Do you disagree with my analysis of the Trident?
I certainly do - but with only ten years experience of the various marks what would I know?
The Tridents were superb all weather aeroplanes. Apart from the Cat111 performance they punched their way through turbulence in a way which gave a greater feeling of security than I experienced on B757/67.
The wing on 2s and 3s was a masterpiece of the kind that HS was so good at. When trimmed to a speed the aeroplane maintained that speed throughout configuration changes (in the absence of passenger movement).
The unintelligent use of autothrottle de-stabilised many approaches but it was perfectly possible to fly a fixed power approach in turbulent conditions by reverting to basics on attitude control. The wing was so strong that the break-up contractor had to resort to picking aeroplanes up with a crane and dropping them on wingtips.
That brick s**thouse construction was probably a relic of the early Comet disasters.
It also made the VC10 too expensive initially. Sir Giles Guthrie cancelled Super VC10s for the cheaper B707's but I believe retrospective analysis showed that in the long run the stronger VC10s were more economical than the 707s which required regular part replacement. (Apart altogether from the greater passenger appeal).
So let's try not to indulge in the classic British pastime of running down our own products.