line and Berlin-based Viscounts to restore the competitive balance with Pan Am's new 727s on the internal German services. Therefore, in February 1966, BEA began evaluating the 727-200, 737-200 and DC-9-40 for these requirements, favouring the former two seating up to 166 and 111 passengers in single-class configuration respectively. In June 1966, BEA requested UK government permission to place an order with Boeing for 18 727-200s and 23 737-200s. Following the UK government's refusal to grant BEA permission to order an all-American fleet of Boeing 727-200s and 737-200s, the Board of Trade (BOT) directed the airline to buy comparable British aircraft instead. This resulted in a BEA order for 18 firm BAC One-Eleven 500s plus six options in January 1967, for delivery from autumn 1968, to meet BEA's requirement to replace Vanguards/Viscounts on its Heathrow–Manchester and internal German routes. In February 1967, BEA sought UK government approval to order up to 40 BAC Two-Elevens, a 200-seat, six-abreast development of the five-abreast BAC One-Eleven powered by Rolls-Royce RB211 high-bypass turbofan engines, for service entry in the early 1970s. The UK government's refusal to let BEA order American aircraft, as well as its subsequent decision to stop funding the development of BAC's Two-Eleven and a delay to the rival Rolls-Royce RB207-powered, 250-seat pan-European Airbus A300 widebody, also resulted in another Trident order from the airline for 26 firm 3B series aircraft plus 10 options in early 1968, for delivery from 1971. As this necessitated the purchase of a greater number of aircraft with fewer seats and less range that needed to be inducted into the fleet over a shorter period of time due to later availability compared with the originally chosen American aircraft, BEA had made both its £32 million One-Eleven 500 order and £83 million Trident 3B order dependent on receiving a subsidy from the UK government to compensate it for having been directed against its commercial judgement to order British aircraft with a lower earning potential and later delivery dates. The UK government responded to BEA's plea by agreeing to transfer £25 million from the airline's existing borrowings to a special account on which no interest was payable, including the option to transfer this amount to its profit and loss account as required. This arrangement furthermore permitted a subsequent transfer to BEA of an additional £12.5 million in case this was required. BEA's first order for the BAC One-Eleven enabled