Trislander, triumph of ingenuity

FOR MOST people the Trislander “happened” at Farnborough on September 11, 1970 when the aircraft created one of the show's bigger surprises by flying in, unannounced, on the same day as its maiden flight. Subsequent events were no less startling as the Trislander's development programme advanced, unfaltering, to the maiden flight of the first production aircraft on 6 March, 1971, to the first £1 million orders announced on 11 March, 1971 to ARB Type certification on 14 May, to the first deliveries in the UK and USA on 29 June, and to FAA certification on 4 August. In little more than a year, all the obstacles that stood between a basic idea and a successful aircraft had been overcome.