What was the first post-war British civil transport?

Short answer

There was no single "first": the Bristol 170 Freighter is among the first new commercial aircraft to fly in the United Kingdom after the Second World War. Its prototype, the G-AGPV, flew on 2 December 1945, and it was the first post-war aircraft to receive an unrestricted certificate of airworthiness.

Published: November 4, 2026 · Updated: November 4, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

What was the first post-war British civil transport?

Gedenktafel Columbiadamm 108 (Temph) Berliner LuftbrückeOTFW, Berlin (CC BY SA), vía commons

One of the first, not "the" first

The Bristol 170, known as the Bristol Freighter, was one of the first new commercial aircraft to fly in the United Kingdom after the end of the Second World War. It was the first post-war aircraft to receive an unrestricted certificate of airworthiness, and it played an important role in advancing aeronautical technology and operations worldwide.

The prototype G-AGPV

The prototype, registered G-AGPV, first flew on 2 December 1945. By the end of production, in 1958, 214 aircraft had been built. The total was split across several variants.

Cars on board

The Freighter 32 was a stretched version incorporating movable wooden bulkheads in the cargo compartment. It could be configured to carry three 14 ft (3.3 m) cars and 20 passengers, or two larger vehicles and 12 passengers, with seats in the rear section of the fuselage. On 14 July 1948 the airline operating it made the first flight with a car on board, from Lympne Airport in Kent to Le Touquet on the northern coast of France.