Beyond The Sprues

Modelling => Ideas & Inspiration => Engineering Dept. => Topic started by: kengeorge on May 23, 2022, 10:47:34 PM

Title: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: kengeorge on May 23, 2022, 10:47:34 PM: A question I have asked myself, could the DeHavilland Comet be converted to an inflight refueller? What is the opinion on this, as could it be done, would it be practical, or a waste of time?
My idea could be take a Comet 4, gut the fuselage, add 2-3 tanks in the space left as it was done in the VC10 conversion, add IFR pods on the wings and a centreline hose and drogue unit under the tail, replace RR Avons with Speys and add an IFR probe above the cockpit.
RAF Comet K.4 anyone?
Doable?

Ken
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: Old Wombat on May 24, 2022, 12:44:25 AM: Ah! From the title & your statement "... could the DeHavilland Comet be converted to an inflight refueller?" I thought you meant this:

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/De_Havilland_DH88_Comet.jpg/1280px-De_Havilland_DH88_Comet.jpg)

And I thought "What the ...?" :-\

Then you wrote "... My idea could be take a Comet 4 ..." & I realised you meant this:

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/BEA_de_Havilland_DH-106_Comet_4B_Berlin.jpg)

I have no idea re: the technicalities but I can't see why not. ???

The joys of one company giving two very disparate aircraft the same name. ;)
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: GTX_Admin on May 24, 2022, 02:29:17 AM: Funny you should pose this question.... ;)
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: kengeorge on May 24, 2022, 03:14:44 AM: Old Wombat, Much as I would love to see a DH.88 trailing a hosepipe to top up the tanks of another DH.88 for the McRobertson air race, but sadly, no. I did wonder why the RAF didn't convert DH.108 Comets to IFR after swapping them for CV10's.
Greg, inquiring minds need to know more....
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: apophenia on May 25, 2022, 08:14:19 AM: Quote from: kengeorge on May 24, 2022, 03:14:44 AM
... Greg, inquiring minds need to know more....

Wait for it ... ;)
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: jcf on May 25, 2022, 04:08:41 PM: The VC10 was used in the tanker role,
so there's no reason they couldn't
have done the same with the Comet.
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: apophenia on May 26, 2022, 07:36:54 AM: Comet tanker (Part One) ...

-- https://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=351.msg197528#msg197528
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: apophenia on May 27, 2022, 03:05:29 AM: ... and Part Two:

-- https://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=351.msg197551#msg197551
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: kengeorge on May 27, 2022, 05:31:59 AM: Anybody know where I can get a tinfoil hat? 'Cos someone has been reading my mind, apophenia, ha ha.
Two ideas I had considered were a shallow ventral pannier like half a Nimrod. The other idea was to try a twin tail (!). Why? Why not.
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: apophenia on May 27, 2022, 05:39:38 AM: Quote from: kengeorge on May 27, 2022, 05:31:59 AM
Anybody know where I can get a tinfoil hat? 'Cos someone has been reading my mind, apophenia, ha ha...

It was GTX who was reading your mind. Your tinfoil hat will need to be tipped towards the Southern Hemisphere ;)

Once our mind-meld was completed, I ran with the concept and flung pixels in the direction of Greg's original suggestion.

Quote from: kengeorge on May 27, 2022, 05:31:59 AM
... The other idea was to try a twin tail (!). Why? Why not.

Why not indeed? Both the Comet and the Nimrod looked a little under-endowed in the tail department ;D
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: GTX_Admin on May 28, 2022, 01:45:08 AM: If it's any consolation, I have mused about the idea of a RAAF AAR Comet for quite some time. I even have the bits here to build one though mine will be modelled refuelling the first RAAF F-15s arriving in the early/mid 1980s...
Title: Re: DeHavilland Comet
Post by: kengeorge on May 28, 2022, 06:23:04 AM: Whilst I was writing about a twin tailed Comet, I was thinking the A-10's tail unit would look good somehow, don't ask why I thought of that.