Case Specific - Hawker Siddeley Trident

Greetings! :D
The Hawker Siddeley Trident is, for me personally, one of the greatest tragedies of the British aviation industry. So much was right about it, it sported highly advanced avionics with a blind landing system that was decades ahead of its contemporaries, while also providing a practical fuselage design that could easily accommodate 6-abrest seating.
Sadly, through government intervention and a fragmented design process, the Trident ended up being yet another purpose-built aircraft aimed solely to suit the needs of its main carrier, British European Airways, losing out severely to the rival Boeing 727 as it failed to provide a universal design for any occasion.
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References:
- Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Volume 1. Putnam & Company Limited. 1973. ISBN 0-370-10006-9
- Cacutt, Len. The World's Greatest Aircraft. Devon, UK: Exeter Books, 1989. ISBN 0-7917-0011-9
- Jackson, A.J. British Civil Aircraft 1919-1972: Volume II. London: Putnam (Conway Maritime Press), 1988. ISBN 0-85177-813-5
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)

[@johng5474]

Once again, the British government inteferes with things they dont understand and force a single customer to make all the decisions. If allowed to develop the plane themselves and then sell it, it is likely that it would have got to market first and sold across Europe and beyond.

[@sarjim4381]

Makes perfect sense. Get four weak British aircraft makers to start a brawl among themselves and the government. When that got boring, they put in a call to Boeing and, with no firm orders or even any kind of mutual production pact, flew across the pond to boast of their designs and give away all the details. I guess they never saw the guys in the back of the room furiously taking notes. This right here is a great example of why the British aircraft industry failed.

[@bingbong7316]

Auto land was a big hit with savvy travellers; my Dad had an early experience of it and was very impressed, foggy Heathrow no obstacle. Unique at the time, business people loved it.

[@svenolofandersson2572]

Excellent video. It goes to demonstrate that Ringo Starr’s first and only law of politics is true: ”Everything politicians touch, turns to crap.”

[@PeteC62]

Its maiden flight being a couple of months before I was born, the Trident was my favorite aircraft during my 1970s aircraft spotting years. I well remember hearing the news flash of the Papa India crash on a Sunday afternoon in 1972. They either interrupted the Top-20 countdown, or it was the first item on the news immediately afterwards . Very tragic. The tail of Papa Charlie (the prototype that stalled) was for some reason in the grass at the back of Southend airport. I used to see it on my frequent clandestine trips to the hangars of that airport to see what planes Aviation Traders were working on. I got stopped by security on more than one occasion, and was transported back to the terminal one of of their blue Transit vans!

[@donjeep1937]

Sat in Milan's totally fogged in airport, awaiting my flight to London. Both arrivals and departures shown on the board were totally cancelled. Then they announced the arrival of my TRIDENT. I was amazed.

[@delten-eleven1910]

Fascinating; gives insight into the struggling manufacturers and beauracracy of the UK. As said in the video the Trident was an example of UKs jet age innovation, but is mostly forgotten, while its Boeing contemporaries are still relavent in civilian cargo and military.

[@nicedayniceyear]

I really liked the Trident and based plenty of my study towards becoming a Licenced Aircraft Engineer on this aircraft's systems. Testing the autopilot often required you to work rather quickly as the controls would drift leading to cut-out if you were too slow. The autopilot being unusual compared to many by being a rate-rate system. Spent many hours down the forward equipment bay (FEB) reading the MEDU or resetting the Datum Balancers. The tiny buttons caused sore fingers and thumbs! The rear equipment bay, the REB, was a different story. Often slippery from hydraulic fluid, often noisy if the standby hydraulic pump was switched on. as a passenger it was super quiet inside due to the rear engines and very clean wings which unlike many other types had no pods for flap screw jacks due to the very good design in keeping the components within the wing shape. Thanks for this great video .

[@ivertranes2516]

Another example of how govt. intervention into business only mucks thing up.

[@martinda7446]

Standing on the observation deck roof area at Heathrow in the mid 70s with half a dozen Tridents running their engines was an ear splitting event.

[@sirlimplystoke2382]

Had to get over to the Belfast Festival from Gatwick with my theatre company. Gatwick was non operational due to rapidly thickening fog so we trained it over to Heathrow where the Tridents were still operating. BA held the flight for us and other stranded passengers and we took off in what looked like almost zero visibility. Felt weird taking off in that muffled gloom listening to the servos whirring and clunking and operating the flaps and feeling the Trident changing course with slightly robotic nudges and jerks. The thick fog continued all the way to Belfast and we landed robotically barely having seen the ground all flight. All worked very well but missed the imperceptible smoothness of the human hand.

[@craigjackson2428]

Thank you for explaining the details of the design, development, production and sales. All my years, it was never explained to me why the British trident was so similar to the 727. Excellent work!!!!! What is fond here for me. The BAC-111 purchased second hand by USAir (Allegheny) was my first solo commercial flight as kid along with the DC-9-30. Amazing how technology advancements from various manufacturers propelled the industry forward.

[@s.kirtivasen5752]

I'm seriously in love with this channel amazing less heard documentaries. Focusing on hard-core facts and not on any melodrama. Good work @Ruairidh MacVeigh.

[@waleedarif6740]

Wish a lot of the old ones were preserved for driving tours for Airline enthusiasts.

[@chrisjohnson6876]

Excellent research from Ruairidh again, thanks for the upload! Loved the old Trident, ruined, like so many other British designed classics, by Govt bungling bureaucracy

[@drstevenrey]

As a manufacturer of stuff, if a potential client comes along with the changes BEA asked for here, I send them straight out the door. This is the product, if you don't like it, bugger off and go somewhere else. And for those who think it won't work, you are wrong. It does. Nicely.

[@joge6496]

Sweet memories of my first flight as a UM from Frankfurt to London. Sitting at the table, flying with the back to the flying direction, the cockpit visit with an overwhelming array of instruments. And the engines were very loud. Very confusing, the whole array - the plane was fully booked and people's bags and coats and other things were everywhere.

[@nikoscosmos]

A slight omission in the BEA fleet description given in this video is that BEA operated the jet powered Comet 4b on medium range routes replacing the Viscount on Eastern Mediterranean operations. These aircraft were subsequently operated by BEA Airtours in the late 60s/early 70s.

[@johnjephcote7636]

Sir Sidney Camm of Hawkers said that Government policy was one of the four rules of flight that an aircraft designer had to keep in mind. BOAC too, were notorious for their exacting specifications, limiting the manufacturer's export potential...and then buying American.

[@ewetoo]

It really was a case of 727s vs DC9s down here in Australia in the 70's, like football teams, and TAA might have started with the 727 advantage but Ansett did catch on and the DC9's days were numbered. I flew on a few but it wasn't long before it was 727s all the way.