Grands Express Aériens
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The Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens was a pioneering French airline established 20 March 1919 and operating until merged with Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes to form Air Union on 1 January 1923.
Headquartered at 3, Rue d'Anjou, Paris, CGEA operated passenger flights from Le Bourget Paris to London's Croyden Aerodrome and also to Lausanne, eventually adding Geneva service in late October 1921.[1][2] They flew Farman F.60 Goliath aircraft, a design converted from an earlier bomber into a luxury cabin aircraft. They also purchased a ten passenger Vickers Vimy Commercial,[3] also a converted bomber design.
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[edit] Accidents and incidents
On 7 April 1922, a CGEA Goliath, flying from Le Bourget to London Croyden was lost in the first-ever midair collision of airliners. In early afternoon, under drizzle and fog conditions, the F.60 collided head-on with a Daimler Airway de Havilland DH.18A making the reverse run 150 metres above the same rail line. All seven people aboard the two aircraft were killed including three passengers on the Goliath.
[edit] Innovation
CGEA's chief pilot René Labouchère together with Raoul Badin defined the first IFR control panel in 1922, which they called the "Contrôleur de vol Badin" (en: Badin flight controller). The following year it was made mandatory equipment on all transport flights.[4]
