  The covariant spectator (or Gross) equations for the bound state of three
identical spin 1/2 particles, in which two of the three interacting particles
are always on shell, are developed and reduced to a form suitable for numerical
solution. The equations are first written in operator form and compared to the
Bethe-Salpeter equation, then expanded into plane wave momentum states, and
finally expanded into partial waves using the three-body helicity formalism
first introduced by Wick. In order to solve the equations, the two-body
scattering amplitudes must be boosted from the overall three-body rest frame to
their individual two-body rest frames, and all effects which arise from these
boosts, including the Wigner rotations and rho-spin decomposition of the
off-shell particle, are treated exactly. In their final form, the equations
reduce to a coupled set of Faddeev-like double integral equations with
additional channels arising from the negative rho-spin states of the off-shell
particle.
