The HS.125 - Britain's Most Successful Commercial Jet

Good Morning! :D
While it may be but a humble business jet, the Hawker Siddeley HS.125, also known as the De Havilland DH.125, the BAe 125 and the Hawker 800, is distinguishable for a number of reasons, being the longest produced single business jet model, the highest selling British civil airliner, the longest selling British civil airliner, the only business jet model to be hijacked in mid-air, and the only recorded business jet to survive being struck by an air-to-air missile.
Truly, behind its sleek lines and unassuming role, the HS.125 Jet Dragon truly lived up to it's name as a machine that took the world by storm, only being discontinued due to the fiscal collapse of its parent company after 50 years of uninterrupted assembly.
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References:
- British Aerospace (and their respective references)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)

[@elcheapo5302]

A fantastic video, as always. This one brings back a lot of memories for me. I began my aviation career flying HS-125s. I flew Hawker 800As, Bs, SPs, and XPs for 8 years and over 3,000 hours. A wonderful machine--a pleasure to fly, great avionics, comfortable, predictable, reliable, and built tough as nails. Though I've gone on to fly Gulfstreams and Falcons since, the HS-125 holds a special place in my heart and I always smile when I see one.

[@drstevenrey]

Did you know that the early Viper powered 125's had the same fuel burn in ground idle as the later turbofan powered versions in cruise.

[@cedriclynch]

The early HS125s were shockingly noisy as heard from the ground, but later ones are an enormous improvement on this aspect.

[@watchclog2979]

It is such a shame the UK has lost its spot in aircraft world. It was such a pioneer.

[@jase6370]

for OEm design yes, but its still the 2nd largest aerospace country in the world making every part you can think of , but for other OEM's .

[@jacktattis]

Brought on by incompetent management and extreme pressure by the USA aviation industry

[@warrencollmer3077]

Out of all the airplanes I flew throughout a 37 year career in corporate aviation, the Hawker was my favorite. I flew the type for around 5000 hours starting with the Viper powered -3A, then the 700A, 800A, 800XP, and finally the 750 short range version. The airplane was built like a tank, extremely reliable in its simplicity, and never let me down. It was somewhat limited with baggage space, and it certainly wasn’t a fast airplane, but you could stretch the range in LRC to around 6 hours if needed. In all, the Hawker was a delight to fly.

[@donwood9707]

On a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela & on to Finisterre I came upon an elderly man who was tired, exhausted, as is the tradition on the Camino I made sure he had water and was OK, he ended up with us at our next hostale and it turned out he was a retired Brazilian air force general who, when I was a boy, living close by the De Havilland factory in Hatfield, he fascinated me with a story of picking up a HS 125 at Hatfield and embarking on an epic flight via Greenland, Canada & south through north & south America to Brazil. amazing who you come across when on Pilgrimage. - Try it for yourselves.

[@jacktattis]

well back in 1945 A PR spitfire went from Hun via Gibraltar, Dakar, Natal, Rio De Janeiro, Montevideo and Buenos Aries

[@griseldamussett7754]

My uncle Joe Goodwin was the Chief Designer for. this wonderful plane. Sadly he left Britain as part of the brain drain in 1967, and worked mostly for Grumman and later NASA. He also designed the airframe for the Shuttle - you can see some stylistic similarities.

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

I got several flights in one back in the 90s with 32 Sqn RAF as part of an ATC annual camp visit to RAF Northolt, it was a lovely experience for a teenager.

[@Knife_Eclectic]

"It's also been involved in some more unusual incidents" right after explaining how one got clipped by a 737, stayed together, and ghosted into the ocean had me reaching for the popcorn 🍿

[@android584]

It's refreshing to hear of a solid British design going on to have worldwide success.

[@baward]

One fatal accident you missed took place at Dunsfold on 20 November 1975, when an HS-125 operated by Hawkers, encountered a large bird strike on take-off. The pilot attempted a forced landing, but overshot the end of the runway. Tragically, the aircraft's momentum caused it to cross the A281 road, colliding with and destroying a car carrying 5 schoolgirls, driven by the mother of one of the girls. All 6 were killed, the 2 flight crew survived. This accident is still quite fresh in my memory, as I was at boarding school about 2 miles away at that time. Such is schoolboy lore, that the rumour started going round that the pilot of the 125 was the husband of the woman who died; highly improbable I think it can be agreed. Her pilot husband did actually work at the airfield however, and was on duty that day.

[@coastwisenewzealand670]

I grew up in Kirdford, just down the road. That awful accident affected us all.

[@denisw398]

A great video record. I remember going to Wichita as part of a small Smiths Aerospace team to propose a new electrical and avionic utilities suite. Fun times indeed. - Thanks

[@Internet_Spy]

Great video as ever. Shame Britain failed to keep this manufacturing success on British soil.

[@johnsowerby7182]

Flew one of these with a friend of my Father in Law, on a shake down after a refit. A quick flight from Ft Lauderdale to Bimini and back, whilst the pilot stood the thing on the wing in order to make sure the new interior was all in order

[@rwm2986]

Thanks for a comprehensive review. When I was in the RAF I was a member of the party that flew (in a -700) to BAe Hawarden for the delivery of the final conversion from Viper to TFE731 on a -400 - a real GT model!

[@flybobbie1449]

I think also designed not have a wing spar through the cabin floor to step over, unlike the Jetstreams.

[@darrenowen3338]

Good video Ruaridh. Hawarden is pronounced 'Harden', by the way, now known as Airbus Broughton (the site is between the 2 villages).

[@S1337theoddoneout-ip9xc]

Idk what kind of witchcraft this channel has, but this guy could be describing paint drying and i'll listen to it like a lecture on something that'll save my life. It kinda reminds me of those very old discovery channel early morning documentaries.

[@scottdyke7853]

What a spectacular story and so well told. Thank you!!

[@breathtakingblue]

Absolutely stellar production Ruairidh! Thank you, I really enjoyed this. 👍

[@FitzArias]

Very interesting story of "the little jet that could." Good job Ruaridh.

[@W.F.Fischer]

I flew 2500 hrs on a HS 125-800 from 1990 till 1994. Great Plane ✈️

[@macjim]

It went from being a short dumpy signet into a sleek swan… a graceful aircraft.

[@Jedi.Toby.M]

Have you thought about a turret on top? Former Blackburn CFO

[@dipling.pitzler7650]

good idea for a followup video would be the history of corporate planes being attacked by military fire, the Botswana incident reminded me of the DH Dove flown by Jordanian king Hussein attacked by a Syrian Mig , similar to the Botswana DH 125 the King survived due to the prowess of a British PIC.

[@martinbradshaw7877]

Such a great aircraft. Such a good video. It was interesting to note that none of the crashes would you to defects in the design or construction of the aircraft, but rather to human or navigational error or flight conditions that is a testament in itself.

[@cedriclynch]

This is a very good point you are making that none of the accidents could be blamed on the aircraft. However would I be right in thinking that you composed your post using a speech-to-text converter, aka Mondegreen generator?

[@martinbradshaw7877]

@@cedriclynch indeed yes. Spotted error but couldn’t correct it

[@scofab]

Informative and enjoyable as always, thanks again.

[@GaryJohnWalker1]

The nav training Dominis were based at RAF Finningley around the late 60s early 70s. I beieve Prince Charles as was did some of his RAF training there. And the HS125 a rare story of actually succeeding - despite the hopeless business management around them

[@bishwatntl]

There was a period in the late 1960s when Dominies were based at RAF Stradishall in Suffolk as part of the Air Navigation School. They were to be seen alongside the rather older Vickers Varsities.

[@beermaker77]

I even saw several cameo appearances by various Cessna Citation products!

[@drstevenrey]

Great documentary. Brilliant as always. And again we have another funny story on typically British product life. Built okay, heavy but okay. Later lost to the Americans and sunk in a hole in the ground.

[@OnboardG1]

I got to sit in the cockpit of the Ferranti Flying Unit 125 (nicknamed the Wasp because of the paint scheme) as a kid and the main thing I member is that the pilots’ seats were trimmed with sheepskin.

[@ThroneOfBhaal]

Its a good day when you post. Awesome content - no annoying ad reads. :D

[@Morbius1963]

See a Japanese one out of Nagoya regularly. I think that it's training navigators and seems to use Mount Ena (Ena-san) as a waypoint.

[@jaws848]

The company demonstator with the registration of G-AYBH,while on lease to the Irish Air Corps,was written off in an accident at Casemet Aerodrome Baldonell on the 17th of June 1979 following a bird strike.

[@Andrewjg_89]

Very unique aircraft with a very nice design. Very fast as well.

[@michaelhall6178]

5:49 Sorry to be pedantic, but as locals we would pronounce Hawarden as "harden". Fun fact: Hawarden was the seat of William Gladstone, to whom a library in the village is dedicated. Apparently he moved the books in himself by carting them down the high street in a wheelbarrow.

[@peterlovett5841]

Great video despite there being a lot of footage of aircraft other than the 125. A lot of Premier 1 and Mitsubishi Diamond shots included.

[@roygardiner2229]

Thank you, that was so interesting.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

When the Aero-engineering department was still on the main site of Hatfield Polytechnic there was one of the test airframe with a big dent over the left windscreen.

[@davidchant5550]

I remember this when studying Aero Eng at Hatfield Poly in 1984. Plus behind the wind tunnels was the Jetstream structural test airframe. Both airframes came via the excellent lecturer Martin Presnell the ex chief stress engineer. I remember one structure lecture and the class group climbed into the Jet stream to study the structural detail, sitting on a wing spar on a very cold day. Pity BAe Commercial division, as it was called then, could not keep this UK market going. Recruitment by BAe was very poor. Supposed to join BAe on the 146 at Hatfield, which was rapidly closed to become a shopping Mall, BAe Woodford and their ATP disaster, I mentioned at the interview why they were using the HS748 wing with the old mushroom headed rivets design on the ATP, and thus I did not get the job.

[@paukastell7210]

Another great video

[@MS940]

Great work again. It seems that market had great demand for this products at that time. Company being in the right place and time with right product. Not very common in British industry😄

[@LadySophieofHougunManor7325]

Awesome video as always you definitely make history interesting

[@johnnunn8688]

I’d just like to mention that all the losses mentioned, were aircrew error apart from the mid-air, which could have been ATC.

[@drstevenrey]

It was an amusing time, when 'De Havilland' (Canada) pooped into the former 'De Havilland' (UK, now HS) bucket. The ATP had no chance ever. Old is old and remains old. The Saab 2000 showed how it would have been done right, even though it was not a great business success either.

[@artoismta]

A whole new meaning to “whizzing on the 125”

[@brad4057]

Top work 👏

[@torgeirbrandsnes1916]

Great vlog as always!

[@Mark_Ocain]

Qantas used these for their pilot training program as well for quite a few years

[@maxdakul]

Love your work.

[@johnnunn8688]

KZbin ’Jimmy’s World’ has bought Elvis Jetstar and is doing things with it.

[@johngrantham8024]

It does seem that they have an affinity with mountains!

[@michaeljackson2838]

Interesting that not one accident caused by mechanical failure. Impressive. QANTAS had one for years that was used for ab-initio pilot training. it was referred to as the "pocket rocket",

[@mitseraffej5812]

Being British airplanes I would put money on it that the BA125 and the Dove shared a common part or two.

[@cykablyatman6242]

question for ya: could you do a video on LNER 4496/BR 60008 Dwight D Eisenhower? this one needs a history lesson of course as it is a gift from across the pond :)

[@johnnunn8688]

Us RAF types don’t say three-two or five-five Sqn, we say thirty-two or fifty-five. 111 Sqn is treble-one or tremblers.

[@Dan_Gyros]

Its no Lockheed, but that is a good looking jet!

[@NakulDalakoti]

Next video on Dornier 228 and 328 please..!

[@vijeolook]

Rather strange that all the fatal crashes bar one were caused by crashing into mountains...

[@uingaeoc3905]

I thought Hawarden had always been a De Havilland shadow factory - not Vickers-BAC?

[@ChrisGBusby]

I thought the Gulfstream corporate jet models have been in production longer than the 125 models? And yes, I realise the current Gulfstream 550 is very different from the original Gulfstream II, just like the Hawker 800 vs the 125-1A, but production ran from 1966 to 2021 I think?

[@philliplopez8745]

Of course it was a success, you could stand upright inside it .

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

The real Intercity 125

[@fredburley9512]

The Comet incidents were pure accidents due to a lack of knowledge of metal fatigue - a tragedy rather than disaster. Ita was a great plane and the 4C went on to do well with several airlines worldwide. How could anyone compete with Boeing?

[@PRH123]

Dehavilland didn’t know about metal fatigue as well as they should have, but the rest of the airplane making world did. It was a mistake to choose a wooden airplane manufacturer to make the first pax jet. No other company would have made the mistakes that DH did. It wasn’t s a tragedy, it was incompetence.

[@fredburley9512]

@@PRH123 They were a good manufacturer delving into a realm of stresses and forces no-one had crossed into before on a commercial aircraft level. It was an unfortunate tragedy. People make even worse mistakes today after all of these decades of experience.

[@bnnttdenn]

It was smaller and more economical than Gulfstream and Jetstar but had a larger diameter fuselage more comfortable than the Learjet and 1121 Jet commander and in the USA would have sold even greater if it had the GE engine instead of the Vipers in the USA

[@yournamehere7182]

Awesome video ✈✈✈✈✈✈✈✈

[@atilllathehun1212]

So no 125s were lost as a result of a fault with the aircraft?

[@D800Lover]

How would they 'ship' them out of Britain? Fly them all the way to the US, even as far as Uruguay, or did they do that via boat?

[@geoffreytanner7749]

Originally de Havilland before the massacre of UK aero companies

[@charlesmoss8119]

Crikey is CFIT a speciality of the 125 family? Or are these just more likely in business aviation due to going to odd places ?

[@elcheapo5302]

CFIT is the cause of more than 20% of fatal accidents. Given the sheer quantity of 125s built, plus their usual missions, it isn't surprising. The airplane was so well built, structural or mechanical failures weren't an issue.

[@jacktattis]

Comet disasters ? where they lost 4 and they were still flying into the 90s Go to Aircraft Accidents and have a look at the same time there were more 707s dropping from the sky.

[@jon-ie4li]

A Pocket Rocket in the hands of BAe Pilot.

[@richardvernon317]

RAF squadrons with numbers under 100 are called Thirty Two, not Three Two.

[@macjim]

Sadly, one was lost with its crew while out on a test flight after repairs in America, just recently. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKOqYaKqZ99om7Msi=hSyrkuYkgBER0CMj