Hi Juniatha!
Yes, you're correct DeHavilland built Comets for the RAF, except the airplane was called the "Nimrod" and was a sub-hunting aircraft. In this role it was very successful, the last ones flew into the early 2000's.
Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, the American ace from World War One and later the head of Eastern Air Lines had a story about the Comet in his autobiography. When the Comet was introduced Eastern was very interested, so DeHavilland arrainged a demonstration for Rickenbacker. He even took the controls and flew it for a while, and was very impressed with the performance.
As Capt. Eddie told the story, when he left the cockpit he looked down the length of the fuselage and saw the sides flexing in and out. When the aircraft landed he brought this to the attention of the DeHavilland representatives who said they were well aware of it and that it was nothing to worry about. Rickenbacker said it was something they SHOULD worry about because sooner or later the metal was going to fatigue and crack. Needless to say Eastern didn't buy any Comets.
Eastern DID have nasty problems with the prop-jet Lockheed "Electra" several years later, so did several other US airlines, but that's another story.
Wayne
Juniatha[with] today's materials and suiting detail re-design , with the large wing surface she offered she could be made into one great aircraft .
No question. In fact the only real changes that needed to be made, at the time, would be the elimination of stress raisers in the skin (round windows, or curved corners a la Boeing) and perhaps a better aluminum alloy or post-forming treatment.
Long-term development of the Comet would have been, in my opinion, restricted by the limits on engine size and capacity; specifically, no high-bypass turbofan could be accommodated without substantial redesign. The 707 and the VC-10, both beautiful aircraft too, didn't have this difficulty to the same extent.
Now, something I'd like to see is a turboprop Brabazon, perhaps with the counterrotating props and HP output of Brandner's NK-12... all the beauty, and four times the range...
Firelock 76 wrote Sun, Aug 25 2013 3:16 PM
>> Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, the American ace from World War One and later the head of Eastern Air Lines had a story about the Comet in his autobiography. ... As Capt. Eddie told the story, when he left the cockpit he looked down the length of the fuselage and saw the sides flexing in and out. When the aircraft landed he brought this to the attention of the DeHavilland representatives who said they were well aware of it and that it was nothing to worry about. Rickenbacker said it was something they SHOULD worry about because sooner or later the metal was going to fatigue and crack. Needless to say Eastern didn't buy any Comets. <<
Yeah – I know that story , *gee* , ‘nothing to worry about’ – at least not for ~ descendants of Sir Francis Drake ...
Overmod wrote Sun, Aug 25 2013 4:04 PM:
>> In fact the only real changes that needed to be made, at the time, would be the elimination of stress raisers in the skin <<
Exactly *that* *had* been examined and sorted out for production of the last series , plus the fuselage had been strengthened , too , I believe .
>> Long-term development of the Comet would have been, in my opinion, restricted by the limits on engine size and capacity; <<
Really , I don’t care . Honestly I would feel it was large enough for me as a flying living room - *gee* . What I like is the shape of fuselage as well as empennage as well as the wings although it’s clearly from the beginning of the age of commercial jet clippers – it’s just cutie-cute
What *would* be much more of a point however : suiting turbines could *not* simply be chosen from catalogues of large radius intake high by-pass turbofan types used today because of the unique hidden installation of the turbines within wing roots ; wing roots and wing box probably would need to be visibly changed and substantially strengthened – which would have to be done sensitively for to transcribe original lean elegance as smoothly as possible .
Regards
Juniatha
Juniathasuiting turbines could *not* simply be chosen from catalogues of large radius intake high by-pass turbofan types used today because of the unique hidden installation of the turbines within wing roots ; wing roots and wing box probably would need to be visibly changed and substantially strengthened – which would have to be done sensitively for to transcribe original lean elegance as smoothly as possible .
Yes, that is EXACTLY what I meant.
And yes, it would spoil the beautiful lines of the aircraft to have externally-podded engines of any kind.
Looks like we're drifing off 1361, but ah, so what? The dis-interested don't have to hang around if they don't want to.
Contact!
Hi Wayne
>> Looks like we're drifing off 1361 ..<<
not if one will register his historical aircraft under # 1361 .. no ?
Uhm , 'xcuse me .. ? No , definitely not , my Cutie-Comet would be # ... ( crzhk-brzz )
ups , sorry , something happened .. can'xx pst brx -thing
brzzz zwivvex tzing-pshshsh-plix
the electronix gomix ...
= X ..
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