IT was on April 6, 1961, that the de Havilland Aircraft Company made its first public announcement to the effect that the decision had been taken to produce a high‐speed jet executive aircraft. Despite the substantial private venture capital investment involved— of the order of several million pounds—and the fierce competition which an aircraft of this type would inevitably meet, de Havilland's experience with the Dove light and executive transport, along with the promising results of an extensive world‐wide survey of the jet executive market, confirmed the view that if the design and time‐scale were right then such an aircraft held great promise of commercial success. Intended primarily for the use of industrial and commercial firms with busy executives, de Havilland's jet executive aircraft possessed sufficient design flexibility to be capable of operating in a wide variety of military roles, and an initial production batch of thirty aircraft was laid down. The DH 125 had arrived.