Aviation News – June 2018

represented as big a jump in passenger load

over BEA’s largest existing airliner (the Trident

3) as BOAC had faced when it went from the

Boeing 707 to the 747. Engineering, cabin

service and terminal facilities would all have to

be reviewed and overhauled to cope with the

large newcomer.

To handle the big jets, the British Airways

European Division established a TriStar

maintenance facility at Heathrow, complete

with a 300 x 300ft (91 x 91m) hangar, engine

overhaul facility, engineering simulator,

RB.211 and APU test cells and spares store.

These facilities were made available to other

TriStar operators and it created technical

support packages for Saudia and Gulf Air.

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk 31

The TriStar never wore full BEA

colours, but an example did

sport a hybrid scheme. Eastern

Airlines N305EA appeared at the

Farnborough airshow in 1972

with BEA tail markings and titles

applied by the airline’s engineers.

BA Heritage Centre

Above: One of the three British Airways

TriStar 1s converted to -50s. AirTeamImages.

com/Wolfgang Mendorf

Above right: British Airways’ second TriStar,

G-BBAF, nears completion on Lockheed’s

Palmdale production line in California.

BA Heritage Centre

Tristar 1, G-BBAE, was the  rst L1011 to be

delivered to British Airways. Key Collection

30-34_jetliners_tristarsDC.mfDC.mfDC.indd 31 02/05/2018 15:52