14 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017
Legacy Aircraft
When British Aerospace took over BAC
and Hawker Siddeley in 1977 it inherited
refurbishment programmes on aircraft
out of production and work on aircraft
very near the end of their production
cycle. The amount of work carried out on
these aircraft was substantial and
illustrates the extent to which the
manufacturer’s connection with an
aircraft may continue for many years after
the last one has left the production line.Military aircraft
■ Canberra
The first English Electric Canberra VN799,
flew in May 1949 and proved a
remarkably profitable investment for the
manufacturers and their successors
including BAe. Owing to the Cold War and
the threat of nuclear war, large orders
were placed with English Electric and
other manufacturers. Many versions were
developed, most notably for
reconnaissance as the Canberra had
remarkable altitude performance. The
Canberra had many roles in the RAF and
the last examples of the aircraft to remain
in service were photo-reconnaissance
PR9s which were retired late as 2006.Legacy aircraft
programmes
A grand total of 1,376 Canberras were
built (including licence-built) of which
782 served with the RAF. Twenty-one
different versions were operated by
twenty-one countries. 115 ex-RAF aircraft
were rebuilt and exported, in addition to
143 newly built export aircraft. The final
delivery of a newly-built Canberra was to
South African Air Force in February 1964.
However large numbers returned to the
factory for maintenance, refurbishment
and modification at Samlesbury for new
roles as new marks by the RAF and as
testbeds. This was also the case with
overseas operators of the Canberra who
frequently returned theirs. In fact, owing
to the continued demand for Canberras
in the 1960s, BAC purchased large
numbers of RAF aircraft that were surplus
to requirements. The refurbishment work
at the Samlesbury factory provided BAC/
BAe with an excellent income stream
throughout the 1960s, 1970s and right up
until 1988.■ Lightning
The Lightning was the only all-British
supersonic fighter aircraft to enter
production. It evolved from the P1A
research aircraft which flew in August1954 to become a superlative interceptor
aircraft for the RAF and took on an attack
role with the Royal Saudi Air Force and
the Kuwaiti Air Force. Development took
the aircraft from the F1 to the F3, T4, T
and F6 with the RAF. The export versions
were the F53 and the T55.
The last Lightning built left BAC
Warton on delivery to Saudi Arabia on 4
September 1972, but this was not the end
of Warton’s connection with the type. By
late 1970 the number of Lightnings in
RAF service had reached a peak of
approximately 150, equipping nine
front-line squadrons and a large
Operational Conversion Unit.
During the 1970s, the RAF Lightning
fighter squadrons were gradually
disbanded. The rundown programme was
then suspended when the RAF realized
that it was about to have a shortage of
fighter aircraft as the Tornado F2 would
be entering service later than planned.
With greater demands put on the
Lightnings, fatigue was likely to become
an issue. To prolong their lives, a wing
root strengthening programme was
instigated and in 1985 some thirty-five
F6s were returned to what was now
British Aerospace Warton, to extend their Large numbers
of Canberras
returned to the
Samlesbury factory
for maintenance,
refurbishment and
modification for
new roles with the
RAF and other air
forces. (BAE SYSTEMS
via Warton Heritage)