THE RISE AND FALL OF THE DE HAVILLAND COMET

The De Havilland Comet was the first jet aircraft used for passenger service. The original flights occurred in 1952 between London and Johannesburg. The BOAC version was the size of a Boeing 737 but only had 36 seats. The rest of the space was occupied with a galley for hot and cold meals, a bar, and separate male and female bathrooms. Unlike most US designs where the engines hang from the wings in pods, the Comet had its engines actually flush within the wings. This reduced the change of the engines ingesting bad things like birds; however, it increased the risk to the passengers should an engine disintegrate. The earlier Comets suffered from metal fatigue around their square windows, especially at the corners. These were replaced by aircraft with an improved oval window design which is now standard in the industry. However, by the time all the corrections were made, Boeing had taken over the passenger jet market, and the last Comet was produced in 1964.  The fact that the metal fatigue had resulted in several Comet crashes did not help matters.

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