Very much in the manner in which the 0/100 and 0/400 bombers of World War I had been converted for the carriage of freight and passengers, the Halifax bomber of World War II was also converted, and used throughout the world as a freighter. These machines were to fill the role until more modern aircraft became available in the early 1950s.
The first civilian conversion was of the Halifax BIII, NR169 Waltzing Matilda, ex 466 (RAAF) Squadron. This aircraft was bought by G. N. Wickner, a wartime ferry pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary, and converted by Handley Page to carry 15 passengers. Carrying the civil registration G-AGXA, the Halifax was flown to Australia in June 1946, piloted by Wickner and carrying 15 other Australians who were returning home. For a short period this machine flew in Australia as VH-BDT.
A number of Halifax CVIIIs were acquired by London Aero and Motor Services Ltd of Elstree, and converted for freighting. These aircraft were frequently used to carry fruit to London from Italy and the South of France. One machine, G-AIWT, Port of Sydney, was flown on a world tramping trip by Capt Thiele who took off from the company's new base at Stanstead on 23rd April 1947, to return on 5th June, after flying to New Zealand via Iceland and the USA, then on to Australia and home with 7 tons of dripping! LAMS (Africa) Ltd and LAMS (Australia) Ltd were formed to carry on operations in those countries with other Halifaxes. Several Halifax BVIs and AIXs were also allocated civil registrations, although in the former case principally to allow the Lancashire Aircraft Corporation to ferry some 20 machines to Bovingdon where they were broken up for spares. At least six BVIs were acquired by Pegasus Air Transport Ltd and sold to the Royal Pakistan Air Force. Aviation Traders Ltd acquired nine Halifax AIXs, and refurbished them for the Egyptian Air Force. One of them being RT938, the last Halifax to be built, which was flown to Egypt with the ferry registration G-ALVM. Two of these AIXs had previously seen service with 113 Squadron in the Middle East in 1947.
During 1946 British Overseas Airways ordered from Handley Page a civil conversion of the Halifax for use as a passenger machine on their African and Indian services pending arrival of their Avro Tudors. The HP70 Halton was converted from the CVIII transport and fitted out to carry ten passengers. A large entrance door was fitted in the starboard rear fuselage and rectangular windows were fitted along the cabin walls. The pannier was also used and could carry 8,000 lb of cargo and mail. A crew of five was carried.
The first of 12 Haltons for BOAC, G-AHDU, was christened Falkirk, at Radlett on 18th July 1946. The Halton was introduced into service on the London-Karachi route on 1st July 1947, and on the next day the London-Lagos coastal service was initiated. This latter service, via Casablanca, Dakar and Accra, was replaced by the trans-Sahara route, also flown by Haltons, on 1st September. For a short time during August 1947, the Haltons also flew on the London-Tripoli-Cairo-Basra-Karachi-Colombo route.
These Haltons of BOAC were finally withdrawn from service on 2nd May 1948, and thereafter sold to various charter firms, eight going to Bond Air Service Ltd who used them soon afterwards on the Berlin Air Lift. This operation, started after 24th June 1948, when surface transport from West Germany to Berlin was stopped by the Soviet authorities, was joined by numerous charter firms on 4th July. Forty-one Haltons and Halifaxes of seven companies flew some 8,000 sorties into Berlin from Wunsdorf and carried some 53,000 tons of cargo, including coal and oil - more than one-third of the civilian total. The last civil flight was by G-AIAP, a converted CVIII, flown by Capt Villa of Eagle Airways.
Most of these converted Halifaxes were not used again except for a few which still survived abroad, two CVIIIs surviving at least until March 1953, in Norway, as LN-OAS and LN-OAT.

Production
All machines were conversions of RAF Halifaxes. Approximately 90 British registered Halifax BIII, BVI, CVIII, and AIX machines were actually used in charter freight service. Approximately 50 more only carried marks for ferry purposes, and 15 were sold to the Egyptian and Pakistan Air Forces.