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Post by jetdragon on Aug 13, 2020 0:31:27 GMT 1
58 years ago today on 13th August 1962 the prototype DH.125 G-ARYA (25001)took to the skies at Hatfield piloted by Chris Capper. Flight International noted "As she touches down a senior DH salesman is heard to remark: "Well, there she is—the first of five hundred?" - well just under 1,750 were built in the end! As the old adage says "under promise / over achieve" Happy Birthday
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2020 9:13:27 GMT 1
I know I'm biased, but that doesn't mean I'm not entitled to an opinion Long before I began to sell them, I always thought it was the best-looking mid-size bizjet. The constant improvements to it meant that it was always in demand. We used to sell about 30 new aircraft a year, which may not sound a lot, but one every 12 days is not bad going and there were a lot of sales of used (traded-in) aircraft as well. The customer list still amazes me even today. We used to have a board in the sales office, rather like the ones they have in churches for the hymn numbers. Every time a contract was signed, the number would be changed and a bell would be rung. Happy birthday to a great aircraft!
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Post by airboejet on Aug 13, 2020 10:44:14 GMT 1
Super aircraft,it was the first type of aircraft I worked on 257062 still remember the construction number to this day helped build the horizontal stabiliser for the first three months of my apprenticeship at Hawarden, the last one I worked on was G-FFLT at Biggin Hill when I was working for Fairflight doing line type of thing pre departure checks configuration changes from pax to ambulance and back then I ended up on the big boys toys Airbuses at monarch with some Boeing’s thrown in and a Bac 1-11 G-TOMO, anyway it’s still a great aircraft the 125 and hope that they will be around for a while yet Richard
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Post by planemike on Aug 14, 2020 19:42:49 GMT 1
Yes...........well remember G-ARYA at Farnborough 62..!!! Only about three weeks after first flight...!!
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Post by ronturner on Aug 28, 2020 7:15:14 GMT 1
I think it was a fantastic aeroplane in more or less every aspect, the one disappointment being its sale to Raytheon and then to Beechcraft. Who knows what it might look like today, if only BAe had hung on to it, and don't even get me started on the foundation of BAe and the loss of De Havilland, or even Hawker for that matter.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2020 8:52:52 GMT 1
I think it was a fantastic aeroplane in more or less every aspect, the one disappointment being its sale to Raytheon and then to Beechcraft. Who knows what it might look like today, if only BAe had hung on to it, and don't even get me started on the foundation of BAe and the loss of De Havilland, or even Hawker for that matter. I totally agree, Ron. We were horrified when we learnt that we were being sold to Raytheon, who had about as much in common with corporate jets as Kwik-Fit. They eventually realised the error of their ways and sold the package on to Beechcraft, who were already in trouble, but perhaps hoped that the 125 would help to turn their fortunes around. It is perhaps a measure of the people who were employed in designing and building the 125, that once the Raytheon Cruise Missile had flown through the company, many of the aerodynamicists found work with the Formula 1 teams. The Pilatus 24, as we all know, bears more than a passing resemblance to the 125 and since its roll-out, has sold like hot cakes. So someone, somewhere, made a very big mistake, which to their credit Pilatus are now profiting from.
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