BAe Jetstream Jetstream T.1

In February 1972, with Handley Page gone and production in Scottish Aviation's hands, the Royal Air Force ordered twenty-six Jetstream 201s to train its pilots in multi-engine flying. That contract gave the design industrial continuity and kept the Jetstream name alive through the years when civil customers were too few.

In British service they were designated Jetstream T.1. The task — teaching twin-engine flying on instruments and on real routes — suited the aircraft well: a pressurised cabin, decent speed and endurance to spare for long training sorties. The RAF retired them in 2003 after three decades of use.

Several T.1s survive on display in the United Kingdom: Newark Air Museum, the East Midlands Aeropark, the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum, the Royal Air Force Museum at Cosford and Brooklands Museum each hold one, which makes this the easiest variant of the whole lineage to see up close.