Siberia
ACCESS: Confidential
- Joined
- 24 August 2012
- Messages
- 89
- Reaction score
- 65
The de Havilland Comet was the first aircraft to introduce regularly scheduled transatlantic passenger services with the Comet 4, only to be very quickly eclipsed by the Boeing 707 which entered revenue service three weeks later. Travelling westwards due to range and prevailing wind issues the Comet needed to do a stopover in Gander. The distance from London to Gander is roughly 2,040 nautical miles with the Comet 4 listed as having a range of just over 2,800 nautical miles, a difference of 760 nautical miles.
The distance from Prestwick in Scotland to Gander is around 1,845 nautical miles with the Comet 3 apparently having a range of 2,300 nautical miles, a difference of 450 nautical miles. Could BOAC have tried introducing a transatlantic service this way, or would the 310 nautical miles difference be too much? I don't know enough to say whether 450 nautical miles would be enough of a margin of safety. Even if it were and the Comet hadn't suffered its early problems it would only have a few years success before the 707 arrived but I was thinking about what some of the effects might have been.
The distance from Prestwick in Scotland to Gander is around 1,845 nautical miles with the Comet 3 apparently having a range of 2,300 nautical miles, a difference of 450 nautical miles. Could BOAC have tried introducing a transatlantic service this way, or would the 310 nautical miles difference be too much? I don't know enough to say whether 450 nautical miles would be enough of a margin of safety. Even if it were and the Comet hadn't suffered its early problems it would only have a few years success before the 707 arrived but I was thinking about what some of the effects might have been.
