Originally Posted by
chevvron
Bear in mind it was originally the HS 146 designed in the late 60's, but Labour declined to give Hawker Siddeley any money for development until mid 70's, when Wedgie Benn then took all the glory to try to get people's minds off his De Lorean debacle. So it's only with us because an American millionaire managed to get Labour to cough up lots of taxpayers money on a total fiasco, and Labour were trying to save face (as usual).
Anyway I think it's a nice 'plane; how many other 85 seat jets can land at Berne (about 1200m?).
I am not sure what DeLorean had to do with it. Basically the HS146 was cancelled around 1974/75 due to the effects of the fuel crisis of the time. It was revived around 1978 after the nationalisation of the UK industry under British Aerospace.
The 146 number is fascinating and kind of reaches back even further into history than Hawker Siddeley, since I assume it has continuity with the old de Havilland series, succeeding the greats like the DH 82 Tiger Moth, DH 106 Comet and DH 121 Trident.