Aircraft of the ADF-A12 BAC 111

In May 1963 three variants of the One Eleven were announced. The basic Series 200 had Rolls-Royce Spey 506 turbofans, the longer range/greater payload Series 300 had Spey 511s, and a similar Series 400 met US requirements for that lucrative market.

By the time the Series 200 prototype (registered G-ASHG) flew on August 20 1963, sixty aircraft had been ordered. However, this prototype crashed two months later due to a deep stall, and modifications were incorporated into production aircraft to overcome this problem.

The Series 200 was selected by the RAAF and two aircraft were ordered in April 1966 at a cost of $4 million each. The model designation for the RAAF was One Eleven 217EA, and these aircraft had the more powerful Spey 511-14 turbofans of the Series 300 aircraft.

The first RAAF aircraft, A12-124 (constructor’s number 124) flew on November 3 1967 and was accepted by the RAAF on December 21. Under the command of No 34 Squadron’s Commanding Officer, Wing Commander (later Air Commodore) Ray Drury, A12-124 was ferried from the UK via Malta, Nicosia, Teheran, Karachi, New Delhi, Calcutta, Singapore and Darwin, arriving at RAAF Fairbairn on January 18 1968. The second aircraft, A12-125 (c/n 125), flew on January 10 1968 and was accepted on January 31. It arrived at Fairbairn on February 8 1968 under the command of Squadron Leader AM In 34 Squadron service the BAC 111 joined three Mystere 20 jets, with two HS-748 and two Viscount turboprop transports, making the RAAF VIP fleet nine strong, of four different types. The two BAC 111s used the radio callsigns VM-NLG and VM-NLH.

The BAC 111, as the long range member of the VIP fleet, often made overseas trips to New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Asia. Perhaps the longest trip undertaken was in October 1971 to Iran. In 20 years’ service the BAC One Elevens flew over 25,000 hours with 34 Squadron before being replaced by the Falcon 900 in 1989.

A12-125 departed for Hawker Pacific on January 30 1990, followed by A12-124 on February 28. On March 5 A12-124 became G-EXPM (ex-PM!) and A12-125 G-KROO on the UK civil register. (Someone in UK Civil Aviation Authority obviously had a sense of humour. ) The aircraft were due to depart in late March for UK, being sold to Burtonwood Development Ltd. However, G-EXPM did not depart Sydney until August 30 for the UK via Alice Springs and Port Hedland.

G-KROO finally departed a year later in August 1991. Copilot for the final trip to England was the late Group Captain Mick Birks, an old hand at flying the BAC 111, and a popular ex boss of No 34 Squadron. Mick was tragically killed in a Tiger Moth accident that December at Point Cook.

Both aircraft are now operated by Okado Air, operating from Lagos, Nigeria. The BAC 111 had provided the RAAF’s introduction to long range VIP jet operations, and fulfilled this role successfully and safely.