The Trident project originated in a
specification issued by BEA in 1957, calling for an 80 seater aircraft with
a range of 1000 miles, preferably with three engines and as high a speed as
possible.
This specification
was the result of the introduction of the Caravelle which BEA feared would be
very competitive. De Havilland submitted a proposal, the DH 121 which in its
original form was superseded by a later proposal, the DH 121 Mk 2. This
aircraft had a cruising speed of 585 mph at 32000 ft, with seating for ninety
eight passengers. The aircraft was
selected by BEA as the basis for detailed negotiation, but in 1957, after the
infamous White Paper on Defence, the Government insisted that all future
projects would be undertaken by collaboration between the firms in the aircraft
industry, formed in to larger groupings.
At the same time, a consortium formed by
Bristol and Hawker Siddeley put forward proposals for a similar aircraft, the
Bristol 200. With a possible order from BEA of the order of £30 million, the
competition between the two consortia became ferocious.
Finally,
on February 12th, 1958, the Government authorised BEA to open negotiations with
the consortium formed between De Havilland and Hawker Siddeley, which resulted,
after much re-specification and re-design, in the Hawker Siddeley Trident.
The first Trident flew in January 1962 making it the first Tri-Jet in history
to fly. The Boeing 727, however, beat it into service by a few weeks. The
original Trident specification was very similar in concept to the 727, but BEA
had ‘ cold feet ‘ over future passenger levels, resulting in an aircraft of
reduced size and capacity that was far less attractive to the airlines than the
727. The outcome of this can be seen in the fact that the sales of the 727
exceeded 1000 machines , whereas the Trident sales were limited to 36 Trident
1's, 50 Trident 2E's, 26 3B's and 2 extended range Super 3B's.
The Trident 1C entered service
with BEA in 1964. A total of 117 aircraft were built. The last Trident was
built in 1978 and by 1989 all of the BEA/British Airways aircraft had been
retired. The last Trident to fly was in China in 1997.
Max speed Mach .875 525 knots at a ceiling of 36,000 feet. Although
it was extremely hard to get airborne, once it was at cruise altitude its clean
wing design and low drag made it one of the fastest airliners made. Range of
the 1C was about 1150 miles, 2E about 2000 miles and the Trident 3B with it's
increased seating capacity of 179 had a range of 1500 miles
The Addictive Simulations
Trident package includes the Trident 1, 2E and 3B variants. This accurate model
features all the usual moving parts, lights, sound and smoke. A virtual
passenger cabin and 3D cockpit is included as well as the 2D panel. The
panel and instruments use photographic textures for added realism.
The booster engine on the 3B delivers an additional 5250 LBS of thrust for
takeoff and climbout at the flick of a switch.
Also as in real life the aircraft is fitted with autoland.
Customers will be able to download free updates for the life of
this Flight Simulator version
Aircraft Model: Trident 1C
Variations:
• BEA “Red Square”
• CAAC
• Channel Airways
Aircraft Model: Trident 2E
Variations:
• BEA “High Speed Jack”
• BEA “Red Square”
• CAAC
• Cyprus Airways
Aircraft Model: Trident 3B
Variations:
• BEA “High Speed Jack”
• British Airways “Red Tail”
For larger, more detailed screenshots please see
the Screenshot selection thumbnails
below. |