MAY 2, 1952: The first ever passenger jet took off from Heathrow Airport on its maiden commercial flight on this day in 1950. The British-built De Havilland Comet’s five-stop journey to Johannesburg took 21 hours – cutting six hours off the flight time for propeller planes. Its 36 passengers paid £175 – worth around £4,400 today – for a single trip on the 500mph jet, which stopped in Rome, Beirut, Khartoum, Entebbe and Livingstone. The radical design – seen being tested in a British Pathé newsreel – revolutionized air travel brought new prestige to Britain’s engineers. The jet engine joined the steam engine and internal combustion engine as seminal British inventions that changed the world. But, only ten months after it went into commercial service, disaster struck when a Comet crashed on take-off in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11 on board. Then, in May 1953, another went down a few minutes after take-off from Calcutta in India, killing all 43 people. The jet engine was regarded as a seminal British invention that changed the world (Getty) The following January a third disintegrated in midair over the Mediterranean, killing 35. And in March 1954, a fourth Comet plunged into same sea, with all 21 people on board losing their lives. This last crash led to the planes, which were built in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, all being grounded. An inquest held in October 1954 heard that metal fatigue was the most likely cause of the crashes. However, it was difficult to know precisely since much of the wreckage from the two Mediterranean crashes had sunk and there were no flight data recorders on board. Tests on another Comet 1, however, discovered that the fuselage was unable to withstand the pressures of flying. A 1954 crash led to all the planes being grounded. Cracks appeared in the bodywork, which could cause the planes to blow apart – and this is ultimately what happened in January and again in April. Dozens of orders for Comets were all cancelled and it spelled the beginning of the end of a pioneering British commercial jet industry that had made the word’s first airliner. De Havilland fixed the faults and the following year began building the Comet 4, which began service in 1958. But by this time U.S. firm Boeing had launched the 707, which could carry more passengers and had a greater range than the Comet. The British jet finally went out of production in 1968. Yet, despite its tragic fortune, the Comet changed the future of aviation. Dozens of orders for Comets were all cancelled, spelling the end of the British commercial jet industry. Its revolutionary design ensured that propeller-driven aircraft would no longer be considered for long-distance air travel. And De Havilland’s rivals learned from the Comet’s problems – with safety taking greater emphasis in designs. Boeing and Douglas engineers privately admitted that the same pressurization faults that afflicted the Comet could have happened to them prior to the disasters. The crashes also enabled future investigators to carry out detailed inquiries - such as the October 1954 one – and demand airliners carries black boxes. Sea rescue and wreckage recovery services also improved in the aftermath. r/max
Posted on: Fri, 02 May 2014 22:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015