L-1011 Tristar as ugly as it gets?

Old May 18, 2020, 9:56 am
  #181  
 
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Originally Posted by AlienInTheFatherland
And a suite of loos down the back in Y
The 5 lavatories in a semi circle at the back were sometimes known as "Penny Lane"....
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Old May 18, 2020, 10:55 am
  #182  
 
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Originally Posted by RoyalSwazi
Fully agree! Was on YouTube last night and came across an old BOAC promo film, and the grace of the Britannia vs the Stratocruiser was remarkable. Very interesting film btw, it was called something like “The future belongs to them”, and focused on TechOps.
Tomorrow is Theirs - it's from 1957 and on YouTube. In colour too, I see!
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Old May 25, 2020, 4:01 pm
  #183  
 
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Originally Posted by seenitall
My fond memory of the TriStar (probably TWA) was seeing the exit doors roll down from their storage in the upper fuselage. Looked like magic.
I loved this, too, as a kid. DC-10 and 767's also had this feature. Always felt so strange to see the 747 with doors opening outwards in comparison...
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Old May 27, 2020, 11:36 am
  #184  
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Originally Posted by FlightDetective
Tomorrow is Theirs - it's from 1957 and on YouTube. In colour too, I see!
A load of these kinds of films is on the IFE under "BA Museum", IIRC.

Haven't looked for it for a while but spent one longhaul a few years back watching the whole lot.
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Old May 27, 2020, 3:41 pm
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Originally Posted by Fraser
A load of these kinds of films is on the IFE under "BA Museum", IIRC.

Haven't looked for it for a while but spent one longhaul a few years back watching the whole lot.
I always really enjoy that kind of stuff. I've seen some of them when flying as well, though I couldn't tell you which.
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Old May 27, 2020, 10:28 pm
  #186  
 
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Originally Posted by Crampedin13A
As much time as I spent on BA Tri-Stars in the 80's I spent even more on the AC ones. I always thought they looked great in the old red and white AC colours
AC flew YYZ-LHR-BOM-SIN with dedicated 500's but for the life of me I cannot remember the dates of my trip.... I believe I also remember flying YVR-LHR in AC First Class on a 500 before it disappeared. Jeez, I'm getting old.
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Old May 28, 2020, 2:05 am
  #187  
 
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So glad to see a "dedicated" thread to the Tristar L-1011.
I have had many happy occasions to fly the type series on PA Pan Am, CX Cathay Pacific, EA Eastern Airlines, DL Delta Air Lines and later UA United Airlines.
It had some problems, if I remember correctly, with the RR engine development in the beginning which caused service entry delay. It was also involved in bribery scandals with the Japanese government under Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
I much preferred the 2-4-2 seating in economy of the L-1011 than the 2-5-2 in the DC-10.
Before the L-1011, Lockheed had produced some good civil air transports, i.e. the Lockheed Constellation series and the L-188 Electra, which were part of my childhood flying experiences..
If Lockheed ever wants to resume civil air transport design and manufacturing, I'd like to see it develop a commercial supersonic transport like that of the military reconnaissance Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. That'd be awesome!
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Old May 29, 2020, 6:17 pm
  #188  
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Sadly I never was able to fly a Tristar. I grew up flying American so I have flown many, many DC-10s and as that was the plane that took my family on our annual Hawaii trips that's what I grew up loving as I associated it with trips to paradise. I always considered the L-1011 inferior because American didn't have them.
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Old May 30, 2020, 12:03 am
  #189  
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Originally Posted by jazzhou
It had some problems, if I remember correctly, with the RR engine development in the beginning which caused service entry delay
Indeed it did, RR developed a new materiel for the fan blades called "Hyfil" which was revolutionary at the time because it was one of the first uses of Carbon Fibre. But back in the late 60s it was not advanced enough and worked perfectly (it was so much lighter than alloys) but it failed the chicken ingestion test and late in the day RR had to switch back to titanium. This caused delays and huge cost overrruns and in 1971 RR went bankrupt. The conservative government of the day. although anti-nationalisation had to act and do this very quickly, otherwise the RAF and most of NATO's aircraft fleet would be grounded.

It was re-privatised in the mid-80s with just 5% of the world wide body engine market but is now the dominant player and in the last couple of years has shipped more WB engines than GE and P&W combined.
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Old Oct 18, 2021, 12:24 am
  #190  
 
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My main memory of a L1011 is that the take off run and initial climb felt(!) rather disappointing, compared to the DC10-30 that KLM operated.
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Old Feb 10, 2022, 11:10 am
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Agreed. Very elegant - and a great ride experience.

The VC10 was the best ever. Still hold it in the highest regard. It had an exciting take off!

The epitome of British elegance and invention.

My first flight ever, from London to Copenhagen in BEA, early 1960s. The acceleration is what I remember best, so unlike a car's! Very elegant aircraft.

Last edited by Prospero; Feb 11, 2022 at 1:02 am Reason: Merge consecutive posts
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Old Feb 10, 2022, 1:48 pm
  #192  
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Originally Posted by bayswater1944
The VC10 was the best ever. Still hold it in the highest regard. It had an exciting take off!
....it may have been elegant but commercially an utter disaster with only about 60 built - and some 20 of those bought new by the RAF. BOAC shamefully killed off any chance of it being sold to other airlines in any quantity by concocting a set of financial numbers that showed it was not as profitable as the 707. But the opposite was true. Shameful.
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Old Feb 10, 2022, 1:54 pm
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Originally Posted by bayswater1944
The VC10 was the best ever. Still hold it in the highest regard. It had an exciting take off!
Was very lucky to get a ride in one of those in my Air Cadet days in the 2000s! Was a very happy teenager, especially with being chosen to be in the jumpseat on landing into Brize.
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Old Feb 10, 2022, 9:22 pm
  #194  
 
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Originally Posted by bayswater1944
The VC10 was the best ever. Still hold it in the highest regard. It had an exciting take off!
sigh
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Old Feb 10, 2022, 11:08 pm
  #195  
 
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I think the Comet was the best looking aeroplane. Pity it couldn’t fly!
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