Originally Posted by
DozyWannabe
This is borne out by the fact that Boeing took the original specification and design (minus the advanced avionics) and copied it almost verbatim in the form of the 727
Ths is a long-standing comment, but I wonder how accurate it is, apart from the basic aircraft configuration. The 727 front end and fuselage were taken directly from the 707 (and the 737 still is). Is the DC8 also a 707 copy, because it was the same configuration ?
As I understand it, although the first Trident design had more substantial engines, it didn't have the high-lift devices of the 727 which lifted the first 727s off short runways because it was intended (by BEA) to operate from Heathrow to other major European airports, most of which were already handling 707s etc, whereas the 727 sold initially to US airlines to operate into many places where the DC6 was the biggest they had seen up to then. I doubt either Trident version could have operated out of the 6,000 foot runways that La Guardia had when the 727 came into service.
The first generation of "smaller" jets, 2 and 3 engined (of which the pioneer was the Caravelle), all went for rear-end, fuselage-mounted engnes, because that was more straightforward to control with an engine out, plus they were concerned about sucking up FOD on lesser runways. Only when the 737 came along had the research been fully done on how to handle wing-mounted engines. This configuration then came back into vogue more recently when all the the RJs came along, for different reasons which we need not dilute this discussion of the Trident era with.