BRITISH JET AIRLINER

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25768, 1 April 1949, Page 3

BRITISH JET AIRLINER

OFFICIAL DETAILS OF DH 106 LONDON, March 30. The first official information about the de Havilland jet airliner, the DH 106, was released by the de Havilland Company in a statement to-day. It will be a low-wing monoplane with four Ghost engines capable of giving a cruising speed of “something approaching 500 miles an hour.” Its crew will number four and up to 36 passengers will be carried. To achieve the optimum economy it must fly at about 40,000 feet. It is not likely to be in operation before 1952. Sixteen of the aircraft are being built, the first two for the Ministry of Supply and the remaining 14 for the British Overseas Airways Corporation and British South American Airways. “The DH 106,” the company’s statement says, “is intended for express services along the trunk routes of the British Commonwealth. It will also be suitable for inter-continental services generally, for it is essentially an airliner for world operation. “Although it will fly at high speed above the -weather, it will have a slow landing speed and it will circuit, approach and land as the aircraft of to-day. No exceutional runways will be required, and it will be suitable for operation from the normal main airports along the trunk routes. Prompt and efficient handling, however, will be required by flight control organisations to land it, for a jetpropelled aircraft cannot economically be delayed long before landing. “Passengers will find the DH 106 comfortable. The cabin, control room, and the luggage, freight, and main stowage compartments will be pressurised at nearly double the pressure used in to-day’s airliners. The interior air will be changed every three minutes. “The Dlx 106 will have a wing with a moderate sweep-back and a steerable nose wheel.”