Feeling a bit nostalgic

[cstorey]

Gary, the Conway was in fact the very first turbofan ( or by-pass as it was known then) and the Spey followed soon after. The bypass ratio was rather low ( IIRC about 1.6 on the Conway ) but it gave much better economy than the pure jets of PW at the expense of high altitude performance

[Garry Russell]

Yep...They made a lot about the "Bypass jet"

As you say it is comparatively little and quite unlike that later high bypass turbo fans with the much larger front fan in the stepped cowlings.

That sort of gives it away but later when they started to enclose it all the large fat engines came about.

Funny, I used to thing the 737-300 and DC 8-70 looked odd with over-sized engines. After a while they looked normal and the old ones looked decisively underpowered.

The older engines with their noise and smoke certainly gave the impression of power even it the spectacular noisy, smokey power build before take off was in reality to get every pound of thrust they could before starting the take off run.

Imagine though, Concorde or the Space Shuttle taking off in smokeless near silence...wouldn't be the same would it

[TSR2]

4 Conways at full chat do plenty of smoking. Mr T did a full power take off from Edinburgh back in 2005 or 6 if I remember rightly, and the pilot of the Easyjet 737 lining up next asked the tower to advise the captain of "the departing military aircraft" that he was smoking. The Tower replied, " You've never seen a VC10 takeoff before, have you."

[Garry Russell]

The One-Eleven could put up a good show especially on a water takeoff.

Again, things change as the One-Eleven, VC 10 were considered quieter and clean, which compared to some other stuff around then, they were.

What Ben says about the smoke reminds me of early Britannia flights where following aircraft on the taxiway sometimes reported that there was a problem as both ailerons were drooping. Not familiar then with servo tab controls

[NigelC]

I saw the Tay powered One_Eleven wat Farnborough. It was kinda freaky watching a One-Eleven taking off so quietly.

The 737-200 on a still, warm summer's morning would certainly wake the neighbours and would crackle away into the distance with the best of them.

[DaveB]

VC10's.. smokey?? Whatever gave you that idea...





ATB
DaveB

[TSR2]

Love it DB

[DaveB]

You can almost smell the JetA1 can't you

The 10's crackle and pop with the best of em too when conditions are right although I think Concorde wins in the crackle and pop stakes for a civvie jet. I've never heard a SaturnV or Shuttle takeoff 'in the flesh' but Concorde.. when the conditions are right.. must come close

ATB
DaveB

[Garry Russell]

I saw the Tay powered One_Eleven wat Farnborough. It was kinda freaky watching a One-Eleven taking off so quietly.

I still can't get used to the new Hercules and their light sound