BAE Systems

The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017 37

which Handley Page could ill afford.
While endeavouring to sort out the
aircraft’s technical problems Handley
Page was also engaged in work for a large
USAF order and had received a contract
to produce eleven Jetstream 3Ms
powered by the American Garrett
AirResearch TPE-331. To hasten
development of the USAF version the two
Jetstreams flew with the Garrett engines.
The parallel effort poured into fulfilling
the USAF order for this substantially
modified aircraft created a further drain
on over-stretched resources.

Handley Page falls into
receivership
In February 1970 Handley Page Aircraft
went out of business. Over 50 Jetstreams
had already been delivered to North
America and several companies had
begun to market the aircraft. Some

aircraft were re-engined with Pratt &

Whitney PT6As and others with Garrett

TPE-331s. An assortment of these

continued flying with ten airlines and

helped the eventual BAe Jetstream’s sales

success in North America.

Jetstream Aircraft and

Scottish Aviation

Fortunately, the Jetstream was kept alive

by interested parties and former Handley

Page staff who formed a company called

Jetstream Aircraft. Three completed

Jetstreams, 21 engineless airframes and a

large quantity of spares and design

authority were purchased from Handley

Page’s receivers. This nascent firm used

Jetstream 200 G-AXFV to achieve

Jetstream reborn

†

certification for this development and

kept the project alive, based at Sywell

airport, Northamptonshire.

Jetstream Aircraft proposed a version

of the Jetstream 200 for the RAF as a

training aircraft. RAF evaluation trials

followed from 9 August – 2 September

1971 at the A&AEE Boscombe Down with

the Jetstream in competition against the

Turbo Commander. Jetstream Aircraft and

Scottish Aviation at Prestwick (to which

HP had originally sub-contracted the

building of the wings) agreed to act

together as it was clear that the former

had insufficient resources to take on a

production contract. Against stiff

American competition in February 1972

the Government awarded a contract for

‡ Jetstream

Prestwick logo

The prototype Jetstream 31 G-TALL
made its maiden flight on 18 March
1982 at Prestwick. (BAE SYSTEMS)

† Jetstream 31

G-OBEA entered

service with

Birmingham

Executive Airways in

May 1983 and flew

with the airline until

October 1992.

(BAE SYSTEMS)