Hawker Siddeley Trident: The Jetliner That Was Too Advanced to Succeed

Video from the channel Twilight Glitters Aviation about Hawker Siddeley Trident, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 2:55. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Short piece about the Hawker Siddeley Trident, the trijet that de Havilland designed as the DH.121 for British European Airways in the late 1950s.

The video explains that BEA requested a smaller aircraft before the first flight, which forced a redesign and cut its performance. Even so, the Trident stood out for its avionics: it was the first airliner to make a fully automatic landing, an advantage in fog, and it carried an early version of autothrottle.

The Boeing 727, larger and longer-ranged, sold over 1,800 units, compared with 117 Tridents. These flew mainly with BEA, later British Airways, and with operators such as China's CAAC.