Page 28 - Aviation News (February 2020)

Tales of the Trislander

Barry Lloyd examines the Trislander which
was developed from the successful Islander.

The best-known Trislanders were probably
ohn Britten and Desmond Norman required signifi cant modifi cations to the
had both trained with de Havilland the yellow aircraft of Aurigny, which fl ew 16 tail section and overall strengthening of
examples on island-hopping services from
and began developing crop- 1971 until 2015, when it retired the type. Key the rear fuselage.
J spraying equipment in the mid- Collection
1950s using de Havilland Tiger Moths INCREASED CAPACITY
which had been modifi ed at their factory Norman BN-2 Islander was born. Both Britten-Norman’s market research had
on the Isle of Wight, for a contract in men shared a passion for sailing and had shown that a market existed for an aircraft
Sudan. Following this, they turned their chosen the Isle of Wight as their base so with a signifi cant increase in internal
hand to aircraft design, put their combined they could combine both interests. capacity compared to the Islander. The
creative aviation brains together and, Such was the success of the Islander modifi cations included a 7ft 6in (2.29m)
having made a detailed analysis of the that Britten-Norman believed there was fuselage stretch forward of the wing, in
light aviation market, decided there was a a case for extending the fuselage and order to provide the 18 seats called for by
demand for a twin-engined utility aircraft adding an engine. the design criteria.
with a minimum of complex systems. Consideration was given to putting Single-pilot operation allows the
It would also have to be capable of the additional engine on the nose, rather forward right-hand seat to be used by
operating from short, rough airstrips and like the Junkers Ju 52, but the low nose a passenger and a typical confi guration
rugged enough for high-density short confi guration did not allow for that. would be eight rows of double seats, each
commuter fl ights. Thus, the Britten- Naturally, mounting the engine on the tail with their own door, fi ve on the starboard

26 AVIATION NEWS FEBRUARY 2020

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