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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1120.PDF
266 FLIGHT The two-year-old Comet 3, now being made representative in all essentials—RA.29 engines, systems and aerodynamics—of the Comet 4. Detachable wing-tip panels will be fitted to enable a check on 4A performance to be made. Because of this heavy shop-pro- gramme, the Comet 3 will not be at the S.B.A.C. Show next month. THE COMET in AMERICA "Flight" photograph The 4A's Performance Brought to Life on U.S. Routes IT is difficult for Europeans to comprehend the full impact onAmericans of airline schedules such as Chicago to LosAngeles in four hours, or Dallas to San Francisco in 3\ hours. In a country where the tempo of life seems a natural match for thepace of the jet, such schedules—which are typical of those offered by the Comet—promise big business for the airlines with jets.Eight of the twelve major U.S. carriers ordered 707s or DC-8s (Table 1). Of these, however, five also ordered turbopropElectras to beat the Viscount, introduced by Capital, at its own game on the medium-haul routes where the speed-marginbetween jet and turboprop is small and where the turboprop's superior economy is the greatest consideration. It seemed for a time that the U.S. air ransport industry'sfavourite guessing game "Jet or Turboprop" nad ended with jets chosen for the long hauls and turboprops for the medium andshort stages. Then the medium jet, under Convair and Douglas sponsorship, began to intrude into the turboprop's territory. Theinvasion was resisted; profit-margins in the U.S. industry are no greater than in air transport elsewhere, and there was no rush tobuy aircraft which would be more costly to run and which would not offer significantly shorter block-times than the 400-m.p.h.turboprops. When the Golden Arrow came on the market there were fourcarriers still uncommitted to medium-haul equipment (excepting Northeast and Northwest, both of whom seem to be showing littleinclination to move into the turbine age). These four were T.W.A., Delta, Capital and United. T.W.A. and Delta decidedto order 40 Golden Arrows between them; Capital bought four vSEATTLE COMET 4A Performance on Some U.S. Routes This map provides a selection of U.S. routes to give a general picture of the Comet 4A's capabilities. All these stages can be flown with the 22,690 Ib tourist payload. The figures show the appropriate block times (hr/min) in mean wind conditions and including 15 min terminal time. Detailed Comet 4A capabilities over ten US. routes are provided in Table 3 opposite.
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