Post by aerofoto - HJG Admin on Jun 17, 2024 10:34:47 GMT
A lot of people don't know this (even in NZ) .... but .... during the very late 60's/early 70's AIR NEW ZEALAND was "a serious contender" for the L-1011 TRISTAR .... and more-so at than the DC-10-30 which it eventually acquired.
This was "most enthusiastically" endorsed/encouraged by "PIGGY MULDOON" .... NZ's most famous/infamous (depending one one social/political stand-point) of the 70's/80's era ....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRRwYuYnMbk
.... he was also the primary shareholder of AIR NZ, when it was a state owned enterprise, and was additionally a keen civil aviation advocate too .... and which resulted in his governments policies keeping competition out of NZ and "in AIR NZ's favour", until the reversal of this policy with implementation of "Open Skies" during the late 80's, and which then resulted in "dramatic increases" in the number of foreign operators servicing NZ from this point of time .... and which has significantly benefited the NZ travelling public and foreign tourism generally ever since.
The L-1011 might well have eventuated for AIR NZ had the LOCKHEED/RR crisis not erupted .... and which delayed development of heavier/longer range versions of the L-1011.
Such delays (and at one stage it apparently looked like the entire future of the L-1011 was doubtful too) were "inconvenient" with AIR NZ's intent/forward planning strategies, so, the airline selected the DC-10-30 instead .... since B747 capacity was, at the time, well in excess of the airlines requirements.
A promotional model was non-the-less presented by LOCKHEED, to AIR NZ, at the time and which was finished in the 1966-1973 era AIR NEW ZEALAND livery as follows ....
This particular model is still in existence today and displayed at Auckland's Museum Of Transport & Technology (MOTAT).
Often interesting to reflect upon what nearly, but ultimately didn't", become a reality due to whatever political/corporate circumstances transpired to influence history in another direction
Mark C
AKL/NZ
