737-236 nav kit
 

Trying to find what nav kit was installed in the 236 on delivery but dearth of cockpit pictures of BA's 737's whilst actually with BA. Am I right in thinking they were all delivered with a Global Systems GNS-1000, a Sperry 177 and Lear Siegler PDCS? Does anybody have any cockpit pictures of the 236 while with BA or any information on the GNS-1000?

When Ansett started receiving their B737-277A's in 1981 we were told that they were identical to BA's "737X's". All the Ansett aircraft were fitted as described above, except that they were wired for dual GNS-1000's (normal fit out was only one). They also had Collins FD-110 ADI and HSI's.

Just to save the confusion above (from some years ago it seems) the first of the BA 737-236 fleet came in February 1980, and were pretty much all complete within 12 months. The Airtours batch, a separate order and group of registrations, were delivered in parallel, the first coming just one month after the first mainline one. There was quite an element of back/forth between the fleets, especially in winter when the Airtours utilisation was down. The second group of BA aircraft all came in winter 84-85; they were some of the last original 737s built. The mainline fleet were used by and large to replace Tridents at Heathrow, although a few operated from Gatwick as well. They were slowly sold off early this century after 20 years or more of service, when the A319s arrived.

BA were no stranger to the 737, as during the (seemingly recurrent) Trident issues in the late 1970s they leased in quite a number medium term, from Transavia and even Britannia Airways, and also into the early 1980s did several back and forth with the new Air Europe.