EuroplaneThe combined efforts of four countries saw the quiet, spacious Europlanepoised on the brink of existence for nearly two years. Richard Payneexplains why this British-based jetliner never made it into production

THE LAST BRITISH BASED LARGE AIRLINER PROJECT

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In 1970 the British Aircraft Corporation(BAC) was marketing itself as themost powerful aerospace companyin Europe. Its Commercial AircraftDivision at the time had the jewel ofEuropean industry Concorde, ofwhich high hopes were still envisaged,whilst the One Eleven line had beenboosted by the stretched series 500and new 475 short field variant.As its next big subsonic transport (the

lastVC10 being delivered in the February ofthat year) Weybridge/Hurn was lookingto the 270-seater plusThree Eleven, forwhich much interest had been attained from

airlines around the world, including thatof BEA. However, the surprise win by theConservatives which was followed by thecollapse of Rolls-Royce saw any hopes ofits launch or of Britain re-joining the Airbusprogramme as a major partner collapse.For BAC, the loss of what would

have been its major commercialprogramme for the 1970s and beyondwas immense and it was imperative thatto maintain the design and productionteams, a new project was found.

CollaborationAt the Paris Air Salon of 1971, BAC

revealed its QSTOL project (Type Caircraft) a 140-seater high-wing jetlinerpowered by four Rolls-Royce/Snecma M45Sengines.At the same time Aerospatialeof France unveiled a similar study dubbedthe A904. Other studies were also beingundertaken in Europe by companiesincluding HFB (part of MBB) and Saaband it was natural that these companieswould end up talking to each other.On February 15, 1972 it was announced

that having been working on joint studiessince the beginning of the year, BAC, MBBand Saab were going to collaborate on thedevelopment of a new quiet, short-take-off

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and landing aircraft. Initial studies werelooking at a 100-seater airliner with arelatively wide body six-abreast fuselage touse a 600m runway with a range of 500nm.The new joint company was to be British

registered and based atWeybridge.Thenew company was to have a British ChiefExecutive, a German technical Director anda Swedish finance/programme director.It was agreed to undertake a six-month

study which would focus on both thevehicle to be proposed as well as themarket place.The QSTOLType C aircraftdemonstrated in model form at the 1971Paris Air Salon seemed to signify themiddle ground in terms of design withpassenger capacities ranging from 70 to200 seats and engines from the M45S andGeneral Electric/Snecma CFM56 to Rolls-Royces RB211 these could be poweredby two, three or four engines possiblywith blown flaps and augmentor wings.

Europlane designBy April the new company called EuroplaneLtd had formally been incorporated atWeybridge. Each of the three companies(BAC, MBB, Saab-Scania) were to have

equal shares in the new concern.In August 1972, it was revealed that

British Air Services were evaluating thevarious Europlane options against otheroptions including Hawker Siddeleysproposed HS146.A few weeks later atthe 1972 Farnborough SBAC Airshow itwas announced that CASA of Spain werealso joining the group taking an equal 25%share with the other three partners.BACs Farnborough stand featured a

prominent Europlane display, its six-monthinitial marketing studies having looked atfour major designs ranging from a 60-seaterwith four engines mounted on an unswepthigh wing, a similar 80-seater unswept twinengined high-wing design and a 115-seaterhigh wing but with twin engines mountedon lower fuselage mounted sponsoons.Thefinal design seated 180 passengers and againfeatured a high wing with two underwing

pylon mounted engines of 45,000lb/thrust this was to have a range of 500nm.Thesedesigns formed part of a group of some30 studied, with various arrangements.It was hoped that a final definitivedesign would emerge by early 1973.By October 1972, the new project was

now being regarded more as a DouglasDC-9 replacement, powered by RB211engines with a conventional runwayperformance.Whilst the first design studyhad looked at machines with 60 to 180

seats, the second design study, which wouldfinalise the design (around March 1973) wasonly looking at an aircraft with between 120and 180 seats.At this time it was envisagedthat the first flight would take place in 1977.With noise now becoming a major

consideration the studies were

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Launch costsof the all-new

airliner were putat 200million

The stillborn Europlane QSTOL airliner could haverevived the British aviation industry, but it was not to be

Andy Hay / www.flyingart.co.uk

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looking to use the wing design toshield forward radiated noise, withthe rear noise lobes being taken careof by the tail and fuselage design.In an effort to make the project an all

encompassing European aircraft, invitationswere sent out to both the Italian andFrench industries but these overturescame to nothing. By March 1973, some 50personnel from the four companies werenow involved in the project.The launchcosts of the all-new airliner were being putat 200 million and it was hoped this wouldbe shared jointly by BAC, MBB, Saab andCASA and their respective governments.The size of the aircraft was now fixed tobe between 180 and 200 seats with powerprovided by two RB-211 or GE CF6 engines.The technology proposed for the aircraft

was looking to be based on existingknowledge a lot of the wing aerodynamicscoming from work carried out by BAC on

theThree Eleven. Similarly work carriedout by Saab on the flight deck for itsViggen was being utilised.The first marketswere expected to be Europe although asmaller market was envisaged in the USA.

The big revealIn mid May, Europlane finally revealed itsnew project.The QuietTake-off and Landing(QTOL) airliner was to be a low-wing designand as was common with BAC designsfeatured aT-tail with twin engines (eitherRolls-Royce RB-211 or General ElectricCF6) mounted high up on the rear fuselage.This, it was felt, achieved the best all roundnoise shielding effect. It would carry between180 and 200 passengers with seating at2-3-2 abreast in a double lobe wide bodyfuselage of 15ft 9in diameter.The designhad a very similar resemblance to BACsThree Eleven, albeit smaller. Large flaps andfull span leading edge slats would gain good

airfield performance and be quieter.Therear fuselage was upswept quite sharply foradequate ground clearance on rotation.Underfloor capacity for freight was

being provided by two large holds foreand aft of the main wing and a quickturnaround would be provided by fourlarge doors. On the chosen design, forwardnoise was shielded by the wing whilstrearward arc noise was reduced by a fulllength cowl and acoustic treatment.It was hoped that a full go-ahead could be

given in mid 1974; this would enable a firstflight in 1977 and entry into service by early1979.The design encompassed potential forfuture development allowing for fuselageplugs, if needed, to increase capacity to upto 270 seats, and for increases in rangeby the mid-80s. It would fly over rangesof 500 miles from 1,200m runways or upto 2,300 miles from runways of 1,700m.The 90db noise footprint was envisaged tocover a noise-affected area some 1/20th ofthat of the short haul jets then in service.It was predicted that there would be

some 1,350 aircraft in this market by1985 with a break even figure put at 350aircraft and a unit cost of about 5.3million.The third and final phase of the studywas to cost about 1million; it wouldrefine the design and conduct customerspecification surveys with 25 airlines tobe visited. It also set up the internationalproject management and it was hopedthe production split would mirror thecompany shareholding but this woulddepend on the division of work.A fullgo-ahead was expected by June 1974.

StalledHowever, by October 1973 talks had stillnot taken place with the respective fourgovernments and over 30 airlines.All wasnot well in the outside economy either: thedeepening fuel crisis, rising inflation and aworld recession did not bode well for anyall-new airliner projects.The announcementin December that the project was to beshelved and would be reviewed in six monthstime did not come as a major surprise withtheWeybridge team were redeployed

BACs 1971 140-seat QSTOL design shown at the Paris AirSalon featured four engines mounted under a high wing.The similarity to Hawker Siddeleys smaller HS146 is evident

The Europlanes general arrangement, showing thesimilarity to its BACThree Eleven predecessor with its low-wing,TTail and rear mounted engines

Project 31 was the smallest of the designstudies as shown at Farnborough 1972 with60 seats, powered by fourT55-VP engines

Project 27 was the twin M45S engined80-seater high-wing study

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An artists impression of the Europlane, whichwould have kept BAC inthe large airliner stakesAll Brooklands Museum Collection/BAe Systems

via author unless stated

back amongst their individual companies.In the event, the project was not

revived but a new group was formedout of its studies. EURAC - known as theGroup of Six made up of Arospatiale,Dornier, MBB,VFW-Fokker and the Britishconcerns Hawker Siddeley and BAC wasannounced at the 1974 Farnborough Air

through its British Aerospace stake of 20%,did capture at least some of the market.However, this was not to be a British-

based project and while the European JETstudy was set up atWeybridge in 1977(looking at a new narrowbody airliner)this programme was soon absorbed byAirbus and transferred toToulouse.Sadly, although it tentatively existed

for nearly two years, Europlane neverseemed quite real. MBB was very heavilyinvolved both financially and in a designcapacity in the French-led Airbus A300,

and Arospatiale could certainly see thatany stretched Europlane variant wouldencroach on the A300 market.This wouldhave meant MBB having involvement intwo potentially competing designs. It wasalso very doubtful that Europe could havesupported two wide body airliner projects,and so Europlane died and with it the lastBritish-based large airliner project.

Largest of the studies revealed at Farnboroughwas Project 4; a 173-seater high-wing airlinerwhich featured twin RB-211s mountedunder the wing

Show.These companies announced theywere going to work together to meetEuropean airlines future requirements.The Group of Six identified two main

segments:Type A, a 170/210-seaterandType B for a jetliner of over 110seats.To save money, it was decided todevelop these from existing designs namely the A300 forType A and theTrident and BAC One Eleven forTypeB (although Aerospatiale put forward abrand new project dubbed the A200).Dassault later came into the frame making

it a Group of Seven and bringing with itboth the Mercure and a stretched variantthe Series 200, which was aggressivelypushed by the French. Ultimately, theType B requirement was met by theall-new A320 albeit many years later.And so came about the Europlane

replacement project: the Airbus A300B10,later renamed the A310 and on which BAC,

In an effort tomake the project aEuropeanaircraft, invitationswere

sent out to both the Italian andFrenchindustries but these came tonothing