| General Description |
|---|
Research
This project is the result of exhaustive research. Original documents were referred to wherever possible: my father, who was at de Havilland at the time, provided a wealth of technical information, sales brochures, de Havilland Gazettes, reports and photographs. Many of them have been reproduced here with the kind permission of BAE SYSTEMS plc. External details were studied from G-APDB, the second Comet 4 to fly the Atlantic, which is in the Duxford Aviation Society collection. The function of the flight deck and controls are from an original Dan Air Operations Manual, and flight characteristics were gleaned from original BOAC Flying Manuals, held at the British Airways Archive at Heathrow Airport.
Construction
All dimensions and weights, especially the centre of gravity, are from de Havilland’s original specifications. The fuselage, horizontal and vertical stabilisers have been created using X-Plane “Plane Maker”. All the other shapes, the
This project is the result of exhaustive research. Original documents were referred to wherever possible: my father, who was at de Havilland at the time, provided a wealth of technical information, sales brochures, de Havilland Gazettes, reports and photographs. Many of them have been reproduced here with the kind permission of BAE SYSTEMS plc. External details were studied from G-APDB, the second Comet 4 to fly the Atlantic, which is in the Duxford Aviation Society collection. The function of the flight deck and controls are from an original Dan Air Operations Manual, and flight characteristics were gleaned from original BOAC Flying Manuals, held at the British Airways Archive at Heathrow Airport.
Construction
All dimensions and weights, especially the centre of gravity, are from de Havilland’s original specifications. The fuselage, horizontal and vertical stabilisers have been created using X-Plane “Plane Maker”. All the other shapes, the
wings, engine nacelles, pinion tanks, sensors and antennae, skid blocks, engines and exhausts, use the latest techniques, made possible with the introduction of X-Plane 8.40. Parts of the Plane Maker model, for example the wings, are rendered invisible, and replaced with a more cosmetically accurate “skin” drawn in a separate 3D application. This gives far greater flexibility to reproduce complex asymmetrical shapes, like the nacelles and wing root assembly, and detail like the main gear wells in the wings.
Considerable effort has gone into aerodynamics: the original aerofoils were identified, and plots of lift and drag were calculated for the appropriate Reynolds numbers. Initially, the data was translated directly into the necessary ACF files. Later, the curves were re-drawn as accurately as possible using “Airfoil Maker”, because it proved easier to make adjustments. These adjustments were very small, and were made with reference to engineers and pilots accounts of the effects of changes to the leading edge of the wing during the real aircraft’s test and development process.