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Carol Vickers sends this information with these photos - I was a teenager when a future brother-in-law came to pick up my sister during lunch hour. He had heard (probably on the radio) about the gear up landing that was being made by the Comet at Malton, Ontario. I was still in High School and wanted to be taken along with my Kodak Brownie camera. The pictures are not of the best quality but it's part of our history. Thanks for the good work (While Carol names the aircraft a "Comet", we believe it refers to the Jetliner - eds) |
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 The C-102 had been designed to Trans-Canada Air Lines' requirement agreed to in 1946, which called for a 36 seat aircraft with a cruising speed of 425 miles per hour, a "still-air" range of 1,200 miles, an average distance between stops of 250 miles, with 500 miles as the longest leg requirement. Allowances were specified as 45 minutes stacking and flight time to a 120-mile alternate airport. Headwind was to be taken as 20 mph average, with 40 mph maximum.
The first prototype, CF-EJD-X christened the Jetliner, first flew August 10, 1949, just 25 months after the design of the Derwent engine version was started! The crew consisted of Avro UK Chief test pilot Jimmy Orrel, Avro Canada Chief Test Pilot Don Rogers; and flight engineer Bill Baker. The first flight was without any problems and the only problem in over 500 hours of flight occurred on the second flight (August 16, 1949) when the aircraft had to make an emergency belly-landing because the main gear would not extend (the damage was so minor that the aircraft was flying within three weeks). (Source: ) |
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