Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2009 17:36:48 GMT 1
Thanks once again to Viscount who originally compiled the following for the old forum
I've always considered the Tristar to be better looking of the larger tri-jet airliners. Through Liverpool the type has a similar time-span to the DC-10, but has never appeared in anything like the numbers of visits. Indeed during the 1979 and 1980 runway night closure and strikes at Manchester, dozens of DC-10 and Boeing 747 flights diverted to Liverpool - but not a single Tristar flight!
1974
Just 20 months after the first wide-body flight into Liverpool (a DC-10), the first Tristar flights operated. In the early hours of 24th July, unseen by most enthusiasts, Court Line(OU) brought their "shades of pink" Tristar 1 G-BAAB up from Luton to operate a Lourdes pilgrimage charter out to Tarbes Airport. It returned on 31st July on the reverse routing, again in the early hours.
1977
The only wide-body aircraft involved in the airlift of LFC supporters to Rome for the European Cup final against Munchengladbach was British Airways(BA) Tristar 1 G-BBAG, which operated at a much more civil time of day and was seen by many. It operated from Heathrow and to Rome/Fiumicino on 25th, back on the reverse routing in the early hours of 26th. My memory of this aircraft is watching the baggage handlers struggling with the unfamiliar belly cargo doors to load a single flag!
1978
The following season it was the turn of Munchengladbach supporters to travel to Liverpool for a semi-final game. Part of the inbound airlift used two LTU(LT) Tristar 1s, D-AERI and D-AERE,routed from Dusseldorf and out to Cologne in the early hours.
1979 & 1980
Despite several weeks of closure at Manchester during these two years, and night runway closure there throughout the summer months, not a single Tristar flight required diversion into Liverpool.
1984
Fast forward to 1984 and another European Cup Final in Rome. Two wide bodied aircraft were involved, an Aer Lingus Jumbo and a British Airtours(KT) Tristar 1 G-BEAM which routed Gatwick-Rome/Ciampino on 30th May and reverse on 31st May.
1985
The busiest year for Tristar movements through Liverpool Airport.
In January the 216 Sqdn R.A.F. called six times with Tristars, unfortunately for the spotters, every flight employed Tristar C.1 ZD948/CA. This was the first visit by the longer range, Tristar 500 series. On 15th two flights and another on 16th TA troops were transported outbound to Gutersloh, while on 18th two flights and one on 19th brought them back from exercise.
On August 22nd Manchester was closed due to the fire that destroyed a British Airtours Boeing 737 on departure. One of the many flights that diverted into Liverpool was a British Airtours(KT) Tristar 500 G-BFCE which positioned in from Gatwick and departed to Prestwick en route to Toronto. The aircraft was in a hybrid of BA and removed RAF markings, with no titles. Night closure for runway maintenance brought in a different British Airtours Tristar 1 G-BBAE on 24th September from Palma, to position out to Gatwick the following morning.
Final Tristar movements of the year again employed 216 Sqdn RAF, with a trooping flight outbound to Gutersloh on 19th October, with the return flight on 1st November, both flights using Tristar C.2 ZE705.
Until now all the Tristar flights had used the North Airfield and the 'art deco' terminal. From April 1986 operations were moved to the South Airfield and the new apron/terminal facilities.
1987
British Airtours diverted Tristar 1 G-BBAJ into Liverpool due to Manchester's runway being blocked on 5th May, arriving from Tenerife South and positioning across to Manchester later. Later in the year 216 Sqdn RAF appeared again,this time with a series of 3 trooping flights from Belfast. On 24th and 26th September Tristar K.1 ZD951 was used, with a second flight on 26th bringing in Tristar KC.1 ZD953.
1988
More trooping flights in February, this time outbound to Berlin/Tegel. On 15th Tristar K.1 ZD951 arrived from Brize Norton only to develop a fault, so Tristar K.1 ZD949 routed Brize Norton-Leeds to drop off spares and engineers. The flight on 19th used ZD951 this time leaving for Berlin without a problem.
1994
Another fast forward, this time to 27th November 1994 when Air Ops (OOE) brought in Tristar 50 SE-DPP from Manchester for intensive circuit training, before departing down to Heathrow. Trading name 'Air Ops' was derived from the full company name 'Air Operations of Europe Ltd'.
1995
Air Ops particular niche in the Airline market was to provide Tristar aircraft to larger operators at very short notice to cover for aircraft that had 'gone tech' so stranding passengers. On 9th November a Britannia(BAL) flight used Air Ops's SE-DSE to cover a flight from Malaga - but it ran so late it had to divert into Liverpool due to winter over-night runway work at Manchester. On 4th December, again due to night runway work a Caledonian(CKT) flight from Goa via Bahrain was running late, so G-BBAJ had to divert to Liverpool, it later positioned out to Gatwick.
1996
The following month, on 3rd January, it was the turn of American Trans Air(AMT) to be caught out running late. Tristar 50 N186AT arrived transAtlantic via Gander and left via Shannon with outbound passengers. Two days later Air Ops were running late inbound from Malaga, so had to divert in using Tristar 50 SE-DPM, positioning across to Manchester in the morning.
When Air Ops lost a number of contracts, a number of aircraft were put into store pending sale. When SE-DSC positioned into Liverpool from Gatwick on 21st March it was thought to be the first of several. Parked intially on the South Airfield it ws moved into the centre of the abandoned North Airfield where it began to shed components, including engines and a cockpit window. A few days of activity in June enabled a departure on June 14th for an undercarriage down ferry flight to Bournemouth, where the aircraft was subsequently scrapped during August.
The market niche formerly filled by Air Ops, was taken over by Atlanta Airways. They brought newly acquired Tristar 1 G-CEAP in on 12th June on training flights routing Cardiff to Prestwick and later the same day returning Prestwick-Cardiff. This aircraft being the same airframe that visited in January wearing registration SE-DPM.
1997
In April, LFC supporters travelled to Paris for a game against Paris St Germain. Two wide-bodied aircraft took part in the fans airlift, an A.300 and an Air Atlanta Iceland(ABD) Tristar TF-ABH, which routed Gatwick-Beauvais on 9th April and the reverse route on 11th. On 18th August weather at Manchester caused an Airtours(AIH) flight using Tristar 1 SE-DSB to divert into Liverpool with passengers from Palma, later the aircraft positioned across to Mancheseter.
On 2nd October Air Atlanta brought in a group of Icelandic tourists via Dublin on TF-ABV, the aircraft departing for Gatwick. On 5th October the same aircraft returned from Gatwick, departing for Iceland via Dublin. The final Tristar of the year TF-ABD brought in Icelandic football supporters and their Chrismas shoppping WAGs on 6th December for a day trip, f&t Keflavik.
1998
Considering Caledonian had several Tristars in their fleet, they again used G-BBAJ into Liverpool on 12th January. The aircraft though was on contract to the MoD for use on trooping flights, arriving from Akrotiri and positioning to Gatwick.
Monarch(MON) used Tristar 1 TF-ABU twice during the summer inclusive tour season to 'rescue' passengers stranded by 'tech' problems affecting the usual A.320 flights. On 14th June passengers were brought home from Alicante, while on 16th October passengers were brought home from Tenerife. On both occasions the aircraft positioned back to Manchester.
In December, Air Madeira(LXR) on 8th December brought in Tristar 500 CS-TEB routing Vigo-Santiago, departing in the early hours. The reason for visit is not recorded, suspect probably European football related ?. Was the owner/operator Air Luxor or Air Madeira ?
1999
Monarch continued to use Air Atlanta Tristar TF-ABU, it was used to collect stranded Reus passengers from Barcelona on 9th August, while on 5th September it collected stranded passengers from Las Palmas. On both occasions the aircraft positioned back across to Manchester afterwards.
2001
For the UEFA Cup Final in May 2001 a number of wide bodied aircraft were involved. Air Atlanta participated with a Boeing 747 and a Tristar 1 TF-ABT Manchester-Cologne on 16th May, returning the following morning with the reverse routing.
2002
A Britannia Airways Boeing 757 service suffered long delays in June, as a result of a general strike in Spain. To ease the situation, passengers were carried on sub-chartered Tristar 500 CS-TMR of Yes, routing f&t Palma in mid-afternoon of Friday 21st (1603-1757). With few Tristar aircraft regularly flying in Europe apart from a few in Portugal, as the years passed it looked as if the Tristar had been seen for the last time at Liverpool. However, there was one last burst of activity left, so in 2007 ...
2007
Due to a shortage of aircraft Futura twice sub-chartered Tristars for their Liverpool inclusive tour flights during 2007. The first arrived mixed in with the late returning Jumbos from the LFC Athens airlift on 24th May. CS-TMP of AirLuz arrived from Lisbon 1912 and departed with passengers to Lanzarote at 2111, later than intended.
On Saturday 2nd June, replacing the normal Boeing 737-800, Euro Atlantic's Tristar 500 CS-TEB (which had first appeared at Liverpool in 1998) was used for Futura's Palma-Alicante rotation in the morning (1022-1238) and also the late afternoon return Alicante-Palma rotation (1908-2149).
2009
11th March saw RAF Tristar KC.1 ZD950 visit Muscat-Brize Norton on a trooping flight. The unexpected visit was even more welcome as that particular aircraft had not visited Liverpool before.
2010
On its first visit to Liverpool since 1988, Tristar K.1 ZD949 called on a training flight on Thursday 30th September 2010. Calling 'Marshall 4C', it landed 27 then waited on the main apron for a while before taxiing out and departing 27, on the ground just under an hour. So, yet another likely 'last visit of type' for a Tristar at Liverpool to record, a year and a half after the previous one and stretches the span of visits to 37 years, 1974-2010. A great sight.
This was indeed the final visit by a Tristar aircraft to Liverpool Airport.
The Tristars that visited Liverpool were (in alphabetical order):
CS-TEB, CS-TMP, CS-TMR.
D-AERE, D-AERI.
G-BBAB, G-BBAE, G-BBAG, G-BBAJ, G-BEAM, G-BFCE, G-CEAP, ZD948, ZD949, ZD950, ZD951, ZD953, ZE705.
N186AT.
SE-DPM, SE-DPP(2), SE-DSB, SE-DSC, SE-DSE.
TF-ABD, TF-ABH, TF-ABT, TF-ABU, TF-ABV.
This makes 29 registrations, carried on 28 aircraft, as SE-DPM later appeared as G-CEAP. Nearly confused by SE-DPP(1) which appeared later as TF-ABD - but is a different SE-DPP to the aircraft that did appear!
Airlines that appeared: AirLuz, Air Ops, American Trans Air, Atlanta Airways, British Airtours, British Airways, Caledonian, Courtline, Euro Atlantic, LTU, RAF and Yes. Also Airtours, Britannia and Monarch on sub-lease. An omission from this list, seeing that their Tristars flew frequently into Manchester, is Air Transat - somehow they escaped ever having to divert into Liverpool.
CS-TMP is the third youngest Tristar (number 248 out of 250) built, coming off the production line in 1983; while the earliest built was SE-DSE in 1972, just number 13 off the line.
Although the Tristar has not visited anything like as often as the DC-10, no less than 28 have called out of 250 built, this compares favourably with 32 DC-10s out of 386 built (plus 60 KC-10s for USAF) with just 1 MD-11 visiting (so far) out of the 200 built.
VISITS TO LIVERPOOL AIRPORT BY THE L.1011 TRISTAR
I've always considered the Tristar to be better looking of the larger tri-jet airliners. Through Liverpool the type has a similar time-span to the DC-10, but has never appeared in anything like the numbers of visits. Indeed during the 1979 and 1980 runway night closure and strikes at Manchester, dozens of DC-10 and Boeing 747 flights diverted to Liverpool - but not a single Tristar flight!
1974
Just 20 months after the first wide-body flight into Liverpool (a DC-10), the first Tristar flights operated. In the early hours of 24th July, unseen by most enthusiasts, Court Line(OU) brought their "shades of pink" Tristar 1 G-BAAB up from Luton to operate a Lourdes pilgrimage charter out to Tarbes Airport. It returned on 31st July on the reverse routing, again in the early hours.
1977
The only wide-body aircraft involved in the airlift of LFC supporters to Rome for the European Cup final against Munchengladbach was British Airways(BA) Tristar 1 G-BBAG, which operated at a much more civil time of day and was seen by many. It operated from Heathrow and to Rome/Fiumicino on 25th, back on the reverse routing in the early hours of 26th. My memory of this aircraft is watching the baggage handlers struggling with the unfamiliar belly cargo doors to load a single flag!
1978
The following season it was the turn of Munchengladbach supporters to travel to Liverpool for a semi-final game. Part of the inbound airlift used two LTU(LT) Tristar 1s, D-AERI and D-AERE,routed from Dusseldorf and out to Cologne in the early hours.
1979 & 1980
Despite several weeks of closure at Manchester during these two years, and night runway closure there throughout the summer months, not a single Tristar flight required diversion into Liverpool.
1984
Fast forward to 1984 and another European Cup Final in Rome. Two wide bodied aircraft were involved, an Aer Lingus Jumbo and a British Airtours(KT) Tristar 1 G-BEAM which routed Gatwick-Rome/Ciampino on 30th May and reverse on 31st May.
1985
The busiest year for Tristar movements through Liverpool Airport.
In January the 216 Sqdn R.A.F. called six times with Tristars, unfortunately for the spotters, every flight employed Tristar C.1 ZD948/CA. This was the first visit by the longer range, Tristar 500 series. On 15th two flights and another on 16th TA troops were transported outbound to Gutersloh, while on 18th two flights and one on 19th brought them back from exercise.
On August 22nd Manchester was closed due to the fire that destroyed a British Airtours Boeing 737 on departure. One of the many flights that diverted into Liverpool was a British Airtours(KT) Tristar 500 G-BFCE which positioned in from Gatwick and departed to Prestwick en route to Toronto. The aircraft was in a hybrid of BA and removed RAF markings, with no titles. Night closure for runway maintenance brought in a different British Airtours Tristar 1 G-BBAE on 24th September from Palma, to position out to Gatwick the following morning.
Final Tristar movements of the year again employed 216 Sqdn RAF, with a trooping flight outbound to Gutersloh on 19th October, with the return flight on 1st November, both flights using Tristar C.2 ZE705.
Until now all the Tristar flights had used the North Airfield and the 'art deco' terminal. From April 1986 operations were moved to the South Airfield and the new apron/terminal facilities.
1987
British Airtours diverted Tristar 1 G-BBAJ into Liverpool due to Manchester's runway being blocked on 5th May, arriving from Tenerife South and positioning across to Manchester later. Later in the year 216 Sqdn RAF appeared again,this time with a series of 3 trooping flights from Belfast. On 24th and 26th September Tristar K.1 ZD951 was used, with a second flight on 26th bringing in Tristar KC.1 ZD953.
1988
More trooping flights in February, this time outbound to Berlin/Tegel. On 15th Tristar K.1 ZD951 arrived from Brize Norton only to develop a fault, so Tristar K.1 ZD949 routed Brize Norton-Leeds to drop off spares and engineers. The flight on 19th used ZD951 this time leaving for Berlin without a problem.
1994
Another fast forward, this time to 27th November 1994 when Air Ops (OOE) brought in Tristar 50 SE-DPP from Manchester for intensive circuit training, before departing down to Heathrow. Trading name 'Air Ops' was derived from the full company name 'Air Operations of Europe Ltd'.
1995
Air Ops particular niche in the Airline market was to provide Tristar aircraft to larger operators at very short notice to cover for aircraft that had 'gone tech' so stranding passengers. On 9th November a Britannia(BAL) flight used Air Ops's SE-DSE to cover a flight from Malaga - but it ran so late it had to divert into Liverpool due to winter over-night runway work at Manchester. On 4th December, again due to night runway work a Caledonian(CKT) flight from Goa via Bahrain was running late, so G-BBAJ had to divert to Liverpool, it later positioned out to Gatwick.
1996
The following month, on 3rd January, it was the turn of American Trans Air(AMT) to be caught out running late. Tristar 50 N186AT arrived transAtlantic via Gander and left via Shannon with outbound passengers. Two days later Air Ops were running late inbound from Malaga, so had to divert in using Tristar 50 SE-DPM, positioning across to Manchester in the morning.
When Air Ops lost a number of contracts, a number of aircraft were put into store pending sale. When SE-DSC positioned into Liverpool from Gatwick on 21st March it was thought to be the first of several. Parked intially on the South Airfield it ws moved into the centre of the abandoned North Airfield where it began to shed components, including engines and a cockpit window. A few days of activity in June enabled a departure on June 14th for an undercarriage down ferry flight to Bournemouth, where the aircraft was subsequently scrapped during August.
The market niche formerly filled by Air Ops, was taken over by Atlanta Airways. They brought newly acquired Tristar 1 G-CEAP in on 12th June on training flights routing Cardiff to Prestwick and later the same day returning Prestwick-Cardiff. This aircraft being the same airframe that visited in January wearing registration SE-DPM.
1997
In April, LFC supporters travelled to Paris for a game against Paris St Germain. Two wide-bodied aircraft took part in the fans airlift, an A.300 and an Air Atlanta Iceland(ABD) Tristar TF-ABH, which routed Gatwick-Beauvais on 9th April and the reverse route on 11th. On 18th August weather at Manchester caused an Airtours(AIH) flight using Tristar 1 SE-DSB to divert into Liverpool with passengers from Palma, later the aircraft positioned across to Mancheseter.
On 2nd October Air Atlanta brought in a group of Icelandic tourists via Dublin on TF-ABV, the aircraft departing for Gatwick. On 5th October the same aircraft returned from Gatwick, departing for Iceland via Dublin. The final Tristar of the year TF-ABD brought in Icelandic football supporters and their Chrismas shoppping WAGs on 6th December for a day trip, f&t Keflavik.
1998
Considering Caledonian had several Tristars in their fleet, they again used G-BBAJ into Liverpool on 12th January. The aircraft though was on contract to the MoD for use on trooping flights, arriving from Akrotiri and positioning to Gatwick.
Monarch(MON) used Tristar 1 TF-ABU twice during the summer inclusive tour season to 'rescue' passengers stranded by 'tech' problems affecting the usual A.320 flights. On 14th June passengers were brought home from Alicante, while on 16th October passengers were brought home from Tenerife. On both occasions the aircraft positioned back to Manchester.
In December, Air Madeira(LXR) on 8th December brought in Tristar 500 CS-TEB routing Vigo-Santiago, departing in the early hours. The reason for visit is not recorded, suspect probably European football related ?. Was the owner/operator Air Luxor or Air Madeira ?
1999
Monarch continued to use Air Atlanta Tristar TF-ABU, it was used to collect stranded Reus passengers from Barcelona on 9th August, while on 5th September it collected stranded passengers from Las Palmas. On both occasions the aircraft positioned back across to Manchester afterwards.
2001
For the UEFA Cup Final in May 2001 a number of wide bodied aircraft were involved. Air Atlanta participated with a Boeing 747 and a Tristar 1 TF-ABT Manchester-Cologne on 16th May, returning the following morning with the reverse routing.
2002
A Britannia Airways Boeing 757 service suffered long delays in June, as a result of a general strike in Spain. To ease the situation, passengers were carried on sub-chartered Tristar 500 CS-TMR of Yes, routing f&t Palma in mid-afternoon of Friday 21st (1603-1757). With few Tristar aircraft regularly flying in Europe apart from a few in Portugal, as the years passed it looked as if the Tristar had been seen for the last time at Liverpool. However, there was one last burst of activity left, so in 2007 ...
2007
Due to a shortage of aircraft Futura twice sub-chartered Tristars for their Liverpool inclusive tour flights during 2007. The first arrived mixed in with the late returning Jumbos from the LFC Athens airlift on 24th May. CS-TMP of AirLuz arrived from Lisbon 1912 and departed with passengers to Lanzarote at 2111, later than intended.
On Saturday 2nd June, replacing the normal Boeing 737-800, Euro Atlantic's Tristar 500 CS-TEB (which had first appeared at Liverpool in 1998) was used for Futura's Palma-Alicante rotation in the morning (1022-1238) and also the late afternoon return Alicante-Palma rotation (1908-2149).
2009
11th March saw RAF Tristar KC.1 ZD950 visit Muscat-Brize Norton on a trooping flight. The unexpected visit was even more welcome as that particular aircraft had not visited Liverpool before.
2010
On its first visit to Liverpool since 1988, Tristar K.1 ZD949 called on a training flight on Thursday 30th September 2010. Calling 'Marshall 4C', it landed 27 then waited on the main apron for a while before taxiing out and departing 27, on the ground just under an hour. So, yet another likely 'last visit of type' for a Tristar at Liverpool to record, a year and a half after the previous one and stretches the span of visits to 37 years, 1974-2010. A great sight.
This was indeed the final visit by a Tristar aircraft to Liverpool Airport.
The Tristars that visited Liverpool were (in alphabetical order):
CS-TEB, CS-TMP, CS-TMR.
D-AERE, D-AERI.
G-BBAB, G-BBAE, G-BBAG, G-BBAJ, G-BEAM, G-BFCE, G-CEAP, ZD948, ZD949, ZD950, ZD951, ZD953, ZE705.
N186AT.
SE-DPM, SE-DPP(2), SE-DSB, SE-DSC, SE-DSE.
TF-ABD, TF-ABH, TF-ABT, TF-ABU, TF-ABV.
This makes 29 registrations, carried on 28 aircraft, as SE-DPM later appeared as G-CEAP. Nearly confused by SE-DPP(1) which appeared later as TF-ABD - but is a different SE-DPP to the aircraft that did appear!
Airlines that appeared: AirLuz, Air Ops, American Trans Air, Atlanta Airways, British Airtours, British Airways, Caledonian, Courtline, Euro Atlantic, LTU, RAF and Yes. Also Airtours, Britannia and Monarch on sub-lease. An omission from this list, seeing that their Tristars flew frequently into Manchester, is Air Transat - somehow they escaped ever having to divert into Liverpool.
CS-TMP is the third youngest Tristar (number 248 out of 250) built, coming off the production line in 1983; while the earliest built was SE-DSE in 1972, just number 13 off the line.
Although the Tristar has not visited anything like as often as the DC-10, no less than 28 have called out of 250 built, this compares favourably with 32 DC-10s out of 386 built (plus 60 KC-10s for USAF) with just 1 MD-11 visiting (so far) out of the 200 built.
