Anent the Perpignan (European Air Services ?) Vanguards ... I used to see these aircraft quite often on drives to the Collioure/Port Vendres area, and wondered why there seemed to be no takers ... EAS seemed at the time to be a bit "non grata" with the authorities, which I assumed to be why the aircraft didn't fly, but I wondered a lot why the RAF didn't take them up for ASW duties, given the (visual) mess they were making of the Comet/Nimrod. I ascribed it to the Nimrod being a jet (and FOUR !!! - engined) which must have thrilled Coastal Command after all those years grinding through the ether with the Shackleton ... Pity, though, because there was something "just right" about the Vanguard, even if it really shouldn't have been built.
I once had a copy of a report by, I believe, one Mr. Worcester, who cogently "proved" that turbo-props were "right" and jets like the Caravelle were "wrong" - I also think (but that's more vague) that said Mr. W. was also very vociferous in various printed media, and no doubt in person with the "right people", that the A300 and A310 were the wrong aeroplanes at the wrong time and that UK Gov ought to have nothing to do with the whiole Airbus idea - The Economist in its Go for Boeing phase loved him ...
Mods: Sorry for the digression !