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British Midland Tribute - Aircraft Types

A good thing from a spotting point of view regarding the London Heathrow route was that the aircraft types regularly changed, here is an incomplete list of aircraft that bmi have used over the years, along with the approximate dates/reasons they used them. Any help filling in blanks would be greatly appreciated.

Airbus A319-100:
Description: Durham Tees Valley was one of bmi's first routes to receive an A319 service when they were delivered new in the early 2000s. The first few delivered have 130 seats, with the later ones having 144 due to one less galley.
Dates: 2000s
Reason used: London Heathrow route

Airbus A320-200:
Description: Before the route started going downhill, we had mostly A320s for a time, including one Winter season where we had 4x daily A320 rotations, all day, every day. All the bmi A320s are fitted with containers for freight which were nearly always full on Teesside rotations. Three aircraft were fitted with all business class seating in 2007/8 (G-MIDO/T/Y).
Dates: 2000s
Reason used: London Heathrow route and charters

Airbus A321-200:
Description: The A321s appeared on charters now and again, and very rarely on the LHR route as a substitute, since bmi have a 'service back up aircraft' at LHR, normally a 321 with a crew on airport standby and this was utilised at times of operational/tech problems to keep the show on the road whichever route was affected, hence the odd visit to MME. Schedule service 195 seats and any aircraft dedicated to charter flights had 215 seats. Plus of course it was a 321 that took the Boro to/from Eindhoven for the UEFA cup final.
Dates: 2000s
Reason used: London Heathrow route and charters

BAC 1-11-400:
Description: A -400 1-11 was used for a time, in 1985/86 the aircraft G-WLAD being
leased from Air Cymru, if i recall correctly the aircraft being painted in 
British Midlands new colours at the time, and was normally based at
Leeds/Bradford but occasionally operated the Teesside route to LHR and also
I suspect appeared at MME a few times on LBA weather diverts.
Dates: 1985/6
Reason used: London Heathrow route

BAC 1-11-500:
Description: British Midland took delivery of 3 new -500's in 1970 G-AXLL/M/N. In early 1970 they replaced the Viscounts operating the London Heathrow route. With the introduction of the jet, traffic climbed but unfortunately not to the level of profitability to justify the 119 seat jets and the Viscounts took over the route again in March 1971. The 1-11's left the British Midland fleet altogether in 1973.
Dates: 1970s
Reason used: London Heathrow route

BAe ATP:
Description: Possibly only appeared on LBA diversions, confirmation needed. Didn't tend to stray too far from their East Midlands base.
Dates: Unknown
Reason used: LBA Diversions?

Beech 55 (G-BNUN):
Description: Used for "high speed spare runs" from East Midlands bringing engineers to get tech aircraft back up and running again. Also may have brought Sir Michael Bishop on the odd occasion.
Dates: Unknown
Reason used: High speed spare runs

Boeing 707:
Description: Known to have visited but not known why.
Dates: 1980s 
Reason used: Unknown

Boeing 737-200 Advanced:
Description: British Midland leased a couple of Belgium (TEA) & Irish (GPA) Boeing 737-200s and they appeared at Teesside on a couple of occasions. Almost certain it was OO-TEK that had a bird strike on take off ex MME operating the BD335 one day, the aircraft lost an engine as a result and returned to MME and if I recall it was Charlie 130 of the Belgian Air Force that brought the replacement engine over from Brussels. EI-BTR operated all LHR flights Mon-Fri and disappeared on Saturday to Jersey and returned on Sunday evenings having operated flights to/from Jersey from other UK airports. TEA 732's used to cover DC9 maintenance whilst GPA aircraft provided extra capacity for the summer programme.
Dates: Autumn of 1985 (OO-TEK), April/May 1988 (OO-TEH), EI-BTR based from mid-Summer until end of October 19??
Reason used: London Heathrow route (OO-TEH)

Boeing 737-300:
Description: The most popular version of the 737 to date, bmi probably used these on the London run, but they are most famous at Durham Tees Valley from when bmibaby based two at the airport on a mix of business and leisure routes during the mid-2000s.
Dates: 1990s (TBC), 2002-2006
Reason used: London Heathrow route (TBC) and bmibaby base operation

Boeing 737-400:
Description: bmi used the largest version of the classic 737 series up until the late 90s/early 00s, they only appeared from time to time. One visit of note, the night of the big hurricane down south when Michael Fish told everyone not to worry. The DC9 operating the BD337 that afternoon had developed an oil leak and was rendered unserviceable. BD337 cancelled and passengers transferred to the BD339, to accommodate all the passengers BD ops sent a 734 up on the BD338. Massive slot delays due to the weather so aircraft arrived late and parked into wind at MME as wind speed increasing here also, aircraft rocking on stand! No mobile phones in those days passengers queuing for the BT phones ringing home to find roofs blown off, garden sheds joining the stack at LHR and so on, so passengers desperate to get home but the slots kept on changing, generally for the worse. Aircraft finally got away mid evening and i think runway 23 was still in use at LHR in those days.
Dates: 1990s TBC
Reason used: London Heathrow route TBC

Boeing 737-500:
Description: Probably the right size aircraft for the route, 117 seats certainly in 90s they paid there way. Don't think baby based any 735's at MME. Certainly the launch flight was a 735, from Belfast whence it returned, and they operated the Geneva service on a W pattern ex EMA on Saturdays through the winter. One visit of note, during one of John Majors election campaigns, he chartered from British Midland a 735, even had some First class seats installed for the duration, the aircraft also visiting Carlisle during the campaign, one of the largest aircraft to land there. Not all 735's had air stairs fitted. Normal pattern of operations for the 735 Mon-Fri early crew operate 4 sectors, BD331/2/3/4, late crew also operated 4 sectors but stayed with the aircraft to operate BD335 to LHR then operate a Frankfurt return ex LHR and return to base on the BD340, whilst a London based aircraft and crew operated the BD336/7/8/9.
Dates: 1990s and 2000s
Reason used: London Heathrow route and bmibaby base operation

De Havilland Canada Dash 7:
Description: Only visited for a re-spray, possibly into British Midland colours from
London City Airways colours, pinstripe suit and red tie on the tail?
Dates: Unknown
Reason used: Re-spray

Embraer ERJ-135:
Description: The Embraer ERJ-135 was placed on the London route in its dying days, and once it started appearing at DTV it quickly became obvious the route didn't have long left. Regular visitor on LBA weather diverts.
Dates: 01-02-2009 - 28-03-2009
Reason used: London Heathrow route

Embraer ERJ-145:
Description: The Embraer ERJ-145 first started appearing on the Jersey charters in the late 1990s, then appeared on the London route on and off over the mid-2000s. Also operated football charters (and still does).
Dates: 1990s - 2000s
Reason used: London Heathrow route and Jersey charter

Fokker 70:
Description: Made odd appearance on both the London Heathrow route and Jersey charter, East Midlands based.
Dates: 1990s
Reason used: London Heathrow route and Jersey charter

Fokker 100:
Description: Ah the good old F100!! used on the LHR run throughout the 1990s until the mid-2000s, as well as on the Jersey charter - there was a day back in the late 90s/early 00s when 5 British Midland Fokker's were on the ramp at once!! If anyone has any information about this please contact us, it will be much appreciated!!
Dates: 1990s-mid 2000s
Reason used: London Heathrow route and Jersey charter

Fokker F-27-200:
Description: Known to have appeared once or twice at DTV, possibly on the Jersey charter. Definitely made the odd appearance on the London Heathrow route on Summer weekends in 1988.
Dates: 1988
Reason used: London Heathrow route

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14/15:
Description: Ah the pocket rockets!! The DC9s took the Teesside-Heathrow route into the Jet age. Appeared in either 1976 or 1977 to operate the route. First aircraft delivered in Aug 76, second aircraft in Sep 77. 6 aircraft G-BMAA/B/C/G/H/I. British Midland during the DC9 years had a maintenance base at MME, hanger 1 initially then hanger 2. Aircraft rotated through Teesside for maintenance, not unknown for an engine change to be done overnight, the local populace not too keen on the ground engine runs though! All heavy maintenance was done at EMA. Late 80's early 90's, cant remember the exact year a Scandinavian Airlines System pocket rocket operated for a week, in May operating the afternoon sectors, BD336/7/8/9. Believe it was to cover for a heavy maintenance check for one of British Midlands 9's.
Dates: 1976 - early 90's
Reason used: London Heathrow route

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32:
Description: G-GMAK the first -9-32 joined the fleet in March 1984, followed by 'AM' in the April. Initially the aircraft flew the trunk routes ex LHR to EDI/GLA/BFS but as more sourced they appeared quite often on the MME/LHR and eventually the type became the base aircraft until superseded by the F100 which had similar capacity but approx 6 tonnes lighter. Once sufficient numbers of Boeings and Fokker's were on strength the -9-32's migrated to EMA and the last flight was a staff special to mourn the passing DC9 operating EMA/MME/MME, aircraft was possibly G-ELDH, one of 3 ex Austrian Airlines aircraft in the fleet not sure of the date or year suspect 1995? The DC9 was synonymous with the Diamond Service launched in the mid 80s - hot breakfasts, cream teas and free drinks, all sadly missing from todays flights. One interesting -9-32 aircraft that operated the route was HB-IFZ belonging to the Swiss carrier Balair which covered for maintenance for certainly 1 if not 2 weeks in Sep 1985, the overhead lockers were small but sufficient for hats/coats/hand bags or a small briefcase and the locker doors were of a wire mesh design.
Dates: 1984 - 199?
Reason used: London Heathrow route

Saab 340:
Description: Possibly only appeared on LBA diversions, before departure had to make sure the 'pogo stick' removed from below the rear fuselage, Stick in place to prevent aircraft sitting on its bottom during the turnaround due to balance issues.
Dates: Unknown
Reason used: LBA diversions

Shorts SD-360:
Description: Possibly used on the Jersey charter, confirmation needed. Definitely appeared once on a crew training detail ex EMA.
Dates: Unknown
Reason used: Jersey charter? Crew training

Siai Marchetti F.260 (G-BAGB):
Description: Used for "high speed spare runs".
Dates: Unknown
Reason used: High speed spare runs

Vickers Viscount 813:
Description: The Viscount was one of the more successful British built aircraft, and was one of the first aircraft types bmi used on the Heathrow run. In 1984 there were 4 VCV's stored in hanger 1. At least 2 ended up with the fire school, 1 on the fire ground and 1 on the airport complex near the fire school used for smoke evacs. A further aircraft went to the airport fire service and located on the south side. Lovely aircraft to ride on, large windows with curtains!
Dates: ???? - 1987
Reason used: London Heathrow route

Other:
Titan Airways 757 G-ZAPU operated BD332/3 14 Mar 08.
No dates but almost certain a Loganair BAe 146 did a number of rotations.
A BAC 1-11-500 of British Island did a couple of flights one evening.

Notes:
Despite being referred to as a 'charter', the long running British Midland/bmi flights to Jersey were operated under a scheduled licence.