De Havilland Comet - the price of revolution 

Agreed

I hope, the videos will be even more interesting)

Terrific... naaahhh

F off! Soko

Lol, so much hate from people who doesnt understand word "terrific". Quite sad.

I've learned more than ever....thanks 😀

The Comet's tendency to crash is also unsurpast by any modern jet.

@@sandervanderkammen9230 737max 8 :)))))

@@gr8cescale The Boeing 737 series is the most successful jet airliner in history.

@@sandervanderkammen9230 Boeing never told pilots about MCAS due to their race to beat the undeniably better a320neo.

@@gr8cescale The FAA made that decision... Installing MCAS was mandated by the FAA.

That's awesome! I envy your experience.

the kind of thing that sounds kind of silly when you say it, but in reality sounds very interesting, and is of course essential work as well. Pilots get all the glamor, but someone needs to do a good job of caring for the aircraft as well, and the landing gear are perhaps the most important part of the aircraft, doing one of the most important, difficult and punishing tasks any aircraft component is asked to do.

The look agree even in 2020 still looks great, stylish, and futuristic.

Still the worst jet liner in history

Sander Van der Kammen bellend

@@doodemog Sounds like someone in a deep state of denial regarding the Comet Disaster, it remains the worst engineering failure in aviation history.

The best looking jet aircraft ever only challenged by the VC10

just like you

@soaringtractor I'm not a Limey, and I love the 707 and DC8 they are my favourite aircraft. I can't help it though if you can't see the difference between a DC7 and a Comet, both contemporary aircraft. They certainly learnt a lot from the British...like jet engines for instance.

@soaringtractor Oh and get f$$£$d, I forgot to say that ;0)

Doesn't change the fact that DeHavilland was a decade behind Boeing in pressurized passenger aircraft

That is correct Suusi. Also the extremely successful Dassault Mirage 3 / 5 wing design was purchased from the British Fairy Aircraft Company. It was designed for the Fairy Delta 3 which was a two seat fighter aircraft designed by Fairy. The FD-3 lost out to the English Electric Lightning to become the RAF's first mach 2 fighter.

1957 wasn't good year for British aircraft industry.

It was also because the British state airline (BOAC) was still tied to "Empire" routes. That was what the VC-10 was designed and built for.

No doubt this is why so many people are so actively trying to put the government into control of everything from health care to education to industry over in the United States now. We have seen how wonderfully well it has worked in Europe and the UK and want to emulate them, apparently.

Like a Bristol you mean to say.

The MAX is back... the Comet 1's had their airworthiness certification permanently REVOKED.

@@sandervanderkammen9230 yeah but I'll probably still have the creeps flying in a MAX. That was the case for me flying in a DC-10 back in '99.

@@CO84trucker I have flown on a DC-10 many times, I still see them flying too.

@@CO84trucker They found nothing structurally or aerodynamically wrong with the MAX, they ditched the FAA mandated MCAS software and returned to the original Boeing design specifications.

@@sandervanderkammen9230 They paid a HEFTY FINE for their CRIMINAL CONDUCT in concealing the MAX flaws. No criminal conduct at De Havilland: just tragic underestimation of a new pioneering system. *IN 1945 NOT 2018*

I don't think he was trying very hard to match the footage to the exact model he was talking about at the time. It is basically just visual entertainment, matched to the subject under discussion in a general kind of way. This is youtube. He is talking about the Comet, so he showed images of the Comet.

Easy mistake to make. Most nations put their maritime patrol aircraft under Navy control. The UK likes to be weird, as usual.

soaringtractor oh God, it's you again. No one can say anything at all about anything British without you coming on here spouting your crap. And I say that as someone who was born and bred in Connecticut. I have family in the UK, as well as much of my family back in America. If you knew anything at all about British engineering you wouldn't come on here and spout crap about any kind of British technology. If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say it at all.

@soaringtractor Boeing never had a 347 airliner(347 is a helicopter). They had the 307 before the war but it was not so highly pressurized as the Comet, only flew little over 20000feet, but was pioneering in it's way. Comet flew above 40000feet. Germans had the Junkers Ju 49 test plane flying at 40000 feet in the early thirties.

It is real unusual for our time. Modern aircraft are the copies of each other

@@trash4cash454 For what its worth, both Sud and Boeing liked the nose so much, they licenced it.

Revolution

@@trash4cash454 Boeing got the layout right the first time...

@@davekp6773 the Comet nose is copied from the Boeing 307.

It would be real interesting

All the best German aircraft designers went to the USA under Operation Lusty and Operation Paper.

Boeing was the first with pressurized passenger aircraft and large jets

I am glad I read "Airframe" at a young age (along with all of Crichton's books, which I devoured, multiple times in most cases), I feel it put my mind in proper perspective on the aircraft industry. I think more people need to read that book, and then we would have less stupid babbling and ranting on the internet.

​​@@justforever96Highly dramatized fictional tales and fantasy books like _'Airframe'_ are exactly why the internet and RU-vid is heavily polluted with fake news and false narratives.

​@@sandervanderkammen9230 ​ Kharzeestan Krappenz DiktorBummer Jurkzxoffenz etc and co - they should all note good with much awe & extreme wonder. *UPDATE MORE BREAKING NEWS ETC* There can be no excuses for the Bow-wing (see b-47 wing folding incidents) 737 max incidents, Bow-wing having more than 50 years type design and build experience obviously. . How things were back then - *_Accident losses - % of aircraft built._* DeHavilland Comet 4 UK 14% DeHavilland Comet all mks 17% Vickers VC10 UK 5% *_The DH Comet had better safety than or similar safety to many other commercial passenger aircraft of a similar era_* Douglas DC-1 99% Douglas DC-2 47% Douglas DC-3 30% Douglas DC-4 26% Boeing s300 72% Boeing 307 70% Boeing 247 48% Boeing 707 20% Lockheed L-049/149 Constellation 30% Lockheed Electra Turboprop 29% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Sud Aviation Caravelle 15% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% The Comet was designed with military use in mind, Nimrod work started at De Havilland in 1953. The committee did not find hundreds of fatal flaws or evidence of design defects, structural defects, defective materials or shoddy workmanship. Ripstop provision was included. Claimed incidents did not involve cracks starting from window corners. The engine & engine intake position had advantages, were not flaws or fatal flaws & were not the cause of any incidents involving any Comet or Nimrod aircraft. Nearly all changes before the Comet 4 were just in case or were previously scheduled improvements. Bow-wing & the 707 story (see b-47 wing folding incidents) is the result of global economics & the well protected & very large domestic US airliner market & active support from the UK with for instance proposed competing airliners from Vickers & DH being blocked by the UK government at the time, cheap & nasty was the requirement with large scale production capability in one place. The 707 was of course a much larger aircraft which as a stressed skin metal airframe aircraft would require a thicker skin anyway. They got lucky at the time essentially. Bow-wing is the result of the large & well protected US domestic airliner market The fate of De Havilland was due to Govt policy Aerospace sector rationalisation & global economics, it was nothing to do with the Comet. A comprehensive, thorough & protracted testing program was carried out on the prototype & it's assemblies. Of course the Comet did indeed have Ripstop stop provision. De Havilland (Of England) Comets were not grounded after 1970 due to structural problems. *_It's interesting that some of the aircraft on the list should really have been noticeably safer than the Comet due to being a similar type but of much later design & manufacture but they definately were not safer._* How things were back then - *_Accident losses - % of aircraft built._* DeHavilland Comet 4 UK 14% DeHavilland Comet all mks 17% Vickers VC10 UK 5% *_The DH Comet had better safety than or similar safety to many other commercial passenger aircraft of a similar era_* Douglas DC-1 99% Douglas DC-2 47% Douglas DC-3 30% Douglas DC-4 26% Boeing s300 72% Boeing 307 70% Boeing 247 48% Boeing 707 20% Lockheed L-049/149 Constellation 30% Lockheed Electra Turboprop 29% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Sud Aviation Caravelle 15% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% A comparison of more recent aircraft. Accident losses comparison examples. 1970s - 1980s % of total Aircraft built Similar aircraft type, date / decade, useage, size. Biz Jets BAe-125-800 1.7 % Beechcraft Beechjet 400 2.2 % Cessna 550 Citation II 7.1 % Learjet 35 / 36 12 % Beechcraft 1900 6% Dassault Falcon 10 11.5% Aérospatiale SN.601 22.5% Medium size jets / Turboprops. BAe-146 5.1% Fokker 100 6% McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 9.5% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% Beechcraft, Fokker, McDonnell Douglass, Learjet, Fairchild, Aerospatiale, Canadair, Convair companies defunct. All Comets, including some Comet 1s, had full civilian use certification at some point after 1954, civilian use certification only being withdrawn after commercial flying stopped. Examples were flying until 1997 - one example did a signals research global circumnavigation flight series in 1993 via Australia virtually without a rest travelling 28000 miles, only had an ice warning indicator issue during the flights. *The DH Comet - World Firsts.* 1st gas turbine jet powered airliner. 1st high altitude 8psi pressurised full fuselage length passenger cabin airliner, not a trivial feature as structure strength required for pressurisation considerably exceeded strength required for normal flying stress. Nobody else had done anything similar before the Comet. The b-47 used 2 relatively small, heavily built pressurised modules (the aircraft where 6 had their wings fold up in 2 months while flying & some had their wings fall off while parked). The 1937 Boeing piston engined airliner pressurised passenger cabin was pressurised to 2 psi only - in fact that could easily be done as the normal unpressurized fuselage cabin structure strength for flying stresses only was all that was needed to be adequate so no significant weight increase issues needed addressing. 1st all hydraulically powered flying surface controls & actuators airliner with under carriage wheel disk brakes + ABS. 1st jet airliner to cross the Atlantic. 1st jet aircraft to do a world circumnavigation flights series. *Of course De Havilland had prior experience building many all metal construction airframe aircraft including thousands of jet powered fighter aircraft that were primarily of metal construction with pressurised cockpits & jet engines built by De-Havilland & we know the world's first all metal construction airframe airliner was built in England in the 1920s by Handley Page.* *_De Havilland did indeed always work to better than industry standards at the time, used up to date knowledge for the design & no evidence of negligence or criminal negligence was ever produced in relation to the DH Comet._* The course of De Havilland & the general UK aerospace industry sector was not affected even slightly by the DH Comet. The course of national aerospace sectors obviously being similar & inevitable in many countries. *_Other interesting World firsts_* _World's first turboprop aircraft._ *Vickers Viscount Turboprop Airliner 1947.* *A 1945 Gloster Meteor Aircraft with Turboprop Gas Turbine Engine.* They might like to answer these questions. *Which airline has just ordered* *60 RR England Trent XWB Engines* *& What aircraft are the engines for?* _Bonus question for 10 points._ Which country has the *World's Highest Combined Per Capita* *Nuclear + Defence + Aerospace Sector Activity?* 👍 & 🙂 & of course 😎 indeed. *C H E E R S* & without doubt - _Toodle_ -PIP- *Old* *_C H A P._* This line left not blank intentionally. The next line is blank intentionally. . .... . ... .. . . ... .. ... .... .... ............ ..... . Ivcxivcxivxcxcxc cxcxcvccbcxcccxc xcxiivxccxvcxcxcv ccvvcvvvvcvvvvbvcc vivcxiccvccvxxccvvv.

They've developed some other good planes after it

Among others, Concorde with France...

Among others, Airbus)

phillyslasher how the B29 bomber was pressurized.

I concur. It is indeed unfortunate that many who surge forward, especially in aviation, suffer consequences undeserving of their valour in striving and driving technology ahead. B737max is not one of these. Laziness, money and complacency has cost Boing its hard fought reputation. De Havilland forged ahead with the latest and also unknown limits of 1940s technology and pad dearly. But they DEFINED WHAT A PASSENGER AIRPLANE NEEDED TO BE!

Well, first the Brits would need to have an aircraft industry.

I completely agree with you and I love the prospect of the UK and USA teaming up.

Stu McCabe I agree too. I've always thought we were brothers in arms, as well as in language and Culture. The UK and the USA could do wonders together, in aviation, electronics, general technology and spacefaring.

Frank Lee Speaking I think the UK and the USA should team up anyway. USA already use special armor developed by the British on our tanks, we use terrain following Radar, and look down radar on our aircraft also developed by the British, and it can't be forgotten, that much of the technology on the SR-71, including the electronics and radar came from the British (this was stated as a matter of fact, by an SR-71 pilot who gave a talk on a tour of the SR-71 on a RU-vid video). When we work together, we make an awesome team, and I think together we could be not just a superpower but a mega power.

Britian doesn't have an aircraft industry anymore.

My father trained for it there ,and in Derby for the RR Avons

The revolution

Certainly a valid point. At the time, engineers would have used slide rules and four figure log tables abundantly. Metal fatigue (especially aluminium alloys) was one factor after several normal flights was little understood, but perhaps more by the Boeing engineers, who had much more money available for experimentation. It is also reported that many design plans by Frank Whittle were simply given to the United States as a gesture of recompense and goodwill from the UK, (as rationing was in place) and combined with the German engine designs (from the ME 262) using axial feed (acquired from the capture of several intact aircraft). At that point, a design using a combination of the advantageous features was possible, and the result was a reliable aircraft for commercial use...

@soaringtractor The same Boeing that has had the MAX grounded through design incompetence and corruption, anf Dreamliners are still being subject to "smoke in the cockpit" incidents. Keep backing the loser, you have made a reputation on here for that.

Excellent remarks, couldn't have said it better myself.

Prior to the Comet. All of DeHavillands successful aircraft were made of wood, Boeing was 10 years ahead in pressurized passenger aircraft.

​@@sandervanderkammen9230 Kharzeestan Krappenz DiktorBummer Jurkzxoffenz etc and co - they should all note good with much awe & extreme wonder. *UPDATE MORE BREAKING NEWS ETC* There can be no excuses for the Bow-wing (see b-47 wing folding incidents) 737 max incidents, Bow-wing having mire than 50 years type design and build experience obviously. . How things were back then - *_Accident losses - % of aircraft built._* DeHavilland Comet 4 UK 14% DeHavilland Comet all mks 17% Vickers VC10 UK 5% *_The DH Comet had better safety than or similar safety to many other commercial passenger aircraft of a similar era_* Douglas DC-1 99% Douglas DC-2 47% Douglas DC-3 30% Douglas DC-4 26% Boeing s300 72% Boeing 307 70% Boeing 247 48% Boeing 707 20% Lockheed L-049/149 Constellation 30% Lockheed Electra Turboprop 29% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Sud Aviation Caravelle 15% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% The Comet was designed with military use in mind, Nimrod work started at De Havilland in 1953. The committee did not find hundreds of fatal flaws or evidence of design defects, structural defects, defective materials or shoddy workmanship. Ripstop provision was included. Claimed incidents did not involve cracks starting from window corners. The engine & engine intake position had advantages, were not flaws or fatal flaws & were not the cause of any incidents involving any Comet or Nimrod aircraft. Nearly all changes before the Comet 4 were just in case or were previously scheduled improvements. Bow-wing & the 707 story (see b-47 wing folding incidents) is the result of global economics & the well protected & very large domestic US airliner market & active support from the UK with for instance proposed competing airliners from Vickers & DH being blocked by the UK government at the time, cheap & nasty was the requirement with large scale production capability in one place. The 707 was of course a much larger aircraft which as a stressed skin metal airframe aircraft would require a thicker skin anyway. They got lucky at the time essentially. Bow-wing is the result of the large & well protected US domestic airliner market The fate of De Havilland was due to Govt policy Aerospace sector rationalisation & global economics, it was nothing to do with the Comet. A comprehensive, thorough & protracted testing program was carried out on the prototype & it's assemblies. Of course the Comet did indeed have Ripstop stop provision. De Havilland (Of England) Comets were not grounded after 1970 due to structural problems. *_It's interesting that some of the aircraft on the list should really have been noticeably safer than the Comet due to being a similar type but of much later design & manufacture but they definately were not safer._* How things were back then - *_Accident losses - % of aircraft built._* DeHavilland Comet 4 UK 14% DeHavilland Comet all mks 17% Vickers VC10 UK 5% *_The DH Comet had better safety than or similar safety to many other commercial passenger aircraft of a similar era_* Douglas DC-1 99% Douglas DC-2 47% Douglas DC-3 30% Douglas DC-4 26% Boeing s300 72% Boeing 307 70% Boeing 247 48% Boeing 707 20% Lockheed L-049/149 Constellation 30% Lockheed Electra Turboprop 29% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Sud Aviation Caravelle 15% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% A comparison of more recent aircraft. Accident losses comparison examples. 1970s - 1980s % of total Aircraft built Similar aircraft type, date / decade, useage, size. Biz Jets BAe-125-800 1.7 % Beechcraft Beechjet 400 2.2 % Cessna 550 Citation II 7.1 % Learjet 35 / 36 12 % Beechcraft 1900 6% Dassault Falcon 10 11.5% Aérospatiale SN.601 22.5% Medium size jets / Turboprops. BAe-146 5.1% Fokker 100 6% McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 9.5% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% Beechcraft, Fokker, McDonnell Douglass, Learjet, Fairchild, Aerospatiale, Canadair, Convair companies defunct. All Comets, including some Comet 1s, had full civilian use certification at some point after 1954, civilian use certification only being withdrawn after commercial flying stopped. Examples were flying until 1997 - one example did a signals research global circumnavigation flight series in 1993 via Australia virtually without a rest travelling 28000 miles, only had an ice warning indicator issue during the flights. *The DH Comet - World Firsts.* 1st gas turbine jet powered airliner. 1st high altitude 8psi pressurised full fuselage length passenger cabin airliner, not a trivial feature as structure strength required for pressurisation considerably exceeded strength required for normal flying stress. Nobody else had done anything similar before the Comet. The b-47 used 2 relatively small, heavily built pressurised modules (the aircraft where 6 had their wings fold up in 2 months while flying & some had their wings fall off while parked). The 1937 Boeing piston engined airliner pressurised passenger cabin was pressurised to 2 psi only - in fact that could easily be done as the normal unpressurized fuselage cabin structure strength for flying stresses only was all that was needed to be adequate so no significant weight increase issues needed addressing. 1st all hydraulically powered flying surface controls & actuators airliner with under carriage wheel disk brakes + ABS. 1st jet airliner to cross the Atlantic. 1st jet aircraft to do a world circumnavigation flights series. *Of course De Havilland had prior experience building many all metal construction airframe aircraft including thousands of jet powered fighter aircraft that were primarily of metal construction with pressurised cockpits & jet engines built by De-Havilland & we know the world's first all metal construction airframe airliner was built in England in the 1920s by Handley Page.* *_De Havilland did indeed always work to better than industry standards at the time, used up to date knowledge for the design & no evidence of negligence or criminal negligence was ever produced in relation to the DH Comet._* The course of De Havilland & the general UK aerospace industry sector was not affected even slightly by the DH Comet. The course of national aerospace sectors obviously being similar & inevitable in many countries. *_Other interesting World firsts_* _World's first turboprop aircraft._ *Vickers Viscount Turboprop Airliner 1947.* *A 1945 Gloster Meteor Aircraft with Turboprop Gas Turbine Engine.* They might like to answer these questions. *Which airline has just ordered* *60 RR England Trent XWB Engines* *& What aircraft are the engines for?* _Bonus question for 10 points._ Which country has the *World's Highest Combined Per Capita* *Nuclear + Defence + Aerospace Sector Activity?* 👍 & 🙂 & of course 😎 indeed. *C H E E R S* & without doubt - _Toodle_ -PIP- *Old* *_C H A P._* This line left not blank intentionally. The next line is blank intentionally. . .... . ... .. . . ... .. ... .... .... ............ ..... . Ivcxivcxivxcxc cxcxcvccbcxccc xcxiivxccxvcxcxcv ccvvcvvvvcvvvvbv vivcxiccvccvxxccvvv.

Haha, really it looks like the Avanti

Nothing beautiful about an airliner crash...

@@sandervanderkammen9230 No kidding. why would somebody say a plane wreck is beautiful ? do you have Asperger's or something ?

Well, DeHaviland did not design the Comet to be an installation in a fine art museum... it's sole purpose was to fly safely enough to carry passengers. It would be extremly callous and insensitive to compliment the Comet without acknowledging its shameful, tragic history or remember the 426 innocent people who were killed by DeHaviland incompetence and indifference to human life.

@@sandervanderkammen9230 once again, that wasn't the point.

You didn't answer my question on whether or not you have Asperger syndrome. nevertheless, nothing you say is going to change my opinion about how I feel about the Aesthetics of that plane. I'm thinking of one thing and you're thinking about something else. that's perfectly fine. It's just the way the world is my friend. I think it's admirable that you have compassion for the victims of the plane crashes. I find no pleasure in the tragic deaths of my fellow human beings. Take care of yourself my friend.; until we meet again somewhere else in cyberspace !

Blame the square windows

YUP! THE CORNERS ARE WEAK!!!!

Later models they were oval in shape . I flew on the Comet 4 when BEA used to fly them .they were very comfortable ! I flew from London to Nicosia and back on one and also did a LHR - Manchester on one .

Wishful thinking... the british government turned the MRA4 program into a proper cock up... spending a whole decade and a billion pounds on an aircraft too old and obsolete to fill the role.. The Boeing Poseidon MRA1 delivers superior performance at a fraction of the cost.

@@sandervanderkammen9230 No offense but you don't know what you're talking about, not only is the Poseidon more expensive per plane than the MRA4 was but when it comes to features / capabilities that the UK needs / uses for our defence it is a far less capable aircraft. You're comment about age is pretty silly considering the Poseidon is based on a 50+ year old plane itself.

@@llynellyn You are making some false assumptions as a final cost on the MRA4 program was continuing to spiral completely out of control. It is ridiculous to imply that designing and building a highly specialized ultra low production volume aircraft could ever be cheaper than a readily available aircraft variant like the Poseidon. Indeed, the Poseidon's 737 airframe is the most successful jet transport aircraft in history... a testament to its superiority.

@@sandervanderkammen9230 If you're trying to say that the MRA4 program plus the aircraft cost more than the Poseidon's you're completely correct, it's just a stupid point to make because cancelling the program at 99% completion and scrapping the aircraft doesn't magically refund the money spent. Our government cancelled a virtually finished program, threw away the planes wasting billions then realised we actually really needed those planes after all so had to buy inferior ones from a competitor. It was classic UK government incompetence and sadly the same thing that's happened many times before :( As far as your production volumes argument goes, there were 51 Nimrods built compared to 122 Posiedons, neither are exactly a mass produced aircraft.

@@llynellyn Exactly my point! Why continue throwing good money after bad? The MRA4 program was cancelled because it was a massive waste of taxpayer funds. Bullocks mate, the MRA4 was still in development when it was cancelled. The Nimrod was developed to recoup the huge losses incurred when the Comet Disaster sent DeHaviland tits up.. leaving the U.K. government holding the massive debt... and a small mountain of unused Comet parts and brand new tooling. Only 158 Comet airframes were ever built including Hawker Siddeley/ BAe built Nimrods... The Boeing 737 series including the P-8 Poseidon totals nearly 11,000 aircraft with production projected to continue to 2040. The U.K. aircraft industry is dead, Britain simply cannot produce it own planes anymore... the country no longer produces any commercial transport aircraft and buys mostly foreign military aircraft.

Without question the most dangerous.

@@sandervanderkammen9230 No one asked.

@@Mittens0407 No one asked to die in the worst commercial jet aircraft in history... 426 people were killed by including children.

@@sandervanderkammen9230 Your point? The comment was about the looks of the aircraft, not about its flaws.

@@Mittens0407 The _Comet Disaster_ is the worst commercial jet aircraft in history... were you not aware of this? or do you know nothing about aviation?

Another socialist success! Everyone (or nearly so) are equally destitute.

As Winston Churchill put it, the problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money.

Rather, they've a sequence of banana-republican dictators, chavez/maduro, who've no clue except to buy votes. You could say that ignorance rules, across the spectrum. "Venezuela", "forefront of technology"? Really?

Yeah, I was born there and it's turned into SUCH A PIECE OF SHIT.

@@jacquesblaque7728 And Venezuela's nickname, "La sucursal del cielo" (A branch of heaven) was because of that. We had one of the most advanced subway systems in the world until Chavez and the socialist pieces of shit came and ruined everything for us. Fuck socialists and socialism.

Boeing was the first to build pressurized passenger aircraft and large high altitude jets

@@sandervanderkammen9230 The real point is was it a jet? No it wasn't.

The B-47 had a fully pressurized cabin at 9psi and flew higher than the Comet. DeHavilland was not the first to develop the technology.

Comet, epic fail

​@@sandervanderkammen9230 ​@sandervanderkammen9230 ​ Kharzeestan Krappenz DiktorBummer Jurkzxoffenz etc and co - they should all note good with much awe & extreme wonder. *UPDATE MORE BREAKING NEWS ETC* There can be no excuses for the Bow-wing (see b-47 wing folding incidents) 737 max incidents, Bow-wing having more than 50 years type design and build experience obviously. . How things were back then - *_Accident losses - % of aircraft built._* DeHavilland Comet 4 UK 14% DeHavilland Comet all mks 17% Vickers VC10 UK 5% *_The DH Comet had better safety than or similar safety to many other commercial passenger aircraft of a similar era_* Douglas DC-1 99% Douglas DC-2 47% Douglas DC-3 30% Douglas DC-4 26% Boeing s300 72% Boeing 307 70% Boeing 247 48% Boeing 707 20% Lockheed L-049/149 Constellation 30% Lockheed Electra Turboprop 29% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Sud Aviation Caravelle 15% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% The Comet was designed with military use in mind, Nimrod work started at De Havilland in 1953. The committee did not find hundreds of fatal flaws or evidence of design defects, structural defects, defective materials or shoddy workmanship. Ripstop provision was included. Claimed incidents did not involve cracks starting from window corners. The engine & engine intake position had advantages, were not flaws or fatal flaws & were not the cause of any incidents involving any Comet or Nimrod aircraft. Nearly all changes before the Comet 4 were just in case or were previously scheduled improvements. Bow-wing & the 707 story (see b-47 wing folding incidents) is the result of global economics & the well protected & very large domestic US airliner market & active support from the UK with for instance proposed competing airliners from Vickers & DH being blocked by the UK government at the time, cheap & nasty was the requirement with large scale production capability in one place. The 707 was of course a much larger aircraft which as a stressed skin metal airframe aircraft would require a thicker skin anyway. They got lucky at the time essentially. Bow-wing is the result of the large & well protected US domestic airliner market The fate of De Havilland was due to Govt policy Aerospace sector rationalisation & global economics, it was nothing to do with the Comet. A comprehensive, thorough & protracted testing program was carried out on the prototype & it's assemblies. Of course the Comet did indeed have Ripstop stop provision. De Havilland (Of England) Comets were not grounded after 1970 due to structural problems. *_It's interesting that some of the aircraft on the list should really have been noticeably safer than the Comet due to being a similar type but of much later design & manufacture but they definately were not safer._* How things were back then - *_Accident losses - % of aircraft built._* DeHavilland Comet 4 UK 14% DeHavilland Comet all mks 17% Vickers VC10 UK 5% *_The DH Comet had better safety than or similar safety to many other commercial passenger aircraft of a similar era_* Douglas DC-1 99% Douglas DC-2 47% Douglas DC-3 30% Douglas DC-4 26% Boeing s300 72% Boeing 307 70% Boeing 247 48% Boeing 707 20% Lockheed L-049/149 Constellation 30% Lockheed Electra Turboprop 29% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Sud Aviation Caravelle 15% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% A comparison of more recent aircraft. Accident losses comparison examples. 1970s - 1980s % of total Aircraft built Similar aircraft type, date / decade, useage, size. Biz Jets BAe-125-800 1.7 % Beechcraft Beechjet 400 2.2 % Cessna 550 Citation II 7.1 % Learjet 35 / 36 12 % Beechcraft 1900 6% Dassault Falcon 10 11.5% Aérospatiale SN.601 22.5% Medium size jets / Turboprops. BAe-146 5.1% Fokker 100 6% McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 9.5% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% Beechcraft, Fokker, McDonnell Douglass, Learjet, Fairchild, Aerospatiale, Canadair, Convair companies defunct. All Comets, including some Comet 1s, had full civilian use certification at some point after 1954, civilian use certification only being withdrawn after commercial flying stopped. Examples were flying until 1997 - one example did a signals research global circumnavigation flight series in 1993 via Australia virtually without a rest travelling 28000 miles, only had an ice warning indicator issue during the flights. *The DH Comet - World Firsts.* 1st gas turbine jet powered airliner. 1st high altitude 8psi pressurised full fuselage length passenger cabin airliner, not a trivial feature as structure strength required for pressurisation considerably exceeded strength required for normal flying stress. Nobody else had done anything similar before the Comet. The b-47 used 2 relatively small, heavily built pressurised modules (the aircraft where 6 had their wings fold up in 2 months while flying & some had their wings fall off while parked). The 1937 Boeing piston engined airliner pressurised passenger cabin was pressurised to 2 psi only - in fact that could easily be done as the normal unpressurized fuselage cabin structure strength for flying stresses only was all that was needed to be adequate so no significant weight increase issues needed addressing. 1st all hydraulically powered flying surface controls & actuators airliner with under carriage wheel disk brakes + ABS. 1st jet airliner to cross the Atlantic. 1st jet aircraft to do a world circumnavigation flights series. *Of course De Havilland had prior experience building many all metal construction airframe aircraft including thousands of jet powered fighter aircraft that were primarily of metal construction with pressurised cockpits & jet engines built by De-Havilland & we know the world's first all metal construction airframe airliner was built in England in the 1920s by Handley Page.* *_De Havilland did indeed always work to better than industry standards at the time, used up to date knowledge for the design & no evidence of negligence or criminal negligence was ever produced in relation to the DH Comet._* The course of De Havilland & the general UK aerospace industry sector was not affected even slightly by the DH Comet. The course of national aerospace sectors obviously being similar & inevitable in many countries. *_Other interesting World firsts_* _World's first turboprop aircraft._ *Vickers Viscount Turboprop Airliner 1947.* *A 1945 Gloster Meteor Aircraft with Turboprop Gas Turbine Engine.* They might like to answer these questions. *Which airline has just ordered* *60 RR England Trent XWB Engines* *& What aircraft are the engines for?* _Bonus question for 10 points._ Which country has the *World's Highest Combined Per Capita* *Nuclear + Defence + Aerospace Sector Activity?* 👍 & 🙂 & of course 😎 indeed. *C H E E R S* & without doubt - _Toodle_ -PIP- *Old* *_C H A P._* This line left not blank intentionally. The next line is blank intentionally. . .... . ... .. . . ... .. ... .... .... ............ ..... . Ivcxivcxivxcxcxc cxcxcvccbcxcccxc xcxiivxccxvcxcxcv ccvvcvvvvc vvvvbvcc vivcxicc vccvxxccv

Oh no, Boeing have stolen the design 50 years after)

not stolen, copied, look at it closely

@@Rsantana380 I hope you're joking

boboprime2000 of course he’s kidding, only Russians and Chinese copy, Americans and the British are incapable of doing this, or most negative things.

Nope but the Caravelle does have the exact same nose as the Comet.

The pioneers must pay, but they are the leaders

@soaringtractor So what you say about makers of 737 max they have no excuse rhe brits om the otherhand were in unchartered waters.

If it didnt crash in 1954 then this will not happen

Boeing was the pioneer of pressurized passenger aircraft and large jets.

even if they did putting pressurization systems on a prop and jet bomber but a jetliner is a completely different thing entirely

If the comet didnt exit it would be much bigger 707s and dc-8s blowing apart at 30k feet instead. The american designs were adjusted to factor in the lessons learnt by the comet disasters. Also the comet was designed a decade earlier Its pretty reasonable to guess that if it didnt blow apart randomly in flight that its success would have carried the manufacturer to its next logical step, which would be designing a successor

Regardless of who blows up, the problem would be fixed. Regardless of who blows up, US manufacturers will be doing 10x the business as British manufacturers due to the defense contracts and the size of the US aviation market. Hence they will be able to out develop and out produce the British. There is simply no way for the British to compete. -- It took 30 years and all the European countries to create a viable competitor in Airbus, and the ONLY reason it succeeded was for Europeans to subsidized Airbus while the US agreed not to subsidize US manufacturers (at least not directly). If there was no subsidy, Airbus had no chance. And, if it had been a subsidy war between the US and Europe, Airbus has no chance either.

thats all speculation, you're suggesting that boeing could just shrug off the crippling loss of confidence effects ifit was several of its newest airliner blowing apart in flight due to structural failure, if it was them first. The DC-10 had bad cargo doors and they ruined its reputation. Any other incident relating to them even if not a failure of the basic design was still lumped into "dc-10 sucks and is rubbish". The comet unfortunately carried the same loss on confidence issue and in both cases the later models were completely safe designs The only reason that the comet and the british jet airliner trade fell apart is because THEY carried the burden of trying things first not because america is somehow instantly the best and only country on the planet

kineticdeath What I am saying is that individual European manufacturers in the 50s and 60s standard ZERO chance of competing with the US aerospace juggernaut simply because of the size of the US economy and US defense spending.

thats true i'll give you that and the timing of the 707 was perfect. Just after the failure of the comet and when the french only had the caravelle, then along comes the US with the only surviving transatlantic jet transporter with all the refinements to make it the world class airliner it became

The politics is not good for economy, when someone want "to beat" others

They just need to stop trying Boeing= best airliners period.

@@IceFive5 You are wrong on any number of points. First, I don't live in the USA and your anti American bias indicates you don't live there either. I am not a fan of anyone. These aircraft are products that I will never buy. I look at this industry from a purely business stand point. I've seen that companies that follow the rule "do what makes the company owners the most money", generaly do better than allowing ego to become a factor. Boeing isn't whining, only you are. The A220 vs Boeing thing was just business. Nasty business, but just business. Did it work, well, time will tell but it drove Bombardier into the loving arms of Airbus so probably not. Why people see this business as a rivalry, I suspect is because of the age of most of the commenters. Really, at it's best, it's just business.

They've tried and made Airbus finally

Redlock Load of nonsense. The current most common jet airliner in service worldwide is the Airbus A320. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. The energy crisis and dramatically more expensive fuel ended the Concorde as a commercial venture but nobody knew that when it was designed in the 60's. The ban on supersonic flights over land was the real culprit. And as for the A380, around 220 sold so far for such expensive aircraft can't be called an "economic disaster". Also. Get this through your head. For any engineer, innovator and designer the spirt is not to "beat anybody" - certainly not some nationality - but to build something good they can be proud of. When you grow up and stop being such a petty minded chimp you might understand that. The guys at DeHavilland had a vision and they went into unchartered waters. It was a high risk project and they knew it. Given that Great Britain was virtually bankrupt following WWII their achievement deserves even more praise. Here's a lesson for you cretin. Petty minded cretins who never have achieved anything of their *own* always try to compensate by latching onto the success of others. I think anybody with half a brain who knows people know what kind of a "man" you are. Respect is for great people. But nobody respects you so you can't respect anybody. Clown.

Not tested well enough... the worst engineering failure in commercial aviation history.

If the word *~C-o-m-e-t~* appears in a comment you can be fairly sure Von Duh Krappen will find it.

@@sandervanderkammen9230 There was a kind of race going on to capture projected commercial gains by being first in the field. Yes, it was not tested to its limits before putting it on the stage for air travel. Its fatal weaknesses were exposed later on, weaknesses that virtually eliminated Britain as a serious competitor, although a huge effort was made to restore faith in its industry.

@@paulpaul9914 *Please name a single British company that still makes commercial jet aircraft in the U.K.*

​@@sandervanderkammen9230 *_Muncherz Krappenz DiktorBummer KARZEESTAN Jurkzxoffenzstadt & co - they should all note with much awe and great wonder._* ***** *How come they can't answer simple questions - why is that?* ***** *_DID SOMEBODY ACTUALLY SAY SOMEWHERE THAT THERE'S AIRLINER ASSEMBLY LINES OR SIMILAR IN THE UK OR IRELAND OR THAT Airbus or BOW-WING is actually British? (B-47 wings on many occasions folded up in flight or dropped off while parked)._* Of course Brazil makes very good airliners & Brazil is 100th down list along with Indonesia for wealth per capita. *Norway Holland Denmark Ireland Belgium - Top 20 wealth per capita - Don't make airliners - its as simple as that.* BAe Systems & RR combined now do more Airbus work than Germany on an absolute basis & significantly more work than that on a per capita basis. Per capita for the home nation BAe Systems is the world's largest defence contractor. _BAe systems announced the recent £4 Billion takeover of Colorado based US based Ball Aerospace._ *BAE systems now does a significantly higher value of work for Airbus than it did when it was a major Airbus shareholder before 2005.* *_RR now owns US Engine maker Allison for example which does classified Aerospace work for the US Govt._* The UK has more important stuff to do these days. _Routine simple passenger aircraft airframe assembly is becoming more of a 3rd world / trailer park area thing._ EG - *_The DH Comet - world's first high altitude capable pressurised passenger cabin jet airliner in regular service, world's first jet airliner aircraft to cross the Atlantic, worlds first jet airliner aircraft to complete a global circumnavigation flight series._* *They might try to sensibly answer this question - why do they believe that BAE Systems & RR (aero engines etc) & other companies, for example should be doing anything other than what they currently do & where do they get the idea from that the DH Comet had any affect at all on the progression UK aerospace sector.* *Anybody currently flying on a widebody airliner stands a good chance of being on an aircraft powered by RR gas turbine aero engines built in England.* 📯📯📯📯 *The New RR Trent Ultrafan* *Built In England* *_World's Largest (see T&Cs)_* *_Gas Turbine Aero Engine_* 📯📯📯📯 👍Manufactured by the people on a small island with less than 1% of the world's population.👍 *_A typical but small glimpse of what goes on in the very internationally orientated British aerospace sector._* - Boeing Apache Attack Helicopter. AH-64: *75 UK suppliers,* 7% UK content, global fleet of 1280+ aircraft. *F35B more than 130 UK Suppliers, more than 30% UK content.* *_F35A & F35C more than 130 UK Suppliers, more than 15% UK content._* They might like to answer these questions. *Which airline has just ordered* *60 RR England Trent XWB Engines* *& What aircraft are the engines for?* _Bonus question for 10 extra points._ Which country has the *World's Highest Combined Per Capita* *Nuclear / Defence / Aerospace Sector Activity?* 👍 & 🙂 & of course 😎 indeed. *C H E E R S.* _Toodle_ -PIP- *Old* *_C H A P._* . ... . . ..... . . ... . . ... . ..... ccicci vivv ixxixxiccicci

he has done one on the TU114

The comments under the Skyships videos are not less interesting than the videos)

@joebobshouse The design of the Comets engine inlets was discovered to be a fatal flaw and the cause of several runway excursions and crashes on takeoff.

​@@sandervanderkammen9230 ​@sandervanderkammen9230 ​ Kharzeestan Krappenz DiktorBummer Jurkzxoffenz etc and co - they should all note good with much awe & extreme wonder. *UPDATE MORE BREAKING NEWS ETC* There can be no excuses for the Bow-wing (see b-47 wing folding incidents) 737 max incidents, Bow-wing having more than 50 years type design and build experience obviously. . How things were back then - *_Accident losses - % of aircraft built._* DeHavilland Comet 4 UK 14% DeHavilland Comet all mks 17% Vickers VC10 UK 5% *_The DH Comet had better safety than or similar safety to many other commercial passenger aircraft of a similar era_* Douglas DC-1 99% Douglas DC-2 47% Douglas DC-3 30% Douglas DC-4 26% Boeing s300 72% Boeing 307 70% Boeing 247 48% Boeing 707 20% Lockheed L-049/149 Constellation 30% Lockheed Electra Turboprop 29% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Sud Aviation Caravelle 15% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% The Comet was designed with military use in mind, Nimrod work started at De Havilland in 1953. The committee did not find hundreds of fatal flaws or evidence of design defects, structural defects, defective materials or shoddy workmanship. Ripstop provision was included. Claimed incidents did not involve cracks starting from window corners. The engine & engine intake position had advantages, were not flaws or fatal flaws & were not the cause of any incidents involving any Comet or Nimrod aircraft. Nearly all changes before the Comet 4 were just in case or were previously scheduled improvements. Bow-wing & the 707 story (see b-47 wing folding incidents) is the result of global economics & the well protected & very large domestic US airliner market & active support from the UK with for instance proposed competing airliners from Vickers & DH being blocked by the UK government at the time, cheap & nasty was the requirement with large scale production capability in one place. The 707 was of course a much larger aircraft which as a stressed skin metal airframe aircraft would require a thicker skin anyway. They got lucky at the time essentially. Bow-wing is the result of the large & well protected US domestic airliner market The fate of De Havilland was due to Govt policy Aerospace sector rationalisation & global economics, it was nothing to do with the Comet. A comprehensive, thorough & protracted testing program was carried out on the prototype & it's assemblies. Of course the Comet did indeed have Ripstop stop provision. De Havilland (Of England) Comets were not grounded after 1970 due to structural problems. *_It's interesting that some of the aircraft on the list should really have been noticeably safer than the Comet due to being a similar type but of much later design & manufacture but they definately were not safer._* How things were back then - *_Accident losses - % of aircraft built._* DeHavilland Comet 4 UK 14% DeHavilland Comet all mks 17% Vickers VC10 UK 5% *_The DH Comet had better safety than or similar safety to many other commercial passenger aircraft of a similar era_* Douglas DC-1 99% Douglas DC-2 47% Douglas DC-3 30% Douglas DC-4 26% Boeing s300 72% Boeing 307 70% Boeing 247 48% Boeing 707 20% Lockheed L-049/149 Constellation 30% Lockheed Electra Turboprop 29% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Sud Aviation Caravelle 15% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% A comparison of more recent aircraft. Accident losses comparison examples. 1970s - 1980s % of total Aircraft built Similar aircraft type, date / decade, useage, size. Biz Jets BAe-125-800 1.7 % Beechcraft Beechjet 400 2.2 % Cessna 550 Citation II 7.1 % Learjet 35 / 36 12 % Beechcraft 1900 6% Dassault Falcon 10 11.5% Aérospatiale SN.601 22.5% Medium size jets / Turboprops. BAe-146 5.1% Fokker 100 6% McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 9.5% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% Beechcraft, Fokker, McDonnell Douglass, Learjet, Fairchild, Aerospatiale, Canadair, Convair companies defunct. All Comets, including some Comet 1s, had full civilian use certification at some point after 1954, civilian use certification only being withdrawn after commercial flying stopped. Examples were flying until 1997 - one example did a signals research global circumnavigation flight series in 1993 via Australia virtually without a rest travelling 28000 miles, only had an ice warning indicator issue during the flights. *The DH Comet - World Firsts.* 1st gas turbine jet powered airliner. 1st high altitude 8psi pressurised full fuselage length passenger cabin airliner, not a trivial feature as structure strength required for pressurisation considerably exceeded strength required for normal flying stress. Nobody else had done anything similar before the Comet. The b-47 used 2 relatively small, heavily built pressurised modules (the aircraft where 6 had their wings fold up in 2 months while flying & some had their wings fall off while parked). The 1937 Boeing piston engined airliner pressurised passenger cabin was pressurised to 2 psi only - in fact that could easily be done as the normal unpressurized fuselage cabin structure strength for flying stresses only was all that was needed to be adequate so no significant weight increase issues needed addressing. 1st all hydraulically powered flying surface controls & actuators airliner with under carriage wheel disk brakes + ABS. 1st jet airliner to cross the Atlantic. 1st jet aircraft to do a world circumnavigation flights series. *Of course De Havilland had prior experience building many all metal construction airframe aircraft including thousands of jet powered fighter aircraft that were primarily of metal construction with pressurised cockpits & jet engines built by De-Havilland & we know the world's first all metal construction airframe airliner was built in England in the 1920s by Handley Page.* *_De Havilland did indeed always work to better than industry standards at the time, used up to date knowledge for the design & no evidence of negligence or criminal negligence was ever produced in relation to the DH Comet._* The course of De Havilland & the general UK aerospace industry sector was not affected even slightly by the DH Comet. The course of national aerospace sectors obviously being similar & inevitable in many countries. *_Other interesting World firsts_* _World's first turboprop aircraft._ *Vickers Viscount Turboprop Airliner 1947.* *A 1945 Gloster Meteor Aircraft with Turboprop Gas Turbine Engine.* They might like to answer these questions. *Which airline has just ordered* *60 RR England Trent XWB Engines* *& What aircraft are the engines for?* _Bonus question for 10 points._ Which country has the *World's Highest Combined Per Capita* *Nuclear + Defence + Aerospace Sector Activity?* 👍 & 🙂 & of course 😎 indeed. *C H E E R S* & without doubt - _Toodle_ -PIP- *Old* *_C H A P._* This line left not blank intentionally. The next line is blank intentionally. . .... . ... .. . . ... .. ... .... .... ............ ..... . Ivcxivcxivxcxcxciii cxcxcvccbcxcccxc xcxiivxccxvcxcxcvvvv ccvvcvvvvcvvvvbvccxx vivcxiccvccvxxccvvv.xxx

You're lucky to work with such an amazing planes there) Vulcans and Nimrods are awesome and beautiful planes

Best part i find is that i get to talk to people who have flown them and built them. from engine fitters to Vulcan pilots

Ah Woodford Aerodrome. Yet another airfield closed by ignorant BAE Systems who would close all their airfields and move to China if they could get away with it. And when they're not doing that they're terminating airliner programs which were showing success (Avro RJX) and selling tanks to the Saudis.

DeHavilland was more than a decade behind in passenger aircraft technolgy and was doomed to failure.

yeah maybe in some area the UK but its also you were behind as the UK invented the jetliner and the turboprop (yeah the british invented that too) in the Vickers Viscount which the US Airlines used as the US had nothing to compete with the Viscount until the L-188 Electra but by then.... The Viscount was basically at the time the undisputed king of the commuter market the L-188 only sold 170 while the Viscount sold 445

Britain invented the jet airliner disaster... the Comet Disaster was the worst engineering failure in aviation history.

@John Higgins No one has ever topped the _Comet Disaster_

@John Higgins The Boeing 737 series is still one of the safest aircraft in the history of commercial aviation.

Unfortunately the design of the engine placement was a fatal flaw that killed many... based on a British aerodynamic theory that later proved to be completely wrong, the Comet design remains unique because aircraft engineers make a habit of not copying a bad design.

​@@sandervanderkammen9230 ​​@sandervanderkammen9230 ​​ Kharzeestan Krappenz DiktorBummer Jurkzxoffenz etc and co - they should all note good with much awe & extreme wonder. *UPDATE MORE BREAKING NEWS ETC* Obviously as Bow-wing (see b-47 folding wing incidents) had more than 50 years experience design & build experience on the type there's no excuses for the 737 max incidents . How things were back then - *_Accident losses - % of aircraft built._* DeHavilland Comet 4 UK 14% DeHavilland Comet all mks 17% Vickers VC10 UK 5% *_The DH Comet had better safety than or similar safety to many other commercial passenger aircraft of a similar era_* Douglas DC-1 99% Douglas DC-2 47% Douglas DC-3 30% Douglas DC-4 26% Boeing s300 72% Boeing 307 70% Boeing 247 48% Boeing 707 20% Lockheed L-049/149 Constellation 30% Lockheed Electra Turboprop 29% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Sud Aviation Caravelle 15% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% The Comet was designed with military use in mind, Nimrod work started at De Havilland in 1953. The committee did not find hundreds of fatal flaws or evidence of design defects, structural defects, defective materials or shoddy workmanship. Ripstop provision was included. Claimed incidents did not involve cracks starting from window corners. The engine & engine intake position had advantages, were not flaws or fatal flaws & were not the cause of any incidents involving any Comet or Nimrod aircraft. Nearly all changes before the Comet 4 were just in case or were previously scheduled improvements. Bow-wing & the 707 story (see b-47 wing folding incidents) is the result of global economics & the well protected & very large domestic US airliner market & active support from the UK with for instance proposed competing airliners from Vickers & DH being blocked by the UK government at the time, cheap & nasty was the requirement with large scale production capability in one place. The 707 was of course a much larger aircraft which as a stressed skin metal airframe aircraft would require a thicker skin anyway. They got lucky at the time essentially. Bow-wing is the result of the large & well protected US domestic airliner market The fate of De Havilland was due to Govt policy Aerospace sector rationalisation & global economics, it was nothing to do with the Comet. A comprehensive, thorough & protracted testing program was carried out on the prototype & it's assemblies. Of course the Comet did indeed have Ripstop stop provision. De Havilland (Of England) Comets were not grounded after 1970 due to structural problems. *_It's interesting that some of the aircraft on the list should really have been noticeably safer than the Comet due to being a similar type but of much later design & manufacture but they definately were not safer._* How things were back then - *_Accident losses - % of aircraft built._* DeHavilland Comet 4 UK 14% DeHavilland Comet all mks 17% Vickers VC10 UK 5% *_The DH Comet had better safety than or similar safety to many other commercial passenger aircraft of a similar era_* Douglas DC-1 99% Douglas DC-2 47% Douglas DC-3 30% Douglas DC-4 26% Boeing s300 72% Boeing 307 70% Boeing 247 48% Boeing 707 20% Lockheed L-049/149 Constellation 30% Lockheed Electra Turboprop 29% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Sud Aviation Caravelle 15% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% A comparison of more recent aircraft. Accident losses comparison examples. 1970s - 1980s % of total Aircraft built Similar aircraft type, date / decade, useage, size. Biz Jets BAe-125-800 1.7 % Beechcraft Beechjet 400 2.2 % Cessna 550 Citation II 7.1 % Learjet 35 / 36 12 % Beechcraft 1900 6% Dassault Falcon 10 11.5% Aérospatiale SN.601 22.5% Medium size jets / Turboprops. BAe-146 5.1% Fokker 100 6% McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 9.5% Fairchild FH-227 30% McDonnell Douglas DC-8 14% Canadair CL-44 Turboprop 46% Convair CV-580 Turboprop 22% Beechcraft, Fokker, McDonnell Douglass, Learjet, Fairchild, Aerospatiale, Canadair, Convair companies defunct. All Comets, including some Comet 1s, had full civilian use certification at some point after 1954, civilian use certification only being withdrawn after commercial flying stopped. Examples were flying until 1997 - one example did a signals research global circumnavigation flight series in 1993 via Australia virtually without a rest travelling 28000 miles, only had an ice warning indicator issue during the flights. *The DH Comet - World Firsts.* 1st gas turbine jet powered airliner. 1st high altitude 8psi pressurised full fuselage length passenger cabin airliner, not a trivial feature as structure strength required for pressurisation considerably exceeded strength required for normal flying stress. Nobody else had done anything similar before the Comet. The b-47 used 2 relatively small, heavily built pressurised modules (the aircraft where 6 had their wings fold up in 2 months while flying & some had their wings fall off while parked). The 1937 Boeing piston engined airliner pressurised passenger cabin was pressurised to 2 psi only - in fact that could easily be done as the normal unpressurized fuselage cabin structure strength for flying stresses only was all that was needed to be adequate so no significant weight increase issues needed addressing. 1st all hydraulically powered flying surface controls & actuators airliner with under carriage wheel disk brakes + ABS. 1st jet airliner to cross the Atlantic. 1st jet aircraft to do a world circumnavigation flights series. *Of course De Havilland had prior experience building many all metal construction airframe aircraft including thousands of jet powered fighter aircraft that were primarily of metal construction with pressurised cockpits & jet engines built by De-Havilland & we know the world's first all metal construction airframe airliner was built in England in the 1920s by Handley Page.* *_De Havilland did indeed always work to better than industry standards at the time, used up to date knowledge for the design & no evidence of negligence or criminal negligence was ever produced in relation to the DH Comet._* The course of De Havilland & the general UK aerospace industry sector was not affected even slightly by the DH Comet. The course of national aerospace sectors obviously being similar & inevitable in many countries. *_Other interesting World firsts_* _World's first turboprop aircraft._ *Vickers Viscount Turboprop Airliner 1947.* *A 1945 Gloster Meteor Aircraft with Turboprop Gas Turbine Engine.* They might like to answer these questions. *Which airline has just ordered* *60 RR England Trent XWB Engines* *& What aircraft are the engines for?* _Bonus question for 10 points._ Which country has the *World's Highest Combined Per Capita* *Nuclear + Defence + Aerospace Sector Activity?* 👍 & 🙂 & of course 😎 indeed. *C H E E R S* & without doubt - _Toodle_ -PIP- *Old* *_C H A P._* This line left not blank intentionally. The next line is blank intentionally. . .... . ... .. . . ... .. ... .... .... ............ ..... . Ivcxivcxivcxcxxcvvv cxcxcvccbcvcxcxc xcxiivxccxvvcvvvvv ccvvcvvv.cxcxcvc vivcxiccvccvxxccvvv.

VC10s are the shiznit! Best planes ever made in the UK and technologically astounding. I flew on an RAF VC10 in 2008 and it was like the future, even though it was 40 years old at the time. In addition I am not sure it was the first, but it was absolutly one of the first planes with an auto-landing system, and that was demonstrated as early as 1968. www.vc10.net/Technical/Autoland.html

One of the worst aircraft ever

@John Higgins Nothing pretty about an airliner crash.