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Whatever price Middle East Airlines negotiated for those newly-ordered Airbus A320neos, it probably didn't involve part-payment in fruit.

Which wasn't the case in 1966 when BAC was desperately trying to flog a batch of Super VC10s to MEA in a bid to attract sales from other overseas customers - even Czechoslovakia.

"If...we lose the Middle East Airlines contract, it seems very likely that we shall have to abandon any hope of selling the Super VC10 in world markets," was the UK minister of aviation's pessimistic prognosis, contained in a memorandum buried in the National Archives.

MEA insisted on a £2.67 million price-tag for each jet, the lowest figure to which BAC would agree, plus generous payment terms including a 10-year interest-free loan.

Not content with paying peanuts for the VC10s it also demanded arrangements for the sale of Lebanese apples in the UK amounting to "at least 20% of the value of the aircraft".

While the government wouldn't agree to a special apple quota, the document reveals that BAC found an importer which would use part of the global quota to bring in Lebanese apples.

"We may well have protests from traditional suppliers and attempts to raise the global quota," the memorandum warns. "We should try to avoid doing this, because it would create difficulties with our home apple growers, but we might in the end be forced to."

Half a century ago today at a small airfield north of London, de Havilland launched its best and final attempt to recover the lead it lost a decade earlier with the disastrous crashes of its pioneering Comet jet airliners.

At 12:14 on 9 January 1962 DH chief test pilot John Cunningham flew the first DH121 Trident G-ARPA off the runway at Hatfield for a 1h 21 min maiden flight. G-ARPA's control yoke, as well as a piece of its airframe that incorporates that historic registration, is preserved at the excellent Heathrow Trident Collection in Feltham, Middlesex (pictured below).

The little trijet, with its novel "S-duct" central engine installation, would go on to influence a generation of narrowbody and widebody three-holers, the most significant of which of course was Boeing's 727.

History now records that despite its innovations in configuration and technology (it pioneered Autoland systems), the Trident was a commercial flop. DH and successor Hawker Siddeley built just 117 Tridents while Boeing sold an eye-watering 1,831 727s. Why was it a flop? Because DH spent too much time listening to its launch customer - BEA - and tailored the design around that airline's requirements. This cardinal sin has ever since sat as a stark reminder to airframers about the perils of allowing one customer to have too much design influence.

But sales aside, the Trident always proved a huge hit with the pilots - most of who worked for BEA and successor British Airways which flew more than 70 of the trijets.

Three of them got together last Saturday at Farnborough's FAST museum to mark the 50th anniversary and to reminisce in the beautifully preserved cockpit of Trident 3B G-AWZI which is owned by Trident enthusiast Andrew Lee.

Capts Chris Wood, Dave Warren and John Rankin (pictured top, left to right) had between them more than three decades of Trident flying experience and fondly remember the "Gripper" - so called because of its less than sparkling take-off performance.

"The Trident was an awesome machine to fly," recalls Capt Rankin. "It was the best handling airliner I ever flew with superb control, agility and rock solid stability. Roll rates of 30o/s and smooth as silk right up to its Mach 0.96 max speed. The Boeings I've flown felt like the designer drove a Cadillac. The Trident felt like a finely tuned sports car."

So here's to Cunningham, ah de Havilland and the Trident - and what might have been...

Click below to read Flight International's report on the first flight:

The fact that Boeing has decided to go derivative rather than all-new for its competitive response to the Airbus A320neo will have been greeted with relief in Toulouse, but it could actually create headaches elsewhere in the airframer's product line-up.

Okay, so the threat of the A320neo being obseleted almost before its paint has dried by an all-new competitor from Seattle has gone. But this removes a huge potential weight from the Boeing PD engineering teams who - once they've sorted 787-9 and possibly -10 and tinkered with the 737RE, will be relatively unencumbered.

And guess what their next task will be? You can bet it will centre on nailing the 777 refresh/successor programme to blow the A350-1000 out of the water (now they have a better idea what that beast will actually look like).

And don't take my word for it - that was the surmise that a certain industry icon with the initials SUV made to me a couple of months ago, and he knows a thing or two about product development.

Given the lukewarm reaction that Airbus's attempt to sharpen up the A350-1000 received from customers at Paris, this task may be easier than Boeing had feared it would be.

The 777, in -300ER guise (above), is already established as the long-haul widebody benchmark so taking it on to the next level will be a challenge. And I wonder what engine the 777 revamp might have? There's one engine maker whose initials also stand for "Get Everything" that might possibly be well placed, particularly as Airbus has closed the door to anyone other than Rolls on the A350-1000 (below).

But then again, wouldn't a Pratt GTF-powered 777 be an interesting proposition? And Pratt of course let on a few years ago that it had been approached by an airframer about the possibility of a GTF sized for a widebody application. So the idea might not be as daft as it sounds...

Boeing's new 747-8 Intercontinental jet touched down here at the Paris air show this morning marking the airliner's show debut.

Walking around the lovely orange beast on the Paris flightline I noticed these initials on the front landing gear doors - JFS.

They are of course the initials of the father of the 747, Jospeh F Sutter.

Boeing initialed the doors in tribute to Joe, who will, so they tell me, be here at the show.

A nice touch.

For more on the 747-8's arrival and interior views via video see Flightblogger.

Here are my pictures of the aircraft taken today.

Airbus's chief salesman John Leahy at "full chat" is like poetry in motion. If anyone was put on this planet to sell aeroplanes, Leahy was, and there's no hiding his excitement now he's got his hands on his latest gizmo, the A320neo.

 
A bit like Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull F1 car, Leahy clearly believes his "equipment" is on a different level to the competition and its "last century" engines, and that he just needs to turn up to claim the prize. He's already sold 300 Neos and thinks that he'll get 200 more by Paris.

So why is he is so keen for Boeing to join him with a "737neo"? He was at pains this week in Toulouse to declare that the market has made it clear it wants the re-engined A320 "and probably a re-engined 737 as well".

Leahy sets out a fairly rational argument as to why an expensive all-new design would not offer enough of a step over re-engined single-aisles if it would be introduced a decade from now. Which is why he's of the firm belief -publically at least - that once all the noise about a clean-sheet design dies away after Paris, Seattle will be in the market with its own re-engined narrowbody.

But perhaps the reality is he needs Boeing to do the "737RE" because he knows the alternative could spell disaster. Boeing is unlikely to do nothing, at least not in the longer term, and Leahy doesn't want the spectre of another all new "game-changer" like the 7E7 forcing him to follow suit - especially now EADS has committed money and resource to Neo.

Anticipation is already building for the nex round of "The Sporty Game" at Paris, and it's going to be fascinating to see how it all plays out...