DALLAS – Today in Aviation, the last variant of the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, the -500, took to the skies for the first time in 1978.
The long-range variant was launched in August 1976 and was capable of flying up to 6,100 nm (11,260 km). It had a 4.1 m (13 ft 6 in) shorter fuselage than its predecessors, a larger wingspan, a higher max take-off weight, and powerful new RB211–524 engines.
Lockheed made use of emerging technologies from the late 1970s. Other improvements included active-load-control ailerons and noise-reducing Frisbee fairing. This was named after Lloyd Frisbee, the Lockheed engineer who read more ⇒
Source:: “Airways Magazine”