Word: havilland
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When Britain began testing the world's first jet airliner three years ago, U.S. plane builders and airline executives alike looked down their noses. De Havilland's Comet, they said, would gobble too much fuel too fast to carry much payload, could not even pay its way. By last week the skeptics were changing their tune a bit. After four months in commercial operation, the Comet was beginning to look like the new queen of the airways...
First Offer. U.S. airline bosses were not long in getting the word of the Comet's fine performance. Recently, T.W.A.'s President Ralph Damon dropped in for a look at a De Havilland plant, and later went for a ride in the Comet; so did Pan American's President Juan Trippe. Then came Eastern Air Lines' economy-minded President Eddie Rickenbacker ("I count the pennies-then I count the mills"). Last week, after a 90-minute flight in a Comet, Rickenbacker became the first to announce that he was ready to place an order. Eastern, said...
...Geoffrey de Havilland, Rickenbacker's challenge posed a tough problem. Sir Geoffrey has been complaining that he would need an order at least that big to justify the expansion necessary to put Comets into volume production (current production: one a month). But Rickenbacker's time limit was hard for the leisurely Britons to meet ("Really now," commented one British aircraft builder, "you cannot suddenly swell an industry to twice its size, you know"). De Havilland's bosses promised Rickenbacker a firm answer within a week...
Turboprop Transports. Whether or not De Havilland could fill the order, the Britons were already making new claims to commercial jet supremacy. This week, at the annual Farnborough show, they will fly the world's first turboprop transports,† Bristol's 104-passenger Britannia, Vickers' 40-to-53-passenger Viscount. These turboprops are designed for nonstop runs too long (e.g., the North Atlantic) for the Comet to fly, or too sparsely traveled (e.g., to Sweden) to justify Comets...
...Comet I is De Havilland's current model; the Comet II, due for delivery late in 1953, will have a range of 2,000 miles, (v. the present 1,750) and a speed of better than 500 m.p.h.; the Comet III's chief gain will be in capacity (60 to 75 passengers v. the present...