skua
9th Nov 2013, 13:19
You know the old adage - "if it looks right, it usually flies right"? Most DH products fitted the bill. The Mosquito looking beautiful straight from the drawing board.
Watching Cold War/Hot Jets last night reminded me of a long-held nagging thought. The first Comets (putting the whole fatigue issue to one side), whilst the wing planform is very graceful, look odd because the front fuselage ahead of the wings is so stubby. It is as if the DH design team envisaged a larger aircraft and then shrank it to conform with perceived market demands (in terms of pax load).
The Comet 4, by contrast, was a real beauty, in my view.
Watching Cold War/Hot Jets last night reminded me of a long-held nagging thought. The first Comets (putting the whole fatigue issue to one side), whilst the wing planform is very graceful, look odd because the front fuselage ahead of the wings is so stubby. It is as if the DH design team envisaged a larger aircraft and then shrank it to conform with perceived market demands (in terms of pax load).
The Comet 4, by contrast, was a real beauty, in my view.