Fly Past: When Tridents ruled the skies

Apr 30 2009 By Barry Dix

THE atmospheric and hauntingly nostalgic photo of the Sabena Convair after a rainstorm at London Airport’s Northside in the 1940s, attracted many favourable comments after it was featured in Fly Past a few weeks ago.

One reader, Kevin Bowen – who is so obsessed with Trident jets that he has his own private museum dedicated to keeping their memory alive – viewed it with particular interest as it reminded him of a photo his father, Major, had taken in identical meteorological conditions a quarter of a century later.

He’s kindly sent me a copy and I have great pleasure including it this week.

The stunning view of Tridents lined-up outside Terminal 1 minutes after the storm-clouds in the background had passed overhead, will bring back plenty of memories to those who, like me, worked at Heathrow in the early 1970s.

In those days it seemed every other arrival and departure at Heathrow was a Trident, with the three variants of the Hatfield-built jets carrying thousands of passengers all over Britain and Europe.

The picture dates from 1973, a time of huge change for the two state airlines, BEA and BOAC.

Over the next year their separate liveries, staff, planes, uniforms and equipment, disappeared into the melting pot to emerge as British Airways.

As can be seen here, former BEA planes were evident in both old and new liveries during the transition, only being repainted when they went in for a major service, many operating in the old half Union Jack of BEA well after the merger had taken place.

The odd-man-out in the line-up in this view is a Trident of Cyprus Airways, one of the few operators outside Britain to order the type.

The airline introduced Tridents in September 1969 and operated a total of five, including three former BEA machines.

One was destroyed in the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974 and another was so badly damaged in fighting at the airport that it never flew again.

Cyprus Airways had been founded in September 1947 and for more than two decades had strong links with BEA Ambassadors and then Viscounts flew under a joint agreement, and a similar arrangement was in place throughout the 1960s, when Comets proved popular on the London-Nicosia run until replaced by the Tridents.

Major Bowen – that’s his name, not his rank, though he did apparently serve in the army – worked with BEA from 1965, firstly in the cargo section, in the days when Argosies were the workhorses.

He later transferred to dispatch control in the central area and during the later 1970s worked with BA (overseas division) security, when BA the airline had its own security branch, before the days of outsourcing.

He left the airline in 1982.