BAC111 500

BUA had first ordered the 1-11 Series 200 in 1961, and they went into service in 1965.

Following the success of the 1-11's, five of the larger 500 series aircraft was ordered in March 1968, with options on three more. These options were converted to firm orders a few moths later.

BUA's first Series 500, G-AWYR, was delivered in April 1969, quickly followed by AWYS, AWYT, AWYU and AWYV. Their last three -500's, AXJK, AXJL and AXJM arrived in March 1970.

Caledonian's 1-11 fleet started with the 1-11 Series 500, they had ordered three in 1968 with an option on a fourth. G-AWWX, AWWY and AWWZ were delivered in 1969, and the option was converted in an order, and would enter service as G-AXYD in 1970.

The 1-11 series 500 had won over stiff competition for the orders from the 737 and DC9 for both BUA and Caledonian, both offered similar performances, but the 1-11 did not attract the heavy 14% import tax levied on foreign aircraft purchases.

These 12 series 500's formed the base of the larger 1-11 fleet, but many aircraft would serve the fleet as demand dictated, many were leased in, leased out, brought and sold over the years. BUA's original series 500's Yankee Romeo through to Yankee Victor, made it all the way through to 1988.

BCal's 1-11 fleet were destined to be replaced, new noise regulations and the availability of more economical aircraft, had seen an order placed for the Airbus A320, though that never quite made it into their fleet, thus the 1-11-200 and the 500 completed 23 years of BCal service