Still looks space age with her sleek lines and the engines embedded in the wings. I remember a Nimrod successfully ditching in the sea and floating intact for long enough for the crew to escape thanks to this feature. I flew in a Dan Air comet 4 back in 1974 to Magaluf on one of the dreaded package deals with my dad. I was 14. My initial excitement was short lived when he told me just before take off about the history of the comet. He was somewhat sadistic in that way.
@PassiveSmoking Good point, she's a piece of history and I shouldn't discount that. I hope she does take to the skies again one day. Despite Comet's tragic early history, the design represents our first foray into the commercial jet age.
gotta love those old engines....though, i personally prefere the JT8D family (without hush-kits).....love how the car alarm goes off at the end from it :D
There was a youtube video titled 'Alitalia MD-82 Takeoff' (I think) - and that plane also showed no signs of taking off either - just 'fast taxi' as englishelectric suggests.
No. This one was the last to fly when it flew in in 1997. It would be theroretically possible to make it air worthy, but it would cost a fortune and many other bodies would have to get involved and give guarentees, like with the Vulcan. As there is far less public intertest in the Comet, compared to the Vulcan, you can be pretty sure it will not happen....
That's where I'm heading when I win the Lottery ;-) The best we can do in this Country is go up to Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire when the LPG [Lightning Preservation Group] have an open day. The next one is 22nd July 07. See lightningsdotorguk the 'dot' should be a'.' youtube prevents URL's also a '.' after org
There are few things sadder to me than seeing an aircraft, meant to soar with the birds, able to taxi but unable to fly. A part of me would almost rather see it chopped up than suffer such a fate.
I know what you mean, but it is quite something to see and hear it taxi. Equally sad, is the sight of our part built Nimrods being crushed on the order of our government. They can of course trace their genes back to the Comet....
@englishelectric The guys from ATC Gasham used to go up and keep her maintained with the view of getting her back in the sky but guess what?! The wing apparently is top secret so they wouldnt allow anyone to work on it or something like that! I saw her touch and go in Gib many years ago. i was at the top of the rock!
They had trouble early on. They kept falling out of the sky! It was eventually traced [by the RAE at Farnborough] to metal fatigue. I think the fuselage was failing around the windows. Once the problem was solved, and they were modified, they were ok. Too late though, the 707 had stolen a march by then.... The Comet lives on in Spirit, in the BAE Mimrod, which is Comet based.
The plane doesn't fly.... Just fast taxi. The reason the early model Comets crashed was metal fatigue around the corners of the square windows. The later models had round windows which cured the problem....
The only reason it was a failure was because of the material it was made out of. Modern day jets have a very thick layer of metal to protect it from fatigue cracks.
Dear englishelectric, I'm admin of the modelkitindo channel, I ask permission to hanging this video on my channel as a teaser, and I will enclose your channel name on the video and link in description ... thank you
@bagelboi66 At least a fast-taxi-capable aircraft has hope of one day becoming airworthy again. Kind of hard to restore an aircraft to airworthiness once you've chopped it up. One with engines and systems that still work is a much better candidate.
I'm affraid not. This one was the last to fly. It flew in, in 1997. In theory it could be made air worthy again, but it would take a lot of money. Also the present engines [or at least some of them] are not original. The Comet uses Rolls Royce Avons. This one has bits borrowed from other aircraft. The CAA require that everything must be totally original.
An utterly BEA'utiful aircraft in its own right, but it looked particularly splendid in BOAC's livery. British designed jet airliners of this era were far more elegant than the rather frumpy looking Boeing 707, however the 707 would go on to dominate the market because it was cheaper to operate, This would lead to the eventually downfall of the Comet and its successor, the Vickers VC10, another beautiful design which still holds the record for the fastest subsonic Atlantic crossing.
