Malcolm V Lowe tells the story of a short-lived but innovative advertising venture that literally brightened the night skies
SKY NEON
Dragon Rapide G-AHKV was fully kitted out with the Sky Neon signage installation, as seen here. It also carried the company name prominently on its forward fuselage. (via John Batchelor)
In the days before the Internet and mass-marketing, advertising took on many inventive and sometimes unconventional forms.
A short-lived but remarkable 1950s innovation comprised the use of a famous British civil aircraft to light up the skies prominently, principally over London, with very visible illuminated messages.
The aircraft concerned was the de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide. Although dating from the 1930s, the Rapide was used globally after World War Two, sometimes in rather eccentric roles. One of these was the unique attempt by a British company named Sky Neon Aviation, to employ a Dragon Rapide as an airborne billboard, but with the added ingredient of the relevant signage being illuminated via neon displays; this allowed the aircraft to operate at night.
Sky Neon received its first aircraft, Dragon Rapide G-AHKV, in early 1954, and at that time the company’s chairman was Dougl…
