Polly's Pedigree
146 was schemed in 1971 in the context of (DH)HSAL's China Trident contact. Lousy Russian experience caused CAAC to serve Lhasa,Tibet only with more-than-2 engines, which why T55 choppermotor was chosen, absent anything else. HS Board chose not to find their 50% of R&D, net of Govt Launch Aid, so it was shelved in 1974. PM Callaghan found himself in 1978 trying to employ BAe., which had not-a-lot on. 50% Launch Aid was again granted (we taxpayers were also paying the other 50%, as we owned BAe.). Launch expense was shared by putting the back end into SAAB, wing plus engines into AVCO. What was not done was to update systems and re-compete rotables. China did take 10, believed at the time to be a sweetener for HKG/1997 negotiations.
Later, privatised BAe. sketched twins - CFM-56 146NRA and BR700 RJX(original version) - but could not make the numbers work.