The Shooting Comet

When Britain began testing the world's first jet airliner three years ago, U.S. plane builders and airline executives alike looked down their noses. De Havilland's Comet, they said, would gobble too much fuel too fast to carry much payload, could not even pay its way. By last week the skeptics were changing their tune a bit. After four months in commercial operation, the Comet was beginning to look like the new queen of the airways.

Starting with thrice-weekly Comet flights between London and Johannesburg, British Overseas Airways Corp. recently launched a weekly service between London and Ceylon, and made a 23,000-mile trail-blazing flight to Tokyo and back. In a few weeks BOAC plans to start regular service to Singapore, add a Tokyo run early next year. The speedy Comet cruises at 480 m.p.h., but eats so much fuel it stops frequently to reload. Even so, it flies a 6,724-mile course to Johannesburg, with five stops, in about 24 hours. It has proved so popular that it carries capacity loads each trip, has so many customers clamoring to fly that it now takes a month to get on the Johannesburg waiting list. And BOAC reported last week that in its first four months of operation the Comet has shown an operating profit of -L-16,000 ($44,800).

First Offer. U.S. airline bosses were not long in getting the word of the Comet's fine performance. Recently, T.W.A.'s President Ralph Damon dropped in for a look at a De Havilland plant, and later went for a ride in the Comet; so did Pan American's President Juan Trippe. Then came Eastern Air Lines' economy-minded President Eddie Rickenbacker ("I count the pennies--then I count the mills"). Last week, after a 90-minute flight in a Comet, Rickenbacker became the first to announce that he was ready to place an order. Eastern, said Rickenbacker, would put up $100 million for 35 of the most advanced Comet designs--the Comet III*--provided that De Havilland could promise delivery by 1956.

For Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, Rickenbacker's challenge posed a tough problem. Sir Geoffrey has been complaining that he would need an order at least that big to justify the expansion necessary to put Comets into volume production (current production: one a month). But Rickenbacker's time limit was hard for the leisurely Britons to meet ("Really now," commented one British aircraft builder, "you cannot suddenly swell an industry to twice its size, you know"). De Havilland's bosses promised Rickenbacker a firm answer within a week.

Turboprop Transports. Whether or not De Havilland could fill the order, the Britons were already making new claims to commercial jet supremacy. This week, at the annual Farnborough show, they will fly the world's first turboprop transports,/- Bristol's 104-passenger Britannia, Vickers' 40-to-53-passenger Viscount. These turboprops are designed for nonstop runs too long (e.g., the North Atlantic) for the Comet to fly, or too sparsely traveled (e.g., to Sweden) to justify Comets.

BOAC's Managing Director Whitney Straight had ordered 25 of the giant Britannias before the prototype made its first flight last week, plans to use its long range (4,000 miles with safe margins) and space to offer nonstop transatlantic coach service by 1954. British European, Air France, Ireland's Aer Lingus, and Trans-Australia have already placed 48 orders for the smaller Viscount.

A Hard Swallow. Up to now, U.S. aircraft builders, busy with military jet orders, have made few moves to catch up with Britain's lead in jet transport. A few, like Douglas and Lockheed, have talked of blueprinting a model. But most have hopefully waited for a Government subsidy which never came, and for some real interest from the airlines. Last week, aroused by Rickenbacker's talk, Boeing announced that it will set aside $20 million of its own money to complete a "new prototype" jet airliner by 1954. If Boeing meant business, it would have to work fast to catch up with Britain's long lead.

* The Comet I is De Havilland's current model; the Comet II, due for delivery late in 1953, will have a range of 2,000 miles, (v. the present 1,750) and a speed of better than 500 m.p.h.; the Comet III's chief gain will be in capacity (60 to 75 passengers v. the present 36).

/- Planes whose turbines drive propellers. They fly slower than the pure jets (but on less fuel) and are much faster than the comparable piston planes.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.