Aeronautical Dead End – the Dehavilland Comet
Abstract: The Comet entered into service in the early 1950s and was the first commercial jet airliner in service. But it soon ran into trouble because of its airframe design, which was highly conducive to metal fatigue. Multiple crashes with the airplane disintegrating mid-air led to its withdrawal from service until a thorough investigation was carried out, to get to the root cause of the problem. Below, I have tried to describe the design, construction, utility, the various Comet crashes and finally my analysis of what could have prevented the Comets from falling out of the sky. In the end, Ive tried to counter the general acceptance that the Comet was an aeronautical dead end, and tried to highlight the silver lining behind this dark looming cloud in the aviation history!
Its been over a century, since the Wright brothers first took to the skies. Today we possess incredibly safe airframe and engine designs, as a result of years of research, development and some failures in the process. One such airplane was the De Havilland Comet. It was introduced into the civil aviation market soon after World War II, but failed to stay afloat for very long. Although as an airplane, it might have been unsuccessful, but in my essay below, Id like to highlight why exactly I do not agree that it was an aeronautical dead end.
In 1952, Comet had become the first commercial jetliner in operation. At the outset, it was an instant success and looked like it was set to rule the skies. Time Magazine reported that B.O.A.C., the launch customer of the Comet, posted an operating profit of £16,000, within the first four months into operation. Eddie Rickenbacker, an American fighter ace from World War I and longtime head of Eastern Airlines, who was often guilty of being extremely economy minded, was the first of the American airline bosses to place an order of 35 most advanced comet designs – the Comet III, worth $100 million, to be delivered by 1956. That was a whopping 9 airplanes a year! This was a huge milestone for the Comet because until then, despite rigorous yet futile attempts of Mr. William Boeing, many American Airlines and the American government itself had shown immense reluctance in pumping any sort of resources into research towards building a Jet Airliner. They always had their reservations about its market viability.
The Comet had an extremely clean aerodynamic design and 4 turbojet engines buried into its wings. It was a low-wing, cantilever monoplane design by construction. It had a low-noise pressurized cabin and was powered by two pairs of de Havilland Ghost 50 Mk1 Turbojet engines. This design was thought to produce less drag and decrease the likelihood of Foreign Object Damage. The skin of the Comet was made of thin metal alloy and was both chemically bonded using adhesive redux, and riveted. The designers chose to give the comet large square windows, purely for cosmetic reasons,