Aviation Archive Registration Acknowledgements
BAC 100: 2010. Join in the Celebrations of 100 Years of Aviation in the West of England. Aviation image sequence: Photograph of the Bristol Flying School at Larkhill by T L Fuller © J T Fuller. Mercury engine installation diagram, courtesy of BAC/Rolls-Royce. Selection of old postcards from the collection of Jackie Sims. Photograph of A380 over Clifton Suspension Bridge courtesy of Airbus SAS 2006. Computer generated image of A350 XWB courtesy of Airbus. Artist's impressions of main exhibition by Simon Gurr. Sir George White (Airbus).
Home
What's On
The BAC Story
1910s
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
People
Great Reading Adventure 2010
Learning Zone
News and Press
Articles
Resources
Comment
1980s

The 1980s saw the privatisation of British Aerospace and of Rolls-Royce.

It was a decade of major political change behind the Iron Curtain with the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, the overthrow of the Ceauşescu regime in Romania and the breaking down of the Berlin Wall. It was also the decade of yuppies, shoulder-pads and Live Aid.

1981
British Aerospace privatised.
Other UK and world events this year:
Space Shuttle Columbia launched for its first mission.
1982
Sea Harriers shoot down 21 Argentine jets without combat loss during Falklands War.
June 1982
RB199 operational with RAF.
Other UK and world events this year:
Laker Airways calls in the receivers. First Airbus A310 completed.
July 1985
Giotto launched.
Other UK and world events this year:
First launch of space shuttle Atlantis.
30 April 1986
First Filton-built wings for the Airbus consortium's A320 despatched.
11 August 1986
Westland Lynx with two Rolls-Royce Gem60 engines sets World's Helicopter Speed record at 400.87kph which still stands (Gems built at Bristol since 1992).
Other UK and world events this year:
Space shuttle Challenger explodes 75 seconds after take off.
1987
Rolls-Royce privatised.
Other UK and world events this year:
British Airports Authority is privatised.
1989
End of guided missile production at Filton.
14 August 1989
Harrier with Pegasus 11-61 engine sets time-to-height records at 3,000m (36.38 seconds), 6,000m (55.38 seconds) and 9,000m (81 seconds).
Other UK and world events this year:
Space shuttle Atlantis launches Jupiter probe.
Search the site
Pickets at British Aerospace Dynamic gates, 1984.
Pickets at British Aerospace Dynamic gates, 1984.

Sea Harriers (Rolls-Royce plc).
Sea Harriers (Rolls-Royce plc).
Giotto
Giotto Space Vehicle (Bristol Aero Collection).
See the Giotto Space Vehicle mock-up at the Bristol Aero Collection at Kemble.
Aviation Archive
Search the Aviation Archive for images of West of England aircraft in the 1980s.

Find us on Facebook
Twitter