the name Inner Circle Air Lines, using
GAL Monospar ST4s. In 1935, Commercial Air Hire purchased an
Avro 642 Eighteen 16-seat airliner (G-ACFV) for newspaper delivery
contracts, and Air Dispatch shared its use for bullion-carrying,
excursions, joy-riding flights and scheduled passenger services,
until mid-1936. She was co-managing director, with Eric E. Noddings,
of both closely linked companies, that were merged in 1936 as
Air Dispatch Ltd. During this period, the combined fleets of
Air Dispatch and Commercial Air Hire, plus those of associated
companies International Air Freight Ltd. and Anglo European Airways,
included GAL Monospar ST4s, DH.84 Dragons, DH.89 Dragon Rapides,
DH.90 Dragonflies, Airspeed AS.6 Envoys, plus other aircraft
on lease, such as an Avro 618 Ten. In late 1936, she sold two
of the DH.84 Dragons for a large amount of cash to a mystery
man, and they were covertly exported for use in the Spanish Civil
War. From 1936, Commercial Air Hire operated many of its DH.84
Dragons on Territorial Army co-operation exercises under contract
to the British Army, involving night flying and searchlights.
In September 1939 at the start of WW2 and all civil flying ceased,
although a unit in the Governments 1939 'National Air Communications',
all aircraft were deployed to RAF Pengam Moors Aerodrome Cardiff
in September 1939, the company elected not to participate and
in May 1940 ceased trading. |
