BAE Systems

The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017 41

building the aircraft’s interior, with Pilatus

responsible for the manufacture of tail

assembly, flaps and ailerons. Later

Gulfstream Aerospace Technologies of

Oklahoma was contracted to design and

make the wings but as work dropped off

at the Prestwich plant, these agreements

were terminated and all work brought

in-house.

First flight

In order to complete the flight test

programme as speedily as possible the first

four aircraft were allotted to the task. The

first Jetstream 41, G-GCJL flew from

Prestwick on 25 September 1991 and was

delivered to BAe’s Woodford Flight Test

Centre, near Manchester in November. It

was initially employed on general handling

trials and later icing and cold weather

systems trials. The second prototype

G-PJRT took to the air in February 1992 and

underwent ‘hot and high’ trials in Arizona.

It was also exhibited at the 1992

Farnborough Air Show.

Next came G-OXLI in March 1992

which was engaged in EFIS and autopilot

trials and finally G-JMAC came in July 1992.

G-JMAC was exhibited at both the 1993

Paris and 1994 Farnborough Air Shows. In

June 1999 after J41 production had ended

it was employed on steep approach

certification trials into London City Airport.

The programme was subject to some

early setbacks large orders from American

Eagle and PanAm did not come to fruition

so Manx Airlines became the launch

customer. Sales were subject to the

vagaries of the North American airline

market. For example, in 1993 there were

only two orders from the USA so BAe

organised a world sales tour and

performance improvements to drum up

orders. As a result, the following year BAe

made 53 sales. US airline Atlantic Coast

eventually operated 34 J41s and Trans

State Airlines flew 27. South African Airlink

had 16, British Regional Airlines based in

Manchester had a large fleet including 12

J41s and two J31s. This flood of was not

sustained and by mid-1995 there was

famine forcing the company to cease

production in May 1997. In December

1998 BAe delivered its last Jetstream 41 to

the Hong Kong Government Flying

Service.

BAe leaves the

turboprop market

Jetstream 31 customers had been had

been clamouring for some years with BAe

for a stretched version so by the time the

J41 was available they had gone ahead

and ordered Saabs and Embraers. The

closure of the J41 production line marked

the final disentanglement of BAe from its

loss-making turboprop business.

Production of the J31 ended in 1993 and

the 64-seat Jetstream 61 (or ATP) which

had been transferred to Prestwick from

Woodford was abandoned in 1995. BAe’s

Commercial Aerospace lost £78m in in

1996. By 1998 British Aerospace’s civil
      aircraft involvement was reduced to the
      Avro RJ and its 20% share in Airbus.
      Following the end of Jetstream
      production Prestwick built parts for the
      Nimrod MRA4 and wings for the Avro RJ. In
      2006 BAE sold the factory to Spirit Aero
      Systems which is one of the world’s largest
      Aero structures suppliers for £80m. BAE
      SYSTEMS Regional Aircraft still has a small
      facility at Prestwick with around 250
      employees. It provides services and
      solutions to over 650 BAE aircraft in service
      operated by over 190 customers in 70
      countries, i.e., the Jetstream 31/32,
      Jetstream 41, ATP, HS748 and BAe 146/
      Avro RJ families.
      ● The original Astazou engine was the
      Handley Page design’s Achilles’ heel. Once
      BAe Prestwick had refined the design and
      replaced the engine it proved very
      successful. The extended Jetstream 41
      failed to make similar sales owing to the
      amount of competition and the volatility
      of the market.
      ● With a total of 557 Jetstreams built,
      credit is due to Handley Page and BAe
      Prestwick for the airliner’s success. Of these
      557, 67 Jetstream 1/2/3 were primarily
      built at Radlett. 386 Jetstream 31s and 32s
      and 104 Jetstream 41 were constructed, all
      at Prestwick. Approximately 170 J31/J32s
      and 64 J41s are still in use. ■

Jetstream reborn

Data Jetstream 31 Jetstream 41

Length 47 ft 2 in 63 ft 2 in

Wingspan 52 ft 0 in 60ft 5in

Height 17 ft 6 in 18ft 10in

MTOW 15,322 lb 24,000lb

Cruising speed 300 mph 340mph

Range 730 mls 891 mls

Crew 2 2

Passengers 19 29/30

Powerplant 2 x 940shp Garret TPE331 2×1650shp AlliedSignal TPE33114

From September 2016, Jetstream 41
G-MAJB is being trialled by HM Coastguard
to assess whether fixed-wing aircraft can
provide support for Coastguard Search and
Rescue helicopters. (BAE SYSTEMS)