Catalogue description Records created or inherited by the Ministry of Aviation and successors, the Air Registration Board, and related bodies

Before 1914 responsibility for regulation of civil flying rested with the Home Office. At the outbreak of the First World War civil aviation was prohibited. After the war, under the Air Navigation Act 1919 it became the concern of the Air Ministry; and in 1920 responsibility for aircraft production reverted to the Ministry.

Within the Ministry a separate department dealt with civil aviation; in 1936 the department was expanded but under the Air Navigation Act of that year certain regulatory functions connected with civil aircraft were delegated to a newly-constituted Air Registration Board.

In May 1940 responsibility for aircraft production passed to the new Ministry of Aircraft Production; then in 1946 to the Ministry of Supply.

By the Ministry of Civil Aviation Act 1945 responsibility for the control of civil aviation was transferred to the new Ministry; then in October 1953 the Ministry was merged with the Ministry of Transport to form the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation.

The Ministry of Aviation was established under the Minister of Aviation Order 1959 (SI 1959/1768) which transferred to the Minister of Supply all functions in respect of civil aviation of the former Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation and changed the style and title of the Minister of Supply to the Minister of Aviation.

Between July and December 1966 civil aviation functions of this ministry were transferred in stages to the Board of Trade. The Ministry of Aviation was abolished by the transfer of its remaining functions in February 1967 to the Ministry of Technology.

On the merger of the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Technology in October 1970 to form the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the new department took over all the Board of Trade's civil aviation functions. In April 1972, most civil aviation regulatory functions were transferred to the new Civil Aviation Authority. The DTI continued to exercise responsibility for the policy, development and international relations aspects of civil aviation, and the Accidents Investigation Branch. The work of the Air Registration Board was transferred to the new Civil Aviation Authority in 1972.