The 1970s were an abundant time for early widebody designs. The decade kicked off in style with the Boeing 747's entry into service. McDonnell Douglas's DC-10 followed suit shortly after. The third twin-aisle aircraft to hit the skies commercially was, like the DC-10, another design sporting three engines. This is the story of the Lockheed L-1011 'TriStar.'

A brief history of the TriStar

The TriStar's story began in the 1960s, when American Airlines approached various US manufacturers regarding its need for higher capacity on transcontinental routes. At this point, Lockheed had ceased airliner manufacturing in 1961, when the production of its L-188 'Electra' turboprop ended. Nonetheless, it was keen to get back into the airliner market.

This resulted in the L-1011 TriStar, which had a similar three-engine configuration to McDonnell Douglas's answer to American Airlines' request: the DC-10. The TriStar boasted advanced technology that rendered it quieter and more efficient and reliable than previous jetliners. However, this did result in a higher list price than the DC-10.

The TriStar first flew in November 1970, and entered service in April 1972. Lockheed ultimately produced 250 examples of the TriStar between 1968 and 1984. Just one example remains operational, launching Pegasus rockets for Orbital Services.

Lockheed TriStar
N140SC is the world's last remaining active TriStar. Photo: Alan Wilson via Flickr

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Several different variants

Over the course of its production history, Lockheed manufactured numerous versions of the TriStar. 160 of its 250 TriStars were examples of the original L-1011-1 variant. The second model, the L-1011-100, hit the skies in 1975, and had a longer range than the L-1011-1. An additional center fuel tank extended this by 930 miles (1,500 km).

Lockheed also offered the L-1011-50 as a conversion of the L-1011-1. While this had the same range, its advantage over the L-1011-1 was an increased maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 200-205 tonnes (compared to 195 for the -100).

Lockheed TriStar Getty
Photo: Getty Images

The L-1011-150 conversion then increased this figure further to 210 tonnes. Air Transat took the first of these in 1989. The final conversion option offered by Lockheed was the L-1011-250. This applied to the -1, -100, and -200 models, but Delta only ever took it up for six -1s. The premise of this upgrade was to match the long-range DC-10-30's performance.

The final two production variants of the TriStar were the L-1011-200 and the L-1011-500. The former of these featured Rolls-Royce RB.211-524B engines to improve its 'hot and high' performance. Meanwhile, the -500 had a shorter fuselage (50.05 vs 54.14 meters) but a longer range, a similar tactic to that applied by Boeing to the 747SP

Lockheed TriStar

Who flew the type?

The TriStar went on to see a varied service life at a range of both military and commercial operators. The former of these saw it serve for air forces in Algeria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UK. The latter of these replaced it with the Airbus A330 MRTT.

As for commercial use, the US-built TriStar had an understandably large number of operators in North America. These included Air Canada and Air Transat, as well as Eastern, TWA, Delta Air Lines, Pan Am and, briefly, United Airlines.

The TriStar was also a well-traveled aircraft outside of North America. It became a key medium to long-haul design for flag carrier airlines all over the world. These included, to name but a few, Aer Lingus, Air France, Air India, British Airways, Gulf Air, and TAAG Angola.

What are your memories of the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar? Did you ever fly on the type? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!