The Lockheed L1011 Tristar is a long range strategic transport aircraft designed to carry passengers and cargo or a combination of both.  The RAF has a total of 9 Tristars.  The Royal Air Force operates 3 types of converted L1011 500 aircraft, that we have designated the C2, KC1 and the K1.  (In military aviation speak, the C means cargo/passengers and the K means an air to air refuelling tanker).  Our Tristar fleet is heavily tasked with scheduled services to the Falkland Islands and Cyprus, plus the Former Yugoslavia and recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The tanker versions played a crucial role in the air to air refuelling operations for Operation Allied Force in Kosovo.  The types most commonly seen in Western Canada are the C2 and KC1.

We have 3 Tristar C2 aircraft.  They were bought from Pan Am in the late 1980s and have proved to be a very significant element of our strategic airlift capability and are very similar to the original L1011 500 aircraft.  We fly them with a standard configuration of 242 seats available for passengers, with 6 stretcher spaces.
 
 

Our 4 Tristar KC1 aircraft are converted L1011 500s, formally belonging to British Airways. We have configured them so that we can carry a mixture of payloads; either a full passenger complement of 204 seats or 20 air cargo pallets or a combination of both.  The KC1 is an extremely versatile aircraft and was originally designed so that a fighter squadron could deploy its technical equipment, spares, plus extra pilots and ground crew, and air to air refuel the fighters on the way!  The KC1 has a 140in x 120in freight door and a powered roller conveyor system.  The KC1 has additional under-floor fuel tanks, twin hose drum units in the rear fuselage, and a CCTV system.

Our 2 Tristar K1 aircraft have also been converted from British Airways L1011 500s. They are different from the KC1 in that they have a fixed passenger seat configuration of 187 seats in the rear two-thirds of the cabin and the front third is taken up by 25 baggage bins, secured on a ball-mat-roller system.  These baggage bins are loaded through the passenger door.

As in the case with the KC1, the K1 has additional under-floor fuel tanks, twin hose drum units in the rear fuselage, and a CCTV system, but no refuelling probe.
 

Our Tristar aircraft can be seen at Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and CFB Cold Lake.