British United Airways uniform in branded suit bag

British United Airways uniform in branded suit bag, with blue buttoned short jacket, a cream shirt with collar and zip at the rear, long blue jacket with silver branded buttons, blue skirt and two pairs of gloves, one black and one white, with original paper packaging. Suit bag has a branded label attached that reads: 'Miss J. Merriman, Superintendent, Cabin Service Operations, Gatwick Airport, London'. Part of a uniform designed by a committee of cabin crew in 1967.

British United Airways was founded in 1960 as a private British airline after a merger of two existing airlines: Airwork Services and Hunting Clan Air Transport. Following a rebrand the airline chose to redesign their cabin crew uniforms in 1967. Unusually, the uniform was designed by a committee of cabin crew, headed by the cabin services operation superintendent, who this uniform belonged to; the 4 rings and star detail on the jacket shows her rank. The new uniform was launched with a fashion show modelled by the cabin crew themselves at Gatwick Airport, which was highly publicised at the time. Footage can be found in British Pathé’s collection.

The airline ceased operations 3 years later in 1970, when they merged with Caledonian Airways to form British Caledonian Airways. The airline operated with staff wearing both British United Airways and Caledonian’s iconic tartan uniforms for a time.