British Overseas Airways Corporation
On 24 November 1939, BOAC was created by Act of Parliament to become the British state airline, formed from the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. The companies had been operating together since war was declared on 3 September 1939, when their operations were evacuated from the London area to Bristol. On 1 April 1940, BOAC started operations as a single company. Following the Fall of France (22 June 1940), BOAC aircraft kept wartime Britain connected with its colonies and the allied world, often under enemy fire, and initially with desperate shortages of long-range aircraft. During the war, the airline was sometimes loosely referred to as 'British Airways', and aircraft and equipment were marked with combinations of that title and/or the Speedbird symbol and/or the Union Flag.
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center
BMCM+AC was founded in 1993 by Mary Holden Thompson to pay tribute to BMC (1933–1957). The museum and arts center existed as a nomadic organization from 1993 until 2003, when it moved to its current downtown Asheville location, 15 miles from the both BMC campuses at Lake Eden and the Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, NC. BMCM+AC was first based out of founder Mary Holden Thompson's house in Black Mountain, NC. It expanded to Zone one contemporary, a gallery in downtown Asheville from 1991–2000 owned by long-time BMCM+AC board member Connie Bostic. The museum then moved to the Kellogg Conference Center in Hendersonville, NC followed by Warren Wilson College and finally 56 Broadway.In Summer 2014 BMCM+AC received a major grant from the Windgate Charitable Foundation (Siloam Springs, AR) in support of a three-year plan to expand its facilities and public programs. BMCM+AC opened an additional gallery at 69 Broadway and created storage space for the growing collection of artwork and materials by faculty and alumni of Black Mountain College.