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Aviation History
1965
1965 - 0849.PDF
fUGHT International, 25 March 1965 465 THE MARITIME COMET HE intention to order a maritime version of the Comet as a replacement for the 60 Shackleton 2s, announced in Parliament on February 2, gave the official go-ahead to Hawker Siddeley for development of the HS.801 project, which had long been on their books. Although the RAF's ultimate requirement for a maritime aircraft has at times embraced such advanced principles as supersonic dash performance and variable sweep, plus the full gamut of search and detection techniques from satellite to near- surface altitudes, the Comet has always been a firm, attainable and relatively straight- forward alternative. It offers very significant improvement in performance plus the flexibility to accommodate both existing and immediate future equipment and weapons. It has nevertheless become a Parlia- mentary tradition to state year by year that the Shackleton would serve for ten more years, leaving the manufacturers to incor- porate the necessary age-stretching changes and Coastal Command crews to soldier on with what they long ago thought was to be replaced quite soon. Even now, Shackle- ton 3s remain in service. The HS.801 makes a great deal of sense. The tooling for the commercial Comet, and even some completed airframes, are still available. Both minimum and maximum speeds are well suited to the maritime task. Modification of the basic design is sur- prisingly simple in relation to the radical change in role and the low patrol speed needed for maritime work. For reasons explained below, the gross weight of the maritime Comet will be rather greater than the 162,0001b of the Comet 4C. The installation of military Speys provides not only the required increased thrust, but also the better s.f.c.—an improvement of nearly 0.2—to optimize the range performance. Installation presents no great problems; and field performance is not critical; in that the main bases from which maritime aircraft operate are of adequate sire for an aircraft of this type. Comet 4C take-off field length is 6,750ft. The zero fuel weight of the Comet 4C allows for a capacity payload of 22,9001b, which is ample to accommodate more than 2,0001b of equipment, the Shackleton's 12,0001b maximum bomb load and a crew of ten at 2001b per man. Additional structure may require some modification of this load or local structural strengthening, but the 2,0001b equipment allowance will probably be made up of the following units: communications radio in HF, UHF plus homer, and possibly VHF bands plus IFF/ SIF; "routine" navigation radio including ILS or Rebecca, Loran, Gee, Tacan, radio compass (ADF); tactical navigation, prob- ably including inertial platform and a navigation/tactical computer and display system, possibly with Doppler; special mission electronics, including Sonar receivers, active and passive ECM in communications and radar frequencies. Autloycus and, for the first time in RAF service, magnetic anomaly detection (MAD); search radar of the latest type, either with electronically scanned, fixed, flush aerial system or entirely "buried" rotating aerial. A very important secondary role, both for Shackle tons and the new Comet, is troop transport. Though the existing 94-passenger capacity of the Comet 4C may not be recoverable, even when the great majority of equipment is removed, a good deal of cabin volume is sparsely occupied by mari- time equipment and could readily be cleared for something like 60 troops, compared with the Shackleton's improvised capacity for 25. Vastly better speed and range make the Comet a much better transport. The Shackleton's ground attack or counter-insurgency role makes less sense for the Comet, and the weapon bay is not altogether likely to accommodate the Shackleton's best load of 12 1,0001b bombs. Neither is the provision of guns reasonable, but some air-to-surface missile capability could well be provided with underwing pylons. Both for normal delivery of depth charges and so on, and for over-land weapon roles, the provision of a visual aiming window beneath the nose is almost certain. Continued overleaf This "Flight" copyright drawing indicates the logical layout of a maritime version of the Comet AC, reported to be designated HS.801 and powered by Rolls-Royce Speys. Additional fuselage volume takes the form of a "double bubble" fairing. Key numbers refer to: I, visual-aiming position; 2, enlarged windscreen and four-seat flight deck; 3, weapons bay for torpedoes, depth charges, bombs, rescue equipment, etc; 4, four-place tactical command and control centre; 5, enlarged pinion tanks for additional fuel; 6, existing integral tankage in wing; 7, centre-section bog tanks extended downwards into additional fuselage volume; 8, mid-fuselage relatively free for rearward-facing troop seats (much ASW equipment removable for conversion to trooping); 9, galley; 10, rest bunks; II, enlarged main entrance door; 12, fm-top fairing improves fin effectiveness by end-plate effect and houses ECM aerials; 13, magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) fairing; 14, rearward-facing attack-recording camera; 15, observation compartment with two observer's windows; 16, sonobuoys and markers automatically dropped through hatches; 17, strengthened undercarriage; 18, Spey installation, except for enlarged intakes and jetpipes, similar to that of Avon; 19, main search radar, possibly fixed within fuselage contour and exploiting latest aerial developments © 11 iffe Transport Publications Ltd, 1965
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