The Legacy of the de Havilland DH.106 Comet: The World's First Commercial Jet Airliner

On July 27, the world's first commercial jet airliner, the de Havilland DH.106 Comet, turned 75 years old. On that day in 1949, its first prototype took to the skies at Hatfield Aerodrome in Eastern England.

Work on new passenger aircraft with gas turbine engines began in Great Britain during World War II. On April 6, 1948, Vickers began testing the short-haul liner Viking, on which two standard piston engines were replaced with Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engines. However, this was purely an experimental machine that was not intended to be put into airline service.

De Havilland immediately developed its "Comet" with jet engines in mind. The revolutionary airliner promised future passengers unprecedented speeds for that time, as well as high comfort in a pressurized fuselage. On May 2, 1952, a "Comet" from the British airline BOAC made the first commercial flight on the route London-Rome-Beirut-Khartoum-Entebbe-Livingston-Johannesburg. Feedback from air travelers was excellent, and orders for the aircraft began to queue up.

However, within six months, the first serious incident occurred: a "Comet" failed to take off at Rome airport, and although no one was killed, the aircraft had to be written off. And this was just the beginning. By April 1954, four planes had crashed, killing 110 people. There were several reasons, but the most dangerous was metal fatigue (there is a separate article about this on our website). It cannot be said that the "Comet" was released into service under-tested - for that time, its testing program was rigorous. Rather, the aviation industry still lacked the experience and knowledge to prevent these tragedies.

Operation of the aircraft was halted. A rather long refinement process began, resulting in the significantly improved "Comet 4," which began being delivered to airlines in September 1958. Its largest version, the "4C," could accommodate up to 101 passengers, while the first version only held 36. The airliner was equipped with four Rolls Royce Avon 525 engines, each with a thrust of 4,763 kgf. It was 36 meters long, had a wingspan of 35 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 73,482 kg, could accelerate to 805 km/h, and cover 4,900 km with full load.

The "Comet's" "teething troubles" were overcome, but its reputation was tarnished, and competitors from France and the USA were already offering the market more advanced machines. Therefore, only 74 "Comet 4" units were built in four versions. Including previous versions and prototypes, a total of 114 units were produced. They were acquired by civilian and military operators from the UK and 19 other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Indonesia, Canada, Mexico, Sudan, and France. The London-based airline Dan-Air operated commercial flights with "Comets" the longest, until 1981. Additionally, one aircraft was used as a flying laboratory until March 14, 1997. Furthermore, the maritime patrol aircraft Nimrod, based on the "Comet 4C," was in service until mid-2011.