8 The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017
major question was whether it should
rejoin the Airbus consortium. It also
needed to decide whether to invest in
developments of the One-Eleven,
relaunch the suspended HS146, develop
a 748 replacement and the Jetstream and
fund new marks of the 125-executive jet.146 and Jetstream
Before deciding about Airbus, the BAe
Board first considered the case of the
HS146. This was a 70-100 seat jetliner
proposal that had been launched by
Hawker Siddeley in 1973 but suspended
by them in the following year. The
Government had funded the company to
maintain low-scale project work to keep
the design in being until nationalisation.
Despite earlier misgivings, the Board went
ahead with the146 in July 1978. With the
go-ahead for the 146 the One-Eleven was
not developed further, although
continued production of the One-Eleven
was licenced to continue in Romania.
At the end of the year BAe also agreed
to re-launch of the Jetstream 31, a
19-seater twin-turboprop feederliner. This
was a limited go-ahead and it was not
until January 1981 that the Board finally
approved the production of the first
batch of twenty aircraft at Prestwick.Airbus or Boeing?
Airbus Industrie was formed in 1967 to
design and build a 300-seater airliner.
Hawker Siddeley and Sud Aviation had
been the major partners providing 37.5%
of the costs and sharing work in those
proportions, while Deutsche Airbus
provided the remaining 25% of the
finance and the work. This was a
Government-sponsored project and in
1968 Britain withdrew from it, puttingAirbus in crisis. Notwithstanding the UK’s
withdrawal, the consortium continued
and Hawker Siddeley, tasked with
building the wing remained in the project
as a major sub-contractor. With
nationalisation this contract now fell
within BAe’s remit.
In February 1978 as BAe deliberated
on its strategy, waters were muddied
when Boeing offered BAe the opportunity
to build the wings of its new 200-seater
757 twin-jet. Boeing argued that BAe
would find it more profitable to form an
alliance with them than with Airbus.
Rolls-Royce which was supplying the
RB211 for the 757 also applied pressure
on the Government and BAe to work with
Boeing.However British Aerospace believed
that Airbus offered the best technological
and commercial deal and resisted
Government pressure to sign a deal with
Boeing. The nationalised British Aerospace
formally became an Airbus partner again
in November 1978 with a 20% holding in
the consortium and a £100m investment
in the A310. BAe would continue to build
the A300 wings and thereafter the wings
for the A310.Airbus A320 and further
Airbus airliners
Henceforward BAe had to invest in each
new Airbus project and in 1983 it was
faced with investing heavily in the
innovative 150-180 seater A320. While its BAe 125-
made its maiden
flight in primer from
Broughton on 26
May 1983. It was
repainted for its
ceremonial roll-out
and demonstration
flight as N800BA the
following week.
(Ken Haynes)Air France Airbus A300 F-BVGA at
London Heathrow in 1974. It was the
fifth Airbus A300 built. (BAE SYSTEMS)