De Havilland Comet - Airliner Tech Vol. 7

The De Havilland Comet is a unique airliner that has forever carved out a place in the annals of aviation history. A bold statement for sure, although it is one that its aficionados would agree with. You in fact can only think of one other aircraft that has had such an effect on civil air travel and that is the Concorde.
From its inception the Comet was a blend of the old and the new, the safe and the innovative. However, it was born with one inherent flaw that was to mar its earliest years. As De Havilland was reaching to the future a design miscalculation was appearing in the structure of the fuselage. This was to lead inevitably to the destruction of some of the early Mk.ls with tragic loss of life. Such was the reaction worldwide to these tragedies that the Comet almost disappeared forever.
It was the faith of Do Havilland, and to some extent BOAC, that kept the project alive. Extensive redesign and strengthening of the fuselage coupled with the installation of Rolls-Royce Avon engines finally put the Comet back on the right track. The first exponents of this rework never entered civil airline use, being confined entirely to the military and the various test organisations in the UK. The Comet 3 was a step closer to the mark with its lengthened fuselage and other improvements. It was eventually to act as a prototype for all those aircraft that were to follow.