Rolls-Royce’s RB.211 was the only engine type to power the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, which made its British debut at the 1972 SBAC show at Farnborough, as seen here. It was painted in what was essentially an Eastern Airlines colour scheme on the fuselage (TriStar N305EA was the fifth of the Eastern order), along with BEA legends on the lower fuselage and BEA’s "Speedjack" on the fin.

The Airbus A300 prototype F-OCAZ demonstrates its hot-and-high short take-off capabilities in Windhoek, Namibia.

Fitted with a pair of American General Electric CF6-50A turbofan engines, the A300B prototype made its first flight on October 28, 1972. Initially given the test registration F-WUAB, it was re-registered as F-OCAZ for its subsequent test programme, before being retired in 1974.

An artist’s impression of an A300 in BEA’s distinctive "red square" livery, complete with scarlet wing panels, as used for the opening illustration for an article entitled “The Case for the European Airbus” in a Hawker Siddeley Review in 1968. In the event, Airbus would never see one of its aircraft in BEA colours. Or would it..?

Although no Airbus type ever saw service with BEA, the airline becoming absorbed into British Airways (BA) in April 1974, one example of the manufacturer’s wares has been seen in BEA colours, with the painting of A319 G-EUPJ in the “red square” scheme in March 2019, as part of BA’s superb centenary “retrojet” celebrations.

The BAC public relations department was in full swing during the SBAC show at Farnborough in September 1968, displaying a large model of the Three-Eleven on its stand, extolling the design’s virtues as a "logical successor to today’s 100-seat jets" and a “versatile profitmaker”.

“The new British airliner with the exciting wide ‘living-room’ look” - thus runs the caption for this BAC publicity photograph of a full-scale mock-up of the Three-Eleven’s passenger cabin, in this case configured for typical one-class European scheduled services, comprising 245 seats arranged eight-abreast at 34in (86cm) pitch.

A contemporary BAC promotional item featuring an artist’s impression of the Three-Eleven, intended as a “big brother” to the smaller One-Eleven, for short- to medium-haul routes. In contrast to the wing-mounted engine nacelles of the Airbus concept, the 200/300-seat Three-Eleven was to retain the One-Eleven’s clean wing and rear-mounted twin engines.

As part of BAC's publicity overdrive, this cutaway illustration of the Three-Eleven was the centerpiece of a handout put together by the manufacturer in August 1970, highlighting the British design's salient features, including its 50,000lb-thrust Rolls-Royce RB.211-61 turbofan engines and various seating configurations, with six-abreast in the forward cabin and nine-abreast in the rear.