Originally Posted by
chevvron
It was originally designed by the De Havilland part of Hawker Siddely ie nothing to do with BAE originally.
I recall that there wan't enough interest in it when first proposed in the '60s so it was put on the back burner until Wedgie Benn (the bloke who gave government money to build the DeLorean car in Northern Ireland) 'discovered' it and pushed for its development.
Well it was designed at Hatfield but de Havilland had long become Hawker Siddeley by then. And actually Wedgie Benn was the person who refused govt subsidy for it in 1974, when it was then shelved for a few years.
Originally Posted by
Allan Lupton
We had quite a bit of interest in it in 1972/3, but that was a period of high inflation. Our potential customers wanted a fixed-forward price to remove the uncertainty but we were unable to offer such a price as too much was unknown.
We re-launched at about the time that the industry was nationalised to become BAe (1976) and it still carried its de Havilland type number . . .
Yes Allan, the type number was in a DH series (as in 106, 121, 125) but it was never the DH146, was it? Always the HS146 from the start. NB I worked with you in 1973-75!
Matthew