Handley Page HP-137 - Jetstream
Mk1, Mk2, Mk3M
Jetstream 1 series 200 MSN 43 at the RAF Museum Cosford with first
flight 30 January 1970. You can read more about this aircraft here. The forerunner to the BAe Jetstream 31/32
was the Handley Page HP-137. The Jetstream Mk1 first flew
on 18 August 1967 around
two years after the project was
launched. The aircraft created a lot of headache for Handley
Page, mainly caused by the Astazou XIV
engine chosen for
the HP-137. It was was both underpowered and unreliable.
36 Mk1s were built.
Handley Page also hoped to get an US Air
Force contract for a 12-seater with this aircraft. One
of requirements was that it needed
US-built engines, with
French engines it would not be considered. One of the Mk1
prototypes was fitted with Garrett-AirResearch
TPE-331-3A-301W
engine and was internally named Jetstream Mk 3M. The US
Air Force ordered eleven of these to be known as
C-10A,
but in early 1969 the order was cancelled.
The up-rated Astazou XVI Mk2 did little
for Handley Page. With only three airframes built, Handley
Page went into receivership.
The production line was shut
down in 1970 with a production run of only 39 aircraft.
Jetstream Aircraft / Scottish Aviation
Jetstream 200 (Mk1 Series 200)
The second lease of life for the Jetstream
came as investors started Jetstream Aircraft. The new company
restarted the production
line and ten Mk 1s were produced.
Scottish Aviation then came into the picture and took over
production. This led to a designation
change and the Mk
2 became the 200 series. In February 1972, the Royal Air
Force ordered 26 Jetstream 201s for use as multi
engine
trainers (in RAF parlance the Jetstream T Mk 1). Fourteen
were later modified to T.2 standard for the Royal Navy
and used
as observer trainers
In April 1977 British Aircraft Corporation,
Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics, and
Scottish Aviation were
amalgamated into the nationalized
British Aerospace (BAe). The Jetstream production as it
had been known under Handley Page,
Jetstream Aircraft and
Scottish Aviation, was discontinued after a total production
run of 67 aircraft.
Jetstream 31, Jetstream Super 31/Jetstream
32 and the EP
BAe decided to further develop the Jetstream,
and started working on the Mk 3. As with the earlier 3M
version for the USAF, the new
version had Garrett engines.
The development work resulted in the Jetstream 31, and
the prototype first flew on 28 March 1980 (a
converted
HP Jetstream). Roll out of the first production BAe Jetstream
31 G-TALL was on 18 March 1982. A total of 221
Jetstream
31s had been built when production ended in October 1988.
In 1985 work on an upgraded version of
the 31 was started. Called the Super 31, the most significant
upgrade was the more
powerful powerplant (TPE331-12 rated
at 1,020 shp). The Super 31’s first flight was on
18 May 1988 (MSN 795 - currently with
Eastern Airways as
G-OAKJ). To better distinguish between the two types, the
Super 31 was renamed Jetstream 32. Production
ceased after
a production run of 161 aircraft in December 1993. However,
the last aircraft built (MSN 986) did not fly until 25
January
1996. It was delivered to J-Air in Japan and now
flies for Redstar in Turkey.
BAe states in their sales material the
pros for the aircraft type to be:
- Only 19-seater to offer toilet and galley facilities
- Fleet average dispatch reliability of 99%
- Exceptional passenger comfort - largest cabin in its class
- Comprehensive spares and support package
- Lowest cost 19-seater
- Aggressive market-driven lease rates and purchase prices
- Typical DOC of US$500-580 per hour
In 1997 a performance enhancement programme
was started which resulted in the Jetstream 32EP. The enhancements
include
alternative take-off flap settings, the installation
of drag reduction devices, and flight manual revisions.
The result was a better
take-off and landing performance
and an increased single-engine stabilisation altitude.
The EP package can be installed on all
Jetstream 32s.
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