Tridents at Southend
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Tridents at Southend
Would anyone know if Tridents ever operated out of Southend for Channel Airways? I thought the runway in those years was too short for Trident operations.
Thank you
Thank you
Hawker Siddeley HS.121 Trident 1E-140 G-AVYB (msn 2136) of Channel Airways at Southend Airport
I don't know if they operated scheduled services from Southend, as opposed to visiting for maintenance, but if they did they would likely have been payload-limited compared to the Stansted services.
I don't know if they operated scheduled services from Southend, as opposed to visiting for maintenance, but if they did they would likely have been payload-limited compared to the Stansted services.
Hawker Siddeley HS.121 Trident 1E-140 G-AVYB (msn 2136) of Channel Airways at Southend Airport
I don't know if they operated scheduled services from Southend, as opposed to visiting for maintenance, but if they did they would likely have been payload-limited compared to the Stansted services.
I don't know if they operated scheduled services from Southend, as opposed to visiting for maintenance, but if they did they would likely have been payload-limited compared to the Stansted services.
However Wiki says that they did operate at Southend, briefly it would seem in 1968.
There were delivery flights in to SEN but the IT Ops were from STN base - plus they flew from a few other UK regionals too, and Berlin.
Yes I remember how they provided a spectacular sight as they loudly lurched fully-laden off the end of the runway at Luton, shattering crockery and interrupting those partaking of afternoon tea at Luton Hoo below............
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Thank you all for the responses. What originally got me thinking about it was I remember the original 13/31 runway at Edinburgh's Turnhouse being considered very short for BEA Trident ops and it made me wonder how Channel AW Tridents would have managed at Southend as the runway there was shorter than Edinburgh in the 60s.
British Independent Airlines 1946-1976 is a good source. It says the first Channel Trident 1E-140 was delivered to Southend in late May 1968 and the first commercial flight took place on 1 June 1968 (although it does not say where from).
"On February 16 1969, the Trident G-AVYE became the largest jet ever to land at Lulsgate Airport, Bristol, followed in May by the introduction of a Saturday afternoon inclusive tour Trident service from Lulsgate to Gerona on behalf of Mediterranean Holidays."
"By early 1968, Channel Airways was experiencing operating problems with its 1-11s from Southend, due to the runway length, and to local noise complaints, and so the airline moved most of its jet inclusive tour operations to Stansted."
"During 1968, Channel's inclusive tour flights from Stansted were operated by the 1-11s and Tridents, and the destinations served were Athens, Barcelona, Djerba, Faro, Gerona, Ibiza, Jerez, Lisbon, Las Palmas, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Naples, Palma, Pula, Rimini, Rome, Split, Titograd, Tunis and Venice"
"Throughout 1969, in addition to its inclusive tour flights from Southend and Stansted, Channel Airways also flew jet inclusive tours from Edinburgh and Teesside to Alicante, Gerona, Ibiza, Palma and Venice."
The book goes on to describe the sagas of 1971 and the eventual collapse of Channel Airways after sending one Trident to Berlin and robbing spare engines off the other (sitting at Stansted) due to lack of cash to buy spares and the eventual sale of the aircraft to BEA.
It's not completely definitive, but if the 1-11s were struggling at Southend then I'd have to presume that commercial operations of the Trident at Southend were impractical and improbable.
Of course, Southend did see some later Trident "operations" (one way) as the final arrival for some of the BA Trident Twos in 1984 and 1985 - G-AZXM was one of the aircraft to have an encounter with a JCB there.
"On February 16 1969, the Trident G-AVYE became the largest jet ever to land at Lulsgate Airport, Bristol, followed in May by the introduction of a Saturday afternoon inclusive tour Trident service from Lulsgate to Gerona on behalf of Mediterranean Holidays."
"By early 1968, Channel Airways was experiencing operating problems with its 1-11s from Southend, due to the runway length, and to local noise complaints, and so the airline moved most of its jet inclusive tour operations to Stansted."
"During 1968, Channel's inclusive tour flights from Stansted were operated by the 1-11s and Tridents, and the destinations served were Athens, Barcelona, Djerba, Faro, Gerona, Ibiza, Jerez, Lisbon, Las Palmas, Mahon, Malaga, Malta, Naples, Palma, Pula, Rimini, Rome, Split, Titograd, Tunis and Venice"
"Throughout 1969, in addition to its inclusive tour flights from Southend and Stansted, Channel Airways also flew jet inclusive tours from Edinburgh and Teesside to Alicante, Gerona, Ibiza, Palma and Venice."
The book goes on to describe the sagas of 1971 and the eventual collapse of Channel Airways after sending one Trident to Berlin and robbing spare engines off the other (sitting at Stansted) due to lack of cash to buy spares and the eventual sale of the aircraft to BEA.
It's not completely definitive, but if the 1-11s were struggling at Southend then I'd have to presume that commercial operations of the Trident at Southend were impractical and improbable.
Of course, Southend did see some later Trident "operations" (one way) as the final arrival for some of the BA Trident Twos in 1984 and 1985 - G-AZXM was one of the aircraft to have an encounter with a JCB there.
Channel used the Trident on scheduled services to Jersey from Stansted during the summer of 68. I flew this route on YE - don’t know how often it operated, though.
The short runway at Edinburgh and the heavy traffic /shuttle on that route was one of the reasons for the 3Bs boost engine. A boost failure on a evening flight to London meant a lot of people had to get off .
Watching Trident ops back in the day at LHR they didnt look like they performed as badly as they apparently did , I suppose it was the very long runways and the other aircraft a round that made it appear they were pretty normal. Unlike BEA Comet 4Bs that really did reach for the sky with perfomance only bettered by the MD80s and 757s although varous peak time oddities like Sabena 707s only going 180 miles or so.
Watching Trident ops back in the day at LHR they didnt look like they performed as badly as they apparently did , I suppose it was the very long runways and the other aircraft a round that made it appear they were pretty normal. Unlike BEA Comet 4Bs that really did reach for the sky with perfomance only bettered by the MD80s and 757s although varous peak time oddities like Sabena 707s only going 180 miles or so.
In the last years of 3b operations following cracks being found in the wings large doubler plates were bolted on externally just outboard of the wing fences, they also had the span reduced by the fitting of smaller wingtips, the flaps were rigged a degree or two down and the ailerons a degree or two up, all to reduce wing bending loads. Does anyone know how much affect this had on performance?
I believe the term was 'ground grippers' partly due to the comparatively small wing area; a similar phenomenon to the Beagle Pup 100.
I always enjoyed flying in Tridents; to me the takeoff run didn't seem overly long, certainly not as 'stretched out' as early '747s.
In the '70s, ATCO Cadets in their third year of training were sent on a short 2 week course to learn the operation of the Smiths Trident flight systems and we found it really interesting.
As for the 'booster' engine, I was stationed at Glasgow and when a 3b taxiied out for runway 24 (23 nowadays), they would try to start the booster as they passed the control tower and would emit a trail of vapour all along the taxiway until it finally ignited, sometimes causing concern to the fire station just along from the tower when a large gout of flame would erupt from it right in front of the fire crew.
I always enjoyed flying in Tridents; to me the takeoff run didn't seem overly long, certainly not as 'stretched out' as early '747s.
In the '70s, ATCO Cadets in their third year of training were sent on a short 2 week course to learn the operation of the Smiths Trident flight systems and we found it really interesting.
As for the 'booster' engine, I was stationed at Glasgow and when a 3b taxiied out for runway 24 (23 nowadays), they would try to start the booster as they passed the control tower and would emit a trail of vapour all along the taxiway until it finally ignited, sometimes causing concern to the fire station just along from the tower when a large gout of flame would erupt from it right in front of the fire crew.
Last edited by chevvron; 18th Apr 2023 at 11:27.
