Military version of the Ba125-700 executive jet, seating up to 14 passengers.  Manufactured by British Aerospace in Chester, UK, the aircraft is powered by Garrett TFE731 engines giving a range of up to 2,800 miles.
 

The remaining two grey aircraft will soon be repainted into the red scheme.

 ZD704 in the grey scheme

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A VIP version of the BAe146-100 commercial airliner, originally manufactured by British Aerospace at Hatfield, about 20 miles from Northolt.  It is powered by four Avco-Lycoming ALF502 engines and is noted for it's exceptional short field performance.
 

A twin engined utility helicopter manufactured by Aerospatiale in France.  There is seating capacity for up to three passengers.  These aircraft replaced the single engined Gazelles, allowing for more greater performance and flexible use in all weather conditions, as well as the ability to fly the London Helicopter routes at night.
 

Serial	Model	C/No	Delivered	Notes
ZJ139	AS355F1 Ecureil	5325	30/03/96	see below
ZJ140	AS355F1 Ecureil	5303	30/03/96	see below
ZH141	AS355F1 Ecureil	5327	----------	see below
G-BXBT	AS355F1 Ecureil	5262	---------	see below

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These helicopters were originally supplied under a three year contract with Operational Support Services / McAlpine Helicopters, which expired on 31st March 1999 when the contract was up for renewal.  Part of the attraction of the  contract was that a civil registered aircraft could be substituted at short notice in case of one of the based aircraft being unavailable.  The military serialled helicopters were delivered to Northolt on 30th March 1996 as 'RRR711' & 'RRR712' respectively, and an intensive weekend of familiarisation immediately took place.  They are crewed by RAF pilots but maintenance is performed by OSS at their own facilities.
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The complement was increased to three the end of May 1998 with the addition of a civil registered example, also from OSS. The new aircraft was rotated between G-BXBT and G-OILX, which had regularly been used to replace the original examples when they were unavailable due to maintenence etc.
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G-OILX was later re-registered as ZH141 and was first noted as such on 25th February 1999.  Registration G-OILX was similtaneosly cancelled from the UK Civil  register as 'sold to the MOD'.  The aircraft had been operating from Northolt for some time, in an  overall dark blue colour scheme.  This event seems to confirm the extension of the OSS contract.  The serial is a surprise, being the use  of an unused serial allocated some years ago. The aircraft will allegedly be repainted into the standard  scheme in due course.
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ZH141 on the north side pan, with inset to illustrate the small serial above where G-OILX was painted over

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Turbine powered version of the venerable Islander utility aircraft, built by Pilatus-Britten Norman in Bembridge, Isle of Wight.
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Serial	Model	C/No	Delivered	Notes
ZF573	Islander CC2A	2034	01/08/91	Delivered  as 'RRR7950'. Orginally intended as a stop gap until ZH536 was delivered, but eventually became based. Aircraft was initially operated in a blue/white scheme but was repainted in the standard grey scheme, first noted as such in  06/93
ZH536	Islander CC2	2235	17/12/92	Delivered  as 'PBN02' in the standard grey scheme

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Both aircraft are operated by the Northolt Station Flight.
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The arrival of these two aircraft followed the closure of the Metro Aviation hanger at Heathrow where they had been based since May 1985.  G-BLSM  arrived on 21st January as 'DRA202', whilst G-BLTP followed the next day as 'DRA212'.  Radio callsign is 'Firestone' and the flight numbers are derived from the day of the month plus a trip number.
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N96UH pictured before re-registration and repainting (JB)

More photo's and information on Northolt's military aircraft can be found on the official RAF Web Site at  HTTP://www.raf.mod.uk/stations/f_stn.html
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