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The British Aerospace Jetstream 31 is a transport aircraft for up to 19 passengers,
developed from the earlier Handley Page H.P.137 Jetstream. Development of the Jetstream
started in 1965 when Handley Page Ltd. decided to enter the executive turboprop market.
The HP.137 Jetstream was a pressurized 12/18 seat low-wing monoplane with a retractable undercarriage,
powered by a pair of 840 hp Turbomeca Astazou XIV turboprops. The design garnered interest when it was
first introduced, and before the drawings were complete, Riley placed an order for 20 for the United
States feeder liner market. The prototype H.P.137 (G-ATXH c/n 198) flew first on August 18th 1967 powered
by the Astazou XII. The first four aircraft were powered by the French Astazou, the fifth aircraft was fitted
with the US-built Garrett AiResearch TPE-331 instead to improve sales prospects in the US. This re-engining
lead to an order by the US Air Force for 11 Jetstream 3M or C-10A as a mission support transport aircraft.
Early 1969 however this order was cancelled on the grounds of late delivery. The Jetstream 1 had entered
production by this time; with the first production model Jetstream 1 flying on December 6th 1968. Over the
next year 36 would be delivered. The Astazou XIV engines however proved to be generally underpowered
for the design. Due to these engine problems the Jetstream 1 was re-designed as the Jetstream 2 with more
powerful 1073 hp Astazou XIVCs, starting deliveries in late 1969. By this point the late delivery and engine
problems had driven costs to high and Handley Page ran into serious financial difficulties. Only three Jetstream 2's
would be completed before Handley Page went bankrupt, and the production line eventually shut down in 1970.
Only 39 aircraft had been completed by the time of Handley Page's collapse in 1970. Although Handley Page was
wound up as a company, the Jetstream lived on. Ten further aircraft were completed, five by Jetstream Aircraft
and five by Scottish Aviation. Scottish Aviation continued production of the Jetstream 2 although they referred
to it as the Jetstream 200. The Royal Air Force ordered twenty-six Jetstream 200’s as navigation and
multi-engine trainers known as the Jetstream T.1. The Royal Navy later subsequently took over some of these as T.2's.
In 1977, Scottish Aviation was nationalized along with the British Aircraft Corp. and Hawker Siddeley Aviation to
form British Aerospace. BAe decided the design was worth further development, and started work on a "Mark 3"
Jetstream. The new version was re-engined with two 1020 hp Garrett TPE331-12UAR turboprops that offered significant
advantages over the Turbomeca units. This allowed the aircraft the ability to operate at maximum load from a much
greater range of airfields. The new British Aerospace Jetstream 31 entered production 28 March 1980 and was a
success with 220 built. In 1985 development of a further upgrade started resulting in the Jetstream Super 31, also
known as the Jetstream 32, with more powerful engines that flew in 1988. In 1991 the 29-seat Jetstream 41 was introduced.
Production of the Jetstream 31/32 ended in 1993, while the production of the Jetstream 41 ended in 1997. Jetstreams built
since the early start in 1965 until the production ended in 1997 are: 38 H.P.137 Jetstream by Handley Page Ltd;
5 H.P.137 Jetstream by Jetstream Aircraft Ltd; 5 H.P.137 Jetstream by Scottish Aviation Ltd; 26 Jetstream T.1 by
Scottish Aviation; 220 Jetstream 31 by British Aerospace; 161 Jetstream Super 31 by British Aerospace;
100 Jetstream 41 by British Aerospace. |
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Netherlines (WU / NET) was founded in 1984 with 4 BAe Jetstreams 31s:
PH-KJA (c/n 645), PH-KJB (c/n 648), PH-KJC (c/n 649) and PH-KJD (c/n
655). The BAe Jetstreams were replaced by 1990 by Saab SF340s. In 1990,
Netherlines was taken over by the KLM and in 1992, the NLM and
Netherlines merged into KLM Cityhopper (KLC). Netherlines' BAe HP.137
Jetstream 3108 PH-KJB c/n 648 was photographed at Groningen Airport
Eelde on 9 October 1985. This Jetstream operated on the
Amsterdam-Groningen service when operated by Netherlines. The GRQ-AMS
service was flown 5 times a day with the Jetstream. After Netherlines
was taken over by the KLM in 1990, the AMS-GRQ service was stopped. The
1984-built Jetstream PH-KJB flew first with the test registration
G-31-648. The aircraft was registered PH-KJB on 21 March 1985. BAe
Jetstream 3108 PH-KJB was sold to BASE Business Airlines in
January 1991.. |
Luchtvaart déjà vu
