Does anyone remember the utterly gorgeous de Havilland Comet?

Britain had what was thought to be an unassailable lead in jet aircraft design when the de Havilland Comet first took to the sky on 27 July 1949. The term revolutionary has been bandied about a lot since, but this aircraft absolutely embodied the word.

Powered by four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines, the Comet typically seated 36 passengers in BOAC service, with provision for up to 44. Airline services commenced with BOAC on 2 May 1952, introducing silky smooth passenger flight to the world.

de Havilland Comet Video

Following on from the last video about the de Havilland Hercules, we stay in the UK to look at the world’s first jet airliner. This hour long documentary is put together by Airliner Designs and is called, “Why Britain’s Jets Fell From the Sky: The De Havilland Comet Story”.

The provocative title gives a hint to the fate of the original Comet 1. Previously unknown forms of metal fatigue resulted in a few high profile accidents, leading to the withdrawal of the plane from service. Learnings taken from the investigation were shared with manufacturers worldwide, contributing to the level of air safety we enjoy today.

Inside a de Havilland Comet 1

Such was the cachet of the aircraft that the magazine FLIGHT did a colour supplement in their 7 September 1951 issue called “Comet Decor…” with art by A. Bowbeer. You can see the cutaway below, showing the standard BOAC 36 seat interior. Also featured is a seat map showing what the 44 seat arrangement would look like.

Interestingly, the seats are contiguous and not a single unit, “so that occupants of adjacent seats need not inconvenience one another”. You can zoom in on the images to read the text and see all the detail. Eventually the aircraft’s design morphed into the de Havilland Comet 4, which inaugurated jet service across the Atlantic in 1958 and went on to serve with airlines through to 1981.

Overall Thoughts

The story of the de Havilland Comet is one of triumph and tragedy. Britain led the world in commercial aviation technology at the time. Along with the Comet, the country also introduced the world’s first turboprop, the successful Vickers Viscount. While this lead was pretty much handed over to the Americans for the latter half of the 20th century, some of the DNA of this pioneering aircraft probably lives on in today’s European Airbus products.

What do you think of the de Havilland Comet Story documentary? Have you any thoughts on the whole Comet saga? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Zoggavia.com.
Cutaway from FLIGHT via Reddit.