Hawker Siddeley Trident: The Revolutionary Jet That BEA Downsized Into Oblivion

Video from the channel Vector 1945 about Hawker Siddeley Trident, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 22:56. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

The video reviews the history of the Hawker Siddeley Trident: its origin in a BEA request, the redesign that shrank it, its technical innovations, the deep-stall accidents, and its commercial track record against the Boeing 727.

BEA had based its fleet on the Vickers Viscount and Vanguard turboprops. In July 1956 it expressed interest in a short-haul jet for around 70 passengers, 6,000-foot runways, and more than two engines. The contenders were the Bristol Type 200, the Avro 740, the Vickers VC11, and the DH121, a trijet with Rolls-Royce Medway engines for 110 to 140 passengers and 2,070 miles. In March 1959, worried by falling traffic, BEA asked for it to be downsized. The Spey replaced the Medway, with 40% less thrust, and the wingspan, wing area, and fuselage were cut back. Capacity dropped to 75-97 seats and range fell by 930 miles. BEA ordered 24 aircraft plus 12 options on 24 August 1959. The Trident name was announced at Farnborough in September 1960, the year de Havilland passed to Hawker Siddeley and the Airco consortium was dissolved. According to the video, a visit by Boeing engineers to Hatfield gave them extensive information about the design, without reciprocity.

The aircraft had a low wing, a T-tail, and three rear-mounted Speys. The 3B, stretched and seating up to 180, added an RB.162 auxiliary jet for takeoff. The Hawker Siddeley and Smiths autoland system, together with Doppler navigation and the moving map, gave BEA the first automatic landing on a scheduled service, at Heathrow in 1965. The nose gear was offset two feet to port, and the aircraft could use reverse thrust in flight for a rapid descent. It first flew on 9 January 1962 and entered service on 1 April 1964. Deep stall caused two accidents. The first was a test flight near Hatfield on 3 June 1966. The second, the Staines crash of 18 June 1972 (flight 548, 118 dead), was attributed to premature retraction of the leading-edge devices. CAAC received 38 Tridents and was its last operator, until 1995. 117 were built, against 1,832 Boeing 727s.