UAT Route Map of Africa

“la plus importante compagnie privee Francais de transport aerien”

This colourful poster map was created for ‘UAT Aeromaritime’, a French airline originally founded as ‘Aeromaritime’ in 1937 by the shipping line Les Chargeurs Reunis, with an airlink between Dakar in Senegal and Pointe Noire in the Congo. “After the war, in 1949, at the instigation of the Chargeurs Reunis, a group of technicians, who until then had been running a charter transport firm, decided to set up a new private air transport company which was given the name of Union Aeromaritime de Transports. Its activity was to be essentially devoted to establishing and operating an African network. The airline grew very rapidly. In February 1953, nine months after BOAC, it introduced the Comet 1. Meanwhile, in Johannesburg, the company’s network extended across the whole African continent. In 1955 UAT absorbed Aigle Azur, a French independent operating to North Africa; and from 1960 it had Douglas DC-8s in service. When African nations gained independence, a new situation arose. At first these countries all inclined towards airlines of their own. But lack of facilities and very slender traffic prospects finally brought about the signing of a cooperation agreement between UAT and 11 nations of Central and Western Africa (1961). This agreement also included a division of the African contingent between UAT and Air France, the eastern part of Africa together with Dakar in the west being reserved for the latter airline” (‘Flight International’ magazine, 24^th June, 1971, page 945).

The poster illustrates a Douglas airplane upper right. UAT used the DC-4 Skymaster between 1950 and 1953, and the DC-6 from 1956. This image could be either, but given that the UAT is shown flying to all of North Africa, then it is quite likely the latter.