G-WLAD British Midland and Airways Cymru
First of all thankyou to everyone who contributed to my BIA/Air Anglia thread.
Now then, does anybody know the circumstances that led to British Midland leasing this BAC 1-11 from Airways Cymru ? And how it ended up on the LBA-LHR route in October 1985 ?
In March 1985 BMA proudly replaced the Viscount with the DC-9 on the aforementioned flights (except for the weekends). The DC-9s in question were no spring chickens but decidedly more up to date than the Viscount. I recall the LBA management being quite chuffed at the arrival of the DC-9, coming just a few months after the runway extension had been opened. Then, after about seven months, G-WLAD appeared. The DC-9s were gone from LBA and didn't come back to displace the upstart 1-11 until March 1987.
Why did all this happen ? Where did the DC-9s go ? Why LBA ? Why not Teesside, or Edinburgh or Glasgow ?
By the way I usually like 1-11s. However I always thought using this noisy specimen on a new "DC-9 jet service" was something of a backwards step.