Airfix 06178 Lockheed Tristar

The Lockheed L-1011 Tristar was a low-wing, three-engined, long-range airliner. The propulsion was provided by four jet engines Rolls-Royce RB.211-524B . The flight of the prototype took place in 1968, and serial production lasted from 1968 to 1984. In total, 250 machines of this type were created.

Lockheed Tristar was created in connection with the intensive development of the American aviation market in the 1960s. Many of the then carriers were looking for a machine with a greater range and able to take on board more passengers than the then basic passenger planes, i.e. Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. Lockheed decided to respond to this demand by constructing the L-1101 Tristar plane. Despite the fact that the new machine turned out to be very technologically advanced, it did not gain a dominant position on the market, mainly due to the high purchase costs of a single plane, as well as higher operating costs than in competing machines. Several development versions were created in the course of production, including: L-1101-100 with increased flight range, L-1101-200 with a new version of the RB.211 engines or K1 / KC1 produced for the RAF long range transport machine and flying tanker. The Lockheed L-1011 Tristar has turned out to be - so far - the last aircraft produced by this company for the commercial jet aircraft market.