With Air France unhappy at the prospect of
its customers being own on aircraft in full
BEA livery, the British carrier’s logo was
removed from the fuselage and tail and
replaced with a small logo aft of the forward
door. The aircraft later reverted to full BEA
markings following the cessation of the joint
venture in October 1972.
In April 1973,
BEA introduced the
One-Elevens to the
London-Aberdeen
service, reducing the
ight time north to the
‘Granite City’ by more
than 35 minutes. For
the remainder of BEA,
the majority of ights
were still the preserve
of the Viscount eet.
MERGER
British Airways was
formed at midnight on
March 31, 1974, with the merger of British
European Airways and British Overseas
Airways Corporation. The new carrier could
call upon 18 series One-Eleven 510EDs,
three 416EKs, two 408EFs and two 401AKs.
The smaller 400 series aircraft formed
the backbone of the new regional division
alongside a eet of Viscount 800 series
aircraft, with bases for both ight and cabin
crew in Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester,
Birmingham, London and Berlin.
The end of the decade saw further
additions to the eet, with three aircraft
ordered for delivery in 1980. Two of the
smaller 400 series were withdrawn and
returned to the manufacturer in part
exchange. The new One-Eleven 539GLswere delivered to the Birmingham base with
an internal design that accommodated 99
passengers in a single class, economy layout- power being supplied by Rolls-Royce Spey
512-14DW engines.
The eet received a new look in 1984
when British Airways adopted a fresh
corporate colour scheme created by
branding consultants, Landor Associates
of New York. All the One-Elevens received
the revised livery, helping the aircraft to look
the part alongside newer arrivals including,
Boeing 737s (now available for purchase,
given the company’s private status) as well
as Airbus A319s and A320s.
A further 13 One-Eleven 500s of varying
types joined the inventory when British
Airways merged with
British Caledonian
(BCAL) in April- The move also
initially saw London
Gatwick added as
another base for the
eet, although by
the end of the year’s
summer schedule
the Gatwick aircraft
had been re-homed
in Manchester
and Birmingham,
replacing the smaller
400 series.
As One-Eleven operations continued
into the 1990s the aircraft now needed
to conform to stringent, new noise
regulations. The excessive noise from the
Spey jet engines, particularly at take-off,
was a known problem and BAC and Rolls-
Royce both accepted the need to make
changes. The result was quieter One-
Elevens, but the downside was slightly
http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 25
DRAMATIC FLIGHT
G-BJRT was heading for Málaga, Spain
from Birmingham on June 10, 1990, with 81
passengers on ight BA 5390. Under the
command of captain Tim Lancaster and rst
officer Alastair Atchison, the aircraft had reached
17,000ft over Oxfordshire when the captain’s
badly tted windscreen blew out.
Half of the captain’s body was forced outside
of the aircraft. While other crew members
held on to Lancaster, the rst officer took
control amidst a chaotic scene and made a
rapid emergency descent into Southampton.
Despite numerous injuries, Lancaster was ableto return to work just ve months later, while
Atchison and two cabin crew, Susan Gibbons
and Nigel Ogden, received the Queen’s
Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air
for their actions. Both pilots went on to have
long and successful careers, eventually nding
themselves ying Boeing 747s on long-haul
services out of London.
Upon being inspected for damage, the reason
for the windscreen loss was eventually traced
to the wrong sized bolts being tted to a
replacement windscreen while the aircraft was
under maintenance at Birmingham.Aircraft G-BBME was one of 30 BAC One-Elevens ordered by American Airlines – it later ew
for British Airways, Maersk Air UK and Nationwide Airlines of South Africa. Key Collection
British Airways operated the One-Eleven until 1993, deliveries of Boeing 737-200s having started a year earlier. Bob O’Brien Collection