Launched in March 1968, the L-1011 was designed to meet American Airlines' requirement for a large capacity, medium range airliner. Although American was the first airline to approach Lockheed for this type of airliner, they have never operated the L-1011, and instead chose the competing DC-10.

Lockheed chose the Rolls-Royce advanced three-shaft design RB211 engines to power the L-1011, but this decision nearly caused the failure of Lockheed and Rolls-Royce went bankrupt in February 1970 due to overestimated development costs of the RB211. The resulting production delays severely damaged the L-1011 program, leading to the forfeiting of many sales to the rival DC-10.

Although financial difficulties dogged the production, the L-1011 went on to gain an excellent reputation in service for its reliability, economical efficiency and technology. The L-1011 was one of the most advanced jetliners at the time when it entered service and customers were more than satisfied with the airplane's low noise emissions for the time. While many felt that the L-1011 was technologically superior to the DC-10, it was outsold by the DC-10, which remained in production six years longer. The L-1011 was the first civil jetliner produced by Lockheed and it sadly became the last when they announced the decision to withdraw from manufacturing civil aircraft in the early 1980s.

L-1011 variants beyond the initial -1 model are: the -100 with more fuel and higher weights, the --200 with higher thrust engines, and the long range -500. The -250 was a conversion of the -1 with -500 engines for Delta airlines.

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