BAC 1-11

 

When Luton-based Hunting Aircraft were merged as part of British Aircraft Corporation in 1960, the  former Vickers  Armstrongs factory at Brooklands, Weybridge were already working the BAC VC7 project, a 140-seat development of their succesful VC10. Having identified the H107 as 'having merit', BAC decided to merge the projects under the heading of BAC107. Market research suggested that at 59-seats, the BAC107 was still going to be too small and much of the design data was re-worked into what emerged as the 80-seater BAC1-11. The main design development went to the Team in Surrey, whilst production of the prototypes were undertaken at Hurn, (now Bournemouth Airport).

 

Although it was immediately clear that the BAC1-11 would hold a number of important technological advantages against the likes of the Douglas DC9, the authorities in the United States still withheld their permission for US-based airlines to purchase foreign aircraft.

 

Confidence remained high however, with further pre-orders arriving almost weekly and in July 1963 American Airlines (who had finally broken the restrictions) added another 15 aircraft to their requirement, taking their total order to 60. With pre-launch orders already building steadily, the BAC1-11 Series 200 prototype (G-ASHG) flew for the first time from Hurn on 20th August 1963.

 

Despite the tragic loss of the prototype in a crash on 22nd October 1963 (during stall testing), full development continued and saw the introduction of the then revolutionary ‘stick-shakers and pushers’ on the BAC1-11’s control systems as well as a number of additional innovations in airline design.

 

Unlike other aircraft entering the market, the BAC1-11 was not designed for any specific sector of the airline market and certainly not with one single airline in mind.  This made the aircraft very flexible and in fact, it was anticipated that sales orders may reach or even exceed 400 aircraft.

 

Finally, the BAC1-11 was certified for passenger service and the first customer handover (to BUA with G-ASJI) took place on 22nd January 1965. This was followed in July 1965 by the introduction of the BAC1-11 Series 400, primarily aimed at the US market. 

 

A stretched BAC1-11 Series 500 (or Super One-Eleven) flew on 30th June 1967 and increased the passenger capacity from 79 to 119 passengers, making the aircraft even more cost-effective and popular on European Inter-City routes, as well as with the new package holiday operators.

 

The BAC1-11 510ED version was primarily operated by British European Airways (BEA) although these aircraft were subsequently operated by several 'Tour Airlines' after their retirement from BEA service.

 

The BAC1-11 Series 475 had been optimised for hot and high / short airfield operations (combining a BAC1-11 Series 400 fuselage with a Series 500 wing) and it flew on 27th August 1970.  Sadly, the market was changing and other manufacturers were developing newer and more competitive designs so in the end only 10 aircraft were sold.

 

During 1973, a BAC1-11 Series 201 was purchased from British Caledonian and transferred to the RAoyal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Blind Landing Experimental Unit at Thurleigh (as XX105).  This aircraft was involved in numerous development flights for what we now commonly refer to as ILS, or Instrument Landing System.

 

In 1977, BAC merged with the Hawker Siddeley Group to form British Aerospace (BAe) and a BAC1-11 Series 800 was proposed. It would accommodate some 150 passengers in a 'mixed-class layout' and although it looked promising for a while, its fate was sealed with the development of a ‘European Competitor’ to the ubiquitous U.S. short / medium range airliners and it did not progress to the design stage.

 

The BAC2-11 (Two-Eleven) and BAC3-11 (Three-Eleven) were British airliner studies proposed by the BAC in the late 1960s although none made it to the prototype stage.

 

A licencing arrangement with Romania had been planned for sometime and it was intended that as many as 80 BAC1-11s would be built.  The first flight of a Rombac 1-11 (YR-BRA) was on 18th September 1982 and production continued until the 9th, and last ever new production 1-11 (YR-BRI) took to the air in April 1989. Sadly, the Rombac project collapsed shortly afterwards due to the unstable political situation in Romania.

 

UK production of the BAC1-11 ended in 1984, with a full total of 244 aircraft, which includes the 9 complete and 2 unfinished Romanian aircraft.

 

BAC1-11 300	Uprated engines (11,400 pounds-force (51 kN) Spey Mk 511s), more fuel for longer range; individual customer designations within this series - 9 built.
BAC1-11 400	Series 300 with American instrumentation and equipment; individual customer designations within this series - 69 built.
BAC1-11 475	Series 400 body with Series 500 wing and powerplant plus rough-airfield landing gear and body protection - 6 built.
BAC1-11 485GD	Similar to 475, 3 for Oman. Rombac 1-11-495 - Planned Romanian-built version of the Series 475 - None completed.
BAC1-11 500	Extended body version with up to 119 seats and longer span wings. Fitted with more powerful engines (12,550 pounds-force (55.8 kN) Spey 512s); individual customer designations within this series - 86 built.
BAC 1-11 510ED	Variant of the 500 series built for BEA / British Airways - Size and engines same as other 500’s, cockpit modified to provide more commonality with HS121 Trident and required a different type rating from all other 500 series 1-11's
Rombac 1-11-560	Romanian-built version of the Series 500 - Nine completed.
BAC1-11 670	Series 475 with improved aerodynamics and reduced noise - one converted from Series 475.

 

Powerplant	Two 10,410 lbst Rolls-Royce Spey 506
Span	88 ft 6 in
Maximum Weight	78,500 lb
Capacity	4 crew (two flight and two cabin) and 79 passengers
Cruise Speed	548 mph
Range	830 miles

244 including licence production in Romania.

One-Eleven 475AM G-ASYD	Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey, United Kingdom www.brooklandsconcorde.co.uk
One-Eleven 510ED G-AVMU	Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford
One-Eleven 510ED G-AVMO	National Museum of Flight, East Fortune, Scotland, United Kingdom www.nms.ac.uk/national-museum-of-flight
One-Eleven 539GL ZH763	Cornwall Aviation Heritage Collection, Newquay Airport, United Kingdon www.cornwallaviationhc.co.uk
One-Eleven ZE-432	Bournemouth Aviation Museum, Bournemouth, Dorset, United Kingdom www.aviation-museum.co.uk
One-Eleven LV-MZM	Morón airport in Morón, Buenos Aires, Argentina www.museonacionaldeaeronauticamoron
One-Eleven LV-OA	Morón airport in Morón, Buenos Aires, Argentina www.museonacionaldeaeronauticamoron