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Boeing 767-300ER | 1988



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Boeing 767-300ER | 1988

(TOP)
Airline - Royal Airways
Aircraft - Lockheed L1011-1 | G-ADUA
Delivered to the Royal Imperial Air Company, 1973
Transferred to Royal Airways, 1974
Sold to Airborne Medical International, 1989
Stored at Kansas City International Airport, 2002
Livery - Standard 1974
Country - Great Britain

(BOTTOM)
Airline - Royal Airways
Aircraft - Boeing 767-300ER | G-TSHU
Delivered to Royal Airways, 1988
Stored at Victorville, 2001
Returned to Service, 2002
Sold to Jade Air, 2005
Livery - Standard 1974
Country - Great Britain

In 1988, Royal Airways took delivery of G-TSHU, its first 767-300ER. -TSHU was the only 767 - and also the last aircraft overall - to be delivered in the 1974 merger livery. The 767-300ERs were ordered as the result of a long deliberation process, which was meant to select the replacement for the airline's many Lockheed L1011s, as well as the Airbus A300s originally ordered by British Atlantic. This was a difficult task, as in addition to the aforementioned A300s (which were all operated in a regional configuration on high-demand European and North African routes), Royal Airways also had a large fleet of various versions of the L1011. This included the long-range -200 series and the even longer-range -500, as well as L1011-1s inherited from both the Royal Imperial Air Company and British International Airlines. Ex-RIAC planes were set up in a premium configuration and used for everything from service to Dubai to flights to the US East Coast (basically the full extent of the type's range), while the L1011-1s originally ordered by BIA were high-density, regionally-configured aircraft used first by BIA and then by Royal Airways on short Western European and even domestic UK routes. This meant that to replace all of these, an aircraft had to be incredibly versatile - sized somewhere around the same as the L1011-1, more fuel-efficient than the twin-engine A300, and with at least as much range as the L1011-500, as the ability to fly to India or South America with ease was paramount.

The 767-300ER satisfied all these conditions, and a large initial order for over thirty aircraft was placed. Leveraging its status as an important Boeing customer and the size of the order it was placing, Royal Airways was able to convince Boeing to add the Rolls-Royce RB211 as an engine option for the 767, which made the aircraft more appealing to the airline for two reasons - first, as the British flag carrier, it was inclined to buy planes with British-made engines, and secondly the RB211 had a power advantage over the existing Pratt & Whitney and General Electric options, making Royal Airways' Rolls-Royce-powered 767s more suitable for 'hot and high' operations in Africa and South America.

G-TSHU is depicted together with G-ADUA, one of the ex-RIAC (so long-haul configured) L1011-1s it replaced. Royal Airways long-haul L1011-1 seatmap is shown below, with 22 First Class seats, 34 Empire Class, and 166 Tourist Class in a spacious 2-4-2 configuration. This was identical to the setup in which RIAC's L1011-1s were delivered in from 1973 onwards (British International's regional L1011s obviously had a different seating layout), except for the removal of parts of First and Tourist Class in 1984 to add the Empire Class section, which was Royal Airways' early version of Business Class. The total capacity of the long-haul configured L1011-1s was 222 passengers. Shown below the L1011 seatmap is the configuration in which the first 767 was delivered - as deliveries continued, approximately 30-40% of the airline's 767-300ERs would be delivered with regional seating configurations. This one, however, featured sixteen improved First Class seats with 165-degree recline, 56 seats in Empire Class, and 155 in Tourist Class, for a total capacity of 227 passengers. First and Empire classes were more comfortable than on the L1011s, however unfortunately Tourist Class was slightly less spacious.
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    that British flag seems way too big imho

    that British flag seems way too big imho

    that British flag seems way too big imho

    that British flag seems way too big imho

     

    The oversize Union Jack has always been a part of this livery, although I do see how it looks a lot bigger on the L1011 than on the 767 for some reason. I'll see what I can do.

     

    Also: G-TSHU aircraft history has been edited.

    The oversize Union Jack has always been a part of this livery, although I do see how it looks a lot bigger on the L1011 than on the 767 for some reason. I'll see what I can do.

     

    It's not oversize. It's too big.

    That Union Jack would be rather large on a real aircraft

    It's not oversize. It's too big.

    That Union Jack would be rather large on a real aircraft

     

    Right. I've edited the flags on both planes to make them smaller. Also took the opportunity to edit the tail design on the 767 to make it work better and be more in line with how it is on other planes in the fleet.