I've found any general a/c ID books (Ian Alan are good) get you started, but you can't beat hours at an airport with a radio, binoculars & sandwiches to get to know civil aircraft well. As well as their variants (Sad I know).
If you want more vis, perhaps try to find operators still using Vickers Viscounts or Fokker F27 Friendships. The last time I flew in an F27 was in 1998, a return trip, Cancun to Cozumel. The return flight was brill 10 mins @ 1,300ft.
The Shorts S360 is unpressurised & has big square windows too.
I loved the structure part of my recent JAR/ATPL Aircraft General Knowledge paper (Hate Electrics though).
The Comet a beautiful plane but square windows added to the structural problems, once they went for oval windows the aeroplane was wonderful, unfortunately Boeing had already flown transatlantic with a stonger & larger aircraft, the B707. Prospective Comet buyers went the Boeing route.
An usual story for the old British Aviation Manufacture Industry, wonderful Aeroplanes and craftsmen, but awful salesmen.
The Comet was flying commercially until the late1970s/early 1980s.
Have fun in your new found obsession.
FB
