Proplinerman...
Yes, sadly the Herald was not a commercial success. At grass roots level at Woodley in my apprentice days we were all very optimistic. Sales prospects were said to be good for both civil and military versions, there was much international interest and positive results from the many sales tours. In retrospect I think we were deceiving ourselves. HP were not master salesmen, post-war UK governments were not on our side, the redesign to accommodate two turboprops and the sad loss of the prototype just before Farnborough all added up, and of course the manufacture of the the F27 under licence in the USA by Fairchild just overwhelmed HP. Old Sir Fred was a dear old chap, but he wouldn't agree to amalgamate and we all paid the price. Of course we did many other things at Woodley, including making many Victor bits, and refurbishing Hasting wings, but that early enthusiasm had gone. Strangely, at the very end of my time there we were clearing out old stores and burning documents and drawings, some from Miles days. One day we were told to take a load of old wooden wind-tunnel models out the back and burn them. Amongst them was a beautiful streamlined jet-fighter which much later I recognised as being the ill-fated Miles wartime supersonic jet, the MX52, the plans for which were given to the Americans by the government and resulted in the BellX1. Wish I'd kept that old model!