"Keith Willshaw" wrote in message
...

Not that we didn't have our share of flops. The Boeing 377
Stratocruiser, with its turbosupercharged R4360s and advanced systems,
required much more maintenance hours than the L.1049 Constellation, or
the DC-7. So only about 50 were made. (However, as the KC-97 (Model
367), flown by the U.S. Air Force, who didn't mind doing the
maintenance, it got built to the tune of 888 airframes.)

The VC.10 Superior?

Yep.

Well, if you count moving fewer passengers a
shorter distance slower, while burning more fuel/mile, I suppose you
could say that. (To be fair, the VC.10 did have a shorter takeoff
roll, but by the tim it came out, runways had been extended so that
that wasn't relevant any more.)

The Super VC10 was larger and any problems ironed out.

And yet only 22 were ever sold

You have this great ability not get any point. The point is that the
British made better planes but never sold well.

The BAC 1-11 was a neat little jet, but, unfortunately, it was a
_little_, short-legged jet. Just the thing for tooling between the
U.K. and Brussels, but not as economical as the DC-9 or the 737 over
the type of Stage Lengths that the rest of teh world required.

The BAC 1-11 was a massive seller.

Total One-Eleven production amounted to 235 aircraft which
was certainly respectable but doesnt compare that well
with the sales of the DC-9 (976) or Boeing 727 (1832)
let alone the 737 (4300)

Proves the point. The 1-11 was a better plane than its eqivs yet sold well
but inferior US planes sold better.