It was initially issued to the Central Flying School (CFS) at RAF Little Rissington before enjoying a spell based at RAF Cranwell with the Royal Air Force College (RAFC) and was used for flying training duties, flying numerous sorties.
Not selected for upgrade to T.5A status XW291 moved onto the strength of No.6 Flying Training School (6FTS) on 15th December 1975, where it was used for navigational training tasks coded 'Z' and later 'N'. It remained at Finningley for the remainder of its RAF career, before being formally retired and flown to RAF Shawbury for storage on 13th April 1993. At that time it had flown a total of 7199.35 hours and made 11157 landings.

Sold into private hands the aircraft was ferried to North Weald in February 1996. It was given a comprehensive overhaul by McCarthy Aviation, re-painted in a civilian red and blue colour scheme, and placed on the civilian register as G-BWOF. In mid-1997 Phillip Meeson acquired G-BWOF and it was flown to Bournemouth where it was housed with the Jet Heritage fleet.

Formerly on public display at the Bournemouth Aviation Museum, which had to close in 2007 due to the Airport needing the land to build a car park, G-BWOF was moved into hangarage elsewhere on the airfield. It still lives at Bournemouth today, and although its flght permit lapsed in 2008, the aeroplane was ground run in December 2009 by DS Aviation pilots Matt Whitfield and Brian Grant.

Related web-links:

• Bournemouth Aviation Museum
• de-Havilland Aviation