Interesting WHBM but from accounts I hear of the Caravelle any poor sales success was much to do with the French, well being French
. Product Support was poor and by the time the JT-8D variant was on offer there were home grown US engined competitors. Stories had it that it was not uncommon for the Vickers/BAC Rep in United to be asked to help with support issues on the Caravelle, in particular with British equipment fitted, simply because of the language barrier. Something Airbus took real serious when they put their minds on getting that product established in the States. By all accounts the Caravelle was well engineered and good operationally - no surprise some would say considering the point end was a Comet!
