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The One-Eleven played a considerable role in the whole story of the British Aircraft Corporation itself. It was the only aircraft wholly designed and built by BAC and remained in production throughout the entire seventeen-year history of the organisation, reaching its sales peak when profits for the Corporation were at a low ebb.
The project was the first for the newly formed British Aircraft Corporation, which came into being in January 1960 when the Boards of Vickers-Armstrongs, English Electric and Bristol Aircraft agreed to set up of a joint company. BAC was to consist of their collective aircraft manufacturing companies while their non-aviation sections would remain wholly with the parent company. In May 1960, the first act of the new Corporation was to buy the aircraft interests of the Hunting Group. The reasons for the merger and acquisition were that the Government had been insistent that the large number of companies, which made up British aviation in the 1950s, could not continue and so amalgamations had to take place. As a result, by the end of 1960 there were only two major airframe manufacturers, BAC and Hawker Siddeley, and two major aero-engine manufacturers, Bristol Siddeley and Rolls-Royce.
BAC had a large number of aircraft in production and various projects under consideration. In 1960 there was uncertainty on the civil side for Viscount and Britannia production was coming to an end, while the Vanguard had been a major disappointment receiving only forty-three orders and making a loss of £17 million for Vickers-Armstrongs. The Vickers VC10, a long-haul jet, was in production but there was no new aircraft to replace the short-haul Viscount, where Vickers had established substantial market penetration and made sales of 436 aircraft.
A Long Gestation
As long ago as 1955, Hunting undertook a design study known as the P107, a four-abreast thirty-seater with two Bristol Orpheus engines, a moderately swept fin and a cruciform tailplane. The target price at £330,000 was cheaper than the Viscount 700. Hunting even registered the prototype as G-APOH in July 1958 and this was presumably forgotten about, for the registration was only cancelled in January 1964.
In 1955, Hunting undertook a design study known as the P107, a four-abreast thirty-seater with two Bristol Orpheus engines, a moderately swept fin and a cruciform tailplane. Hunting even registered the prototype as G-APOH in July 1958. (Rolando Ugolini)
At the time of BAC's acquisition of Hunting, the project was appraised by the Vickers project team and believed to be a sound design. It had grown into an 80ft-long, five-abreast seater with two Bristol Siddeley BS75 engines of around 7,000lb thrust, a 500mph cruise speed, a range of 600 miles and a 'T' tail. This project was given the designation BAC107 and it was the intention for further design project work to be carried out by Hunting at Luton and by Bristol at Filton, with Vickers concentrating on the VC11 design which was a shorter-range version of the VC10. Hunting was to design and build the tail and wings, Bristol to design and build the front fuselage and also carry out final assembly. A system was set up to ensure that Vickers' civil turbine airliner experience, which because of the Viscount was by far the most relevant and extensive in the world, to be fed into the combined design efforts at Hunting and Bristol. Vickers' experience of the marketplace was used to conduct extensive surveys into the probable needs of the market, naturally concentrating on existing Viscount operators. Weybridge studies in early 1960 suggested a world market of 600 aircraft with eighty in the USA. The studies stressed the importance of maintaining a price below £500,000. The role of this small jet was seen as:
- A prestige aircraft where big jets would not operate effectively
- Able to offer increased service frequency at low cost on existing jet routes
- Operating in less developed countries where some important routes required jets, e.g. South America
- As a corporate aircraft
BAC carried out extensive surveys during late 1960 to test the market. Eighty-nine airlines were visited in all parts of the world and some sixty indicated interest in the project. Names such as Braniff, Eastern, Ozark, Aloha, Sabena, Aer Lingus, Trans-Australian Airlines and Ansett etc., were mentioned as good prospects. The feedback from these visits resulted in changes to the project which inevitably increased the weight and the All Up Weight (AUW), which went up from 48,500lb to 52,000lb. A 'double-bubble' cross section to accommodate more baggage was specified, as was a ventral door, and the early idea of a simple pneumatic system was abandoned. The BS75 engine was, however, beginning to puff rather badly and an 'overspeed' system to allow 7,550lb of thrust was being offered to maintain a reasonable airfield performance.
At this time the newly formed British United Airways (BUA) entered the field with a requirement for a jet Viscount 800 replacement capable of operating trooping runs to Malta, services to West, East and Central Africa and the burgeoning Inclusive tours market. The critical mission was Malta-Gatwick where the Viscount 833 could only carry 9,500lb of payload. Meanwhile in the USA, Braniff and Continental became immediate sales prospects and Braniff in particular required a genuine short haul 'bus stop jet' with the intention of operating extremely short sector distances with very rapid turn rounds, in contrast to the relatively long ranges required by BUA. The BUA specification led to increased design weights and the need for additional fuel, which was located in the centre section of the wing. Braniff on the other hand did not require a ventral stairway, as they would often expect to use the aircraft from a jetway, which BUA would not. So there were differing requirements that the BAC team had to satisfy.
In March 1961, the decision was made to concentrate on using the Rolls-Royce Spey and to take the engines and pods almost directly from the Trident. Testing of the Spey involved 14,000 hours on the bench plus 100 hours in a Vulcan. After the Trident flew in 1962, a flying test-bed became superfluous.
The BAC 107 was an 80ft, five-abreast seater with two Bristol Siddeley BS75 engines of around 7,000lb thrust, a 500mph cruise speed, and a range of 600 miles. Hunting was to design and build the tail and wings, Bristol to design and build the front fuselage and also carry out final assembly. (Rolando Ugolini)
The choice of the Spey was to be both a critical and a limiting factor in the aircraft's later development. In the 1960s, no British manufacturer would have chosen a foreign-made engine for a major project. All that was to change in years to come with the Rolls-Royce RB211 powering the Lockheed Tristar and Avco Lycomings for the BAe 146 (later RJ/RJX). Though there had been serious interest in a 'double-bubble' fuselage cross-section, BAC decided that a circular section was best.
It was on this basis that the project, as the BAC One-Eleven, was launched. This coincided with the rejection of the VC11 project by its most likely customers, and a decision in May 1961 by the BAC Board to go for the small jet. The Corporation set down an initial production batch of twenty aircraft and abandoned the more complex VC11 project. Fortunately, BAC managed to get the VC11's £9.75 million Government launch aid transferred to the new design. The design work was now centred on Vickers at Weybridge, with Hunting at Luton designing and manufacturing the wing and the tail design and manufacture being handled at Filton. The assembly line was planned for Hurn.
The Launch and the First Order
Freddie Laker and British United Airways were striving to make their mark as the largest British independent airline just as BAC was seeking customers if it was to proceed with the One-Eleven. Laker and Geoffrey Knight, then BAC's Marketing Director, were already good friends and eager to co-operate. Once the decision had been made in principle to purchase, then came a period of hard bargaining over the performance and the price between two tough and well-seasoned businessmen. The final price was apparently agreed at Sandown races, a mere £740,000 per aircraft.
The new order at Hurn. One of the last Viscounts, part of an order for six from China, alongside the fuselage of the first production One-Eleven for British United, G-ASJA. (BAE SYSTEMS)
On 9 May 1961, BAC held a press conference to launch the new jet together with its first order for ten series 201s with options for five more from Freddie Laker's British United Airways. Quite a coup for a major British airliner to be launched with the announcement of an order from Britain's major independent airline, and not BEA or BOAC. The schedule was ambitious, with the first flight planned for the second quarter of 1963, certification by mid-1964 and deliveries to BUA that autumn. Sir George Edwards stated before the One-Eleven flew that BAC saw a market of 1,000 aircraft and that they would be happy with 40%, i.e. 400 similar to the Viscount's production, leaving a sizeable market to any other entrants. It is noteworthy that modern marketing methods were employed before production began; the market had been widely tested and uncovered a spectrum of requirements. The One-Eleven was not designed for a single customer, e.g. British United, unlike the manner in which the Trident and VC10 were respectively bespoke, tailored to BEA and BOAC needs. As a result this new jet had a far wider appeal from the outset.
At this point production of the smaller BAC 107 was still...
