What is BOAC?

The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd. BOAC was merged in 1974 with British European Airways Corporation (BEA) to form British Airways.

On 1 September 1972, the British Airways Board was formed, a holding board that controlled BOAC and BEA. On 31 March 1974, both the BOAC and BEA were dissolved and their operations merged to form British Airways.