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Great Britain was in a heluva shape after the War. They'd won, defeated the Jerrys, their empire(Commonwealth) was largely intact & thriving, they had a new Queen who was universally adored, they built the world's 1st jet transport, their electronics industry was 2nd to none, the future looked bright, indeed. So, What Happened ? America happened. The tale comes down that in 1951-52, the DeHavilland folks found out/knew that Boeing was developing a jet transport plane, too. They asked to see it, & as they were allies, & I THINK there had been low-level technical correspondence back & forth, a group came to either Wichita or Renton. They went back to their hotel rooms, the lead guy, a Lord Somebody- told the group-You have just seen the end of British civil aviation. Either one of Boeing's plants they visited had more stuff next to the men's room than DeHavilland could muster in their entire plant, plus Boeing had facilities they had never even thought about. I can only imagine the scenario would have been similar if Pye or HMV or one of those guys had gotten to see an RCA or Zenith plant at the start of the TV era.. You gotta kinda feel sorry for these guys, in a way... Plus, they-And us-had the Japanese waiting in the wings, ready to eat us alive...Still, having one of these is a score almost beyond belief, & I would treasure it totally...
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Benevolent Despot
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