It has been 60 years since the Hawker Siddeley Trident first took flight. Originally the de Havilland DH.121, the Trident took off in the United Kingdom on January 9th, 1962 to cause a stir in some of the most critical years of the commercial jet age.
Early transformations
The trijet was introduced on April 1st, 1964, two months after key competitor Boeing 727 took to the skies. Despite trying to play catch up with the rival across the pond, the aircraft was created with state-of-the-art technology. For example. Pilots could fly in largely zero visibility conditions to allow operators to continue to conduct services in challenging seasons.
This weekend, the British Airliner Collection shared that registration G-ARPA made a series of hops along the runway at Hatfield, Hertfordshire to get ready for the first flight at the beginning of 1962. This plane would then go on to be the first Trident 1C to be introduced with launch customer British European Airways (BEA), after joining the carrier’s fleet in March 1964.
The famous De Havilland Aircraft Company was the organization to originally spark the idea of the Trident, but fellow British manufacturing powerhouse acquired the company in 1960. Before this takeover, American Airlines expressed its desire for a three-engined type, but the US powerhouse went on to receive the Boeing 727 instead. Therefore, those behind the Trident shifted their approach to adhere to the needs of BEA and the domestic UK industry.
The aircraft was particularly popular in the UK. In the country, the likes of BKS/Northeast Airlines, British Airways (BEA’s successor), and Channel Airways held the plane. Around the world, Air Ceylon, CAAC Airlines, China United Airlines, Cyprus Airways, Turkish Invasion of Cyprus, Iraqi Airways Kuwait Airways, Pakistan International Airlines, and Zaire’s Air Charter Service operated the aircraft.