Caravelle needed a flight engineer, as did all jet airliners of that era. There was little automation and the FE was more than kept busy with handling the systems things. Plus this was aided by an FAA rule that all US aircraft with MTOW over 80,000lb (40,000kg) had to have three crew. This had been brought in to address a separate issue, of secondary carriers reducing DC-6 piston aircraft flight crews down from three to two, but stayed a requirement for some time. The first jet without an FE was the BAC One-Eleven, which was deliberately designed to come in under the FAA limit (just), as was the first DC-9-10, but then the requirement was changed.
If you compare the Caravelle and Comet flight decks, including of course the FE panel, you will find they look pretty much the same, all the knobs look familiar and are in familiar places. The yokes might even have been interchangeable. All apart from the number of throttles of course.
Last edited by WHBM; 3rd May 2019 at 09:13.