de Havilland Comet 3 Introduced (1955) G-ANLO

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet

The de Havilland Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland, it first flew in 1949 and was considered a landmark in British aeronautical design. After introduction into commercial service, the initial Comet versions suffered from catastrophic metal fatigue, causing two well-publicised accidents.

The Comet had to be withdrawn and was redesigned. The Comet 4 series subsequently enjoyed a long and productive career of over 30 years, although sales never fully recovered. The Hawker Siddeley Nimrod, the military derivative of the Comet airliner, is still in service. The original decades-old airframes were being rebuilt with new wings and engines to produce the Nimrod MRA 4, expected to serve with Britain's Royal Air Force until the 2020s, over 70 years after the Comet's first flight, however, in the 2010 SDSR review, the project was cancelled.

The Comet 3 was a lengthened Comet 2 with greater capacity and range, which flew for the first time on 19 July 1954. It was demonstrated at the Farnborough SBAC Show in September. After the fatigue accidents, orders dwindled and only two Comet 3s were constructed. G-ANLO was the only flying Comet 3, and took part in a marathon round-the-world promotional tour in December 1955, flown by John Cunningham. It was modified with reduced span wings as the Comet 3B and was displayed at Farnborough in September 1958. The other Comet 3 was used for structural and technology testing during development of the similarly sized Comet 4. Nine further airframes were not completed and their construction was abandoned at Hatfield.

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[wrh61]

Yep pretty quick . Unfortunately the Comet suffered some airframe failures which ended up aiding the old Boeing 707 to get a large market share ..

[blueb0g]

@kmg501 It was the first commercial jet lol. So it was the fastest comercial aircraft when it was first introduced - 600mph is still the speed modern aircraft fly at.

[aussiepaul44]

Traveling at 600 mph the plane should have covered the 7000 mile trip in 11.6 hours. That distance traveled in 42 hours would make the average speed 166 mph. Even if they had to stop 3 time for fuel and where laid over for an hour and a half each time that would only add 4 and a half hours to the trip. Doesn't add up.

[RampantRedBull]

The Nimrod is designed off this, and the RAF still fly them!

[siaggbond]

wah 42 hours flight to australia thats 3 days long

[johneddy98033]

@blueb0g, the Comet was certainly fast, but it had to make intermediate stops along the way. Non-stop travel on what was called the "Kangaroo Route" would have to wait until the Boeing 707-338B operated by Qantas.

[MrRonnieG]

After G-ALYV, G-ALYP (Yoke Peter) and G-ALYY (Yoke Yoke) broke up it was interesting how DeHavilland went about creating pressurised cycles on the ground using a large tank of water to submerge, time & time again, an actual Comet airframe (G-ALYU) to create re-pressurization and over-pressurization. At 1,836 simulated cycles G-ALYU burst open from metal fatigue around windows in particular.

[CaptBubble]

@azzer411 Yup, along with the Super VC 10, and I have flown on both.

[azzer411]

i my opinion that is the most beautiful commercial aircraft ever built

[mistersmith6000]

@tim60s321 and I think they take-off slower too. I remember take-off was exciting and visceral(big word for my week) because you felt thrown back in your seat because of the sudden thrust. Now, with longer runways, it's lame.

[flygweilo]

@flygweilo Interestingly, the Lockheed L.193 was then cancelled by the US Government, and over 800 KC-135 air tankers were eventually acquired by the USAF, with the last delivery in 1965.

This USAF KC-135 program order secured the future of the 707 program, and eventually 1,010 707s were delivered. But because of the constant design changes that accompanied the three widenings of the 707's fuselage, and the corresponding changes in jigging and tooling, the 707 made little money for Boeing.

[flygweilo]

@flygweilo Just to make sure the VC7 could NEVER be resuscitated, all technical drawings for the design were confiscated by the UK Government and burned. The 200+ VC7 orders from overseas airliens were frustrated as no aircraft was now available or able to be produced.

Only one Comet 3 ever flew (out of 2 manufactured), and by the time the Comet 4 finally flew, the 707 and DC8 were not far behind.