The Comet jet airliner

by the de Havilland Aircraft Company

- Jack Watkins

Finding the flaw: engineers inspect a grounded Comet 1 jet airliner after a fatal crash near the Italian island of Elba on January 10, 1954

IF ever there was a flawed masterpiece, it was the 36-seat Comet airliner, a pioneer in civilian jet aviation destined to go down in flames. Although the Second World War had seen advances in jet-powered aircraft technology led by Germany's Heinkel He 178 and Messerschmitt Me 262 and Britain's Gloster Meteor-civil aviation had inevitably lagged behind.

Early passenger planes were noisy, low-flying and rather uncomfortable, with America's propeller and piston-driven Douglas DC-3s carrying the majority of the world's airline passengers before the outbreak of war. In 1943, a committee set up by the British government considered the opportunities likely to be presented by the development of smoother-running, jet-powered commercial aircraft after the return of peace.

Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, who had been involved with flying and designing aircraft for 25 years, sat on this committee. His Hatfield-based company had developed its jet-engine expertise during hostilities, so it was tasked with creating a commercial jet airliner, with a team led by the company's chief designer, Ronald Bishop.

Bright beginning: on the runway at London Airport before the first passenger flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1952