Quite a few people have commented on the topic of the round windows. Check out the 'Square window myths' paragraph on Wikipedia :) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet
Well that was an interesting read, so much for my earlier post. It was a well spread myth even Air Crash Investigation got it wrong, we are never too old to learn!
If circumstances had not been so cruel to the British then the De-Havilland Comet 2s would get Avon which would have allowed the Comet 3 and 4 to take the 15,000ibf Rolls-Royce RB.106 engine
@@speedbird737Have you actually seen any pictures of the De-Havilland Comet 1? They had rounded square windows and it was the way they were installed that was the problem and not the design of the windows because the De-Havilland Comet 1 was actually a very sound design but no one understood about metal fatigue and do not even try to bring up the BS of "De-Havilland did not know about pressurisation" De-Havilland did know about pressurisation but we should remember that no one had built a jet airliner before the De-Havilland Comet
@@Knight6831 correct so in conclusion the windows were an issue (regardless of if a good design or not) even the BAE website said :"It identified that despite extensive testing in the design stage, the cyclical pressurisation and subsequent depressurisation of the fuselage had accelerated the stress levels. This had caused cracks and fissures around the corners of the ADF, and some the main passenger windows, causing disastrous fractures in the structure and an almost instant failure of the airframe."
The Comet’s nose, fuselage, and wings look so sleek and modern, yet the tail section looks like it was borrowed from a ‘40s propeller aircraft. Great video.
Actually the Comet has a very distinctive 1920s Art Deco style that was very dated looking for the 1950s... The nose is copied from the Boeing 307 which was introduced in 1937.
I flew twice as a passenger on this aircraft, 30.09.1962 flown from Culcutta to Singapore, 6.12.64 flown from Culcutta to London,. I know this thanks to something called the "Junior Jet Cub" who provided me with a log book and its all recorded in there. A great aircraft!
@@Rich72James I was very young at the time but I do remember flying in the aircraft and being shown the cockpit. To my small eyes it was very spacious and comfortable, ofcourse the reality was that it was quite "snug" up front! According to my log book I also flew in G-APDH as well as G-APDB. I believe DH was written off after a heavy landing broke the undercarrage in Singapore.
I’m an airline captain. I have been flying since age three way back in the 1960’s. I have lived aircraft all my life. I’ve been blessed to fly a lot of aircraft and can identify 90% of all aircraft at quite a distance. The comet was a beautiful aircraft. It’s just a shame there were pressurization fatigue issues early on. I still think the 707 would ultimately have won out but the comet, had it been successful, would have lead to an updated jet that most certainly would have give boing a run for its money.
During the early 60s my late father was Chief Instructor with East African Airways. As a teenager I had the pleasure of flying in each of the airline’s three Comet 4s including on the flight deck across the Sahara and for a landing at Heathrow where we taxied slowly so the crew could watch a VC10 takeoff. The Comet 4 was a beautiful aeroplane in its day. Many thanks for rekindling memories and for a very well-balanced video.
Wow. I flew a few times with East African but on VC10s. My father was however in the drawing office of de Havilland from the war on (with a break till 1957) and worked on the Comet.
Excellent...what lovely memories. I lived in Zanzibar in the early 50s and 60s and remember all the Royal Mail DC 3 aircraft of the time. There was the odd DH89a and then F27 Friendship turboprop came later. I purchased a book about the history of East African Airways. 🙌.
Reminds me of the young Americans in the 1st Gulf War……. Victors arriving, them thinking it was some new super secret Limey wonder weapon…… ……..again, a sort of Flash Gordon steam punk vibe 🥳
Nothing about this aircraft says "future" maybe in the context of the time it was designed, sure but now, no it doesn't. You're conflating "Futuristic" with "Different".
I was a passenger in a BEA Comet 4B in early 1960’s. Rome-Paris-London. Your shot of the flight deck was of interest to me especially the nose wheel steering. When leaving Paris the aeroplane started to accelerate on the taxiway, rounding a curve picking up speed, entered the runway, continued to accelerate and took off in one continuous movement. I can now visualise the captain sitting there with one hand on the ‘steering wheel’ and the other on the throttles. The aeroplane was lightly loaded, very few passengers and probably not much fuel. I don’t know what angle we were at initial climb but it was steep. We were pressed back in our seats and a fellow passenger on the adjacent aisle had a bag suspended on the seat in front of him. I recall looking at the angle this freely suspended bag was making and thinking Wow
Hello, my grandfather was one of the first Captains of DH Comets of Aerolíneas Argentinas in the sixties. Then he flew Boeing 707 till 1975 when he retired with 22000hs of flight. Great job with your Chanel, sorry about my english... Greetings from Buenos Aires Argentina 🇦🇷
Very interesting. Being a young plane spotter in the late 70s, I only ever saw a Comet in operation once, as we generally went to Heathrow, where no Comets were operating at that time. But one Sunday afternoon in 1978, we made a brief stop at Gatwick on the way home to London from Brighton. We got there just in time to see a Dan Air Comet take to the air, it was quite a sight!
My father flew this exact aircraft many times as navigator. From his logs, the first entry for G-APDB is 19 September 1959 London-Gander (6h35m) and the final one is 19 December 1960 Sailsbury-Nairobi-Khartoum (3h00m+3h05m). Shortly after, he switched to Boeing 707s as pilot.
@@stevetaylor8698 Since many neighbours were also flight crew, this was normal, daily life for us as children. It was just a job, like a bus driver, or a train driver. What I noticed as I grew up was that they all seemed to be exceptionally clever, capable people, apparently able to do anything and everything.
@@mal_752 Thanks: you deserve a story from days of yore. As often happened, when we were taken to a museum, such as Duxford, the adults would be reminiscing about the exhibits they has flown, while the children would be laughing their heads off about the fact that that their parents were so old that they had flown these ancient, obsolete machines. That is the way it was. 🙂
Oh my goodness! This is nostalgia on steroids. I flew on the Comet 4c from 1960 to 1966 from Malaya to England and back every year, and first class too (it's a long story). It is such a gorgeous looking aircraft, and I recall many hours gazing out of the windows at the clouds below where it was always sunny in daytime. But the real treat of a flight would be invited to go into the cockpit and sit in the Captain's seat. Awesome. Your walk through the inside brought tingles to my spine. It did indeed seem to be the golden age of air travel. I still have my BOAC Junior Jet Club Certificate and Log Book.
Seeing a De-Havilland Comet at Melbournes then International airport at Essendin in the early 1960’s as a young boy made a big impression with me still to this day and obviously was one of the few Jetliners that could land there as Melburnians had to go to Sydney mostly to travel overseas on a 707 or DC-8 as they were not able to use Essendon until Tullamarine opened in the 1970’s, thanks for the great tour to my mind the most aesthetic jetliner that has ever been built! 👌
This is fantastic. I flew Comet 4C DanAir Manchester to Athens around Aug 1977 I think. I was 11 at the time and remember being sat by the large window. Just a beautiful aircraft in my humble opinion. I've been interested in civil aircraft ever since. Thanks for this well presented video.
I am 70 years old and being from central U.S.I have little memory of the Comet especially the early designs. It is a tremendous history I appreciate reference to the early body warping and the beautiful shots of the cockpit. Thanks for another great presentation!
Thank you, sir, for commenting on anything your many years of experience may have seen so it can be recorded forever here on RU-vid for prosperity's sake and for the benefit of those younger and less experienced than yourself. Any comment you make can only improve the younger generation's knowledge. Best wishes from Australia.
@@Denis-V1.0-beta In Washington DC I knew a British Colonial Administrator who grew up in England during WWII and was assigned to Malaysia. He commented that he flew on the Comet and loved the appearance of the design. He was very proud of it. In the 1960s I attended an Strategic Air Command airshow and the flight crew of a Nimrod took my aboard for a tour. Maybe more likely a Hadley Page Victor Bomber. I would of been eleven years old and the British Officers were extremely good to me. I regret I was likely deplorable child. In closing in the 1980s I flew in a 1950s Lockheed Electra turboprop passenger plan. That class of plane at its introduction experienced engines ripping themselves off the wings with I believe the total loss of the planes. I was amazed at just how heavily the fuselage was constructed it felt like a flying tank. The designers were very conservative and regardless had engines flying off the wings. This Lockheed was used by the United States military for a similar purpose as the Nimrod.
@@josephpiskac2781 Nimmy's, eh? I worked on an RAF base (now Army) as a civvy worker in one of the Messes that operated Nimrod MR2's. So, very much a regular sight in my area. The house I live at was under one of their landing circuit paths and there was rarely a quite moment, when those old Rolls Royce Spey engines got close. I was in the local ATC back in the Nineties, and went on few Air Experience Flights in them. Very sad day when they stopped operating. Nowadays, our local aviation museum has a forward fuselage/nose section that's open for the public to walk through and a whole Nimrod on the camp, that sits engineless on a dispersal area near the coast, after the MoD had it kicked out of its hanger.
My Uncle worked for De Haviland in the 1950’s at the time this aircraft was developed. Another example of British leading the way, before being overtaken by foreign competitors. He later went on to work for Lockheed in USA, which I suppose was a logical progression of the time. The Comet really was a beautiful aircraft ahead of its time.
A truly shameful and humiliating chapter in British aviation history... de Haviland was decades behind in aircraft technology and its collapse in in 1958 was inevitable
I flew in a Comet from London to Berlin (I think) I was only about 5 years old and can barely remember it, but can recall walking across the tarmac to the plane, on a cold, windy, rainy day.
Always liked this plane. Smooth body no protruding engines under the wing just looks so slick. I amagine working on engins was a bear, though. Thanks for the show.
note the comet 1 square windows, where these are oval. the corners are the cracks formed which brought down the 1's. No corners in later models to remove the crack issue
There was a cockpit from a Comet on display at Gatwick for a while back in the 90's. I remember being amazed at how cramped and complicated it looked compared to modern aircraft.
Thank you for sharing this. I really enjoyed this tour on the DeHavilland Commet. The whole story of how this aircraft came into existence as well as it going in connection with the leap into the jet age is beautiful and amazing.
Excellent video. I was lucky enough to fly on the Comet 4 twice with MSA in December of 1967 and again a year later, from Singapore to Hong Kong. Both flights were memorable as each time I had a window seat on right side for the Kowloon approach to Kai Tak.
Another great plane I often flew back and forth from the UK to Cyprus in the 1960’s…very comfortable…I still recall the rather old fashioned cockpit…even back then , to my eyes…..lovely to fly in, seeing the Alps for the first time, looking out the large windows…..oh those were the days….lucky 5 year old….
Bon, je vais te dire quels sont mes 3 avions préférés: le Super Constellation, le Comet 4, et la Caravelle parceque je suis français, je ne me lasse pas de regarder ta vidéo sur le Comet 4 !! Well, I'll tell you what my 3 favorite planes are: the Super Constellation, the Comet 4, and the Caravelle because I'm French, I never tire of watching your video on the Comet 4!!
Beautiful. Now almost every airliner has engined hanging from the wings. Maintenance is obviously easier, but the lines of the Comet with it’s inboard engines was a true design classic.
Flew on Dan Air Comets from Manchester to Reus ( Spain ) on holiday back in the 1970’s. Fantastic airliner & smoother than Boeing 707 ‘s I also got to fly on at the time .
I really enjoy your tours round British aircraft and museums. I've always loved Duxford and cosford museums two of our best ones. The smaller museums are really interesting too.
The thing I remember about the Comet was it used square windows which caused issues with cracking and failure. Once rounded edges on windows were used it fixed all kinds of issues. I think it was an issue of pressurization, which was new at the time.
I never had the opportunity to fly on a Comet. If I did, I was too young to remember. I did have multiple flights on a 707, and I definitely remember those.
My late father was a BOAC Captain on the Comet, I've flown many times First Class with him and on the flight deck, not only comfortable but compared to today the service was superb.
The first and deadliest.. they fell apart in mid air several times until they were stopped. My favourite the 707, 727 Dc8 Dc9 abd the Dc8 stretch, and the 747 B. These comets crushed around the passenger windows, thats why we got square rounded corner windows we still see today Good video mate
I made my first ever flight in BOAC Comet G-APDE. We left London Heathrow in the bitter winter of early 1963 and flew to to Bombay (now Mumbai) in India, stopping at Frankfurt, Damascus and Abadan. It was indeed noisy sitting next to the engines.
Great video Paul! Your videos keep getting better and better and I always learn something new about the iconic aircraft you feature. Well done to the IWM Museum for preserving this classic and letting you film this video for us all on the internet!
The circular windows were also part of the upgrade to distribute the forces on the fuselage more evenly. If I remember correctly, it was the corner of one of the windows that was the occasion for the catastrophic fuselage failure in the earlier model. What a great tour! Thank you.
I think the film told the story it was the windows, but I've read that a hole cut for a radio antenna caused one of the crashes. Basically any stress riser could have been the point of origin, and certainly square corners are stress risers.
@alan mac the square windows were definitely the major cause very early on, after they were redesigned the comet proved to be many times more reliable and safe
I grew up in Hatfield around the corner from British Aerospace & DeHavilland Comets always held a special interest for me. I’ve never been to IWM Duxford although done most of the other IWM branches over the years.
We flew on the comet Sagittarius between RAF Lynham and Singapore where my father was stationed at Nee Soon in the Royal Engineers. I would have been 4 at the time and I can still recall the characteristic plasticky smell in the cabin.
The integrated engines look very attractive in my opinion it’s a pity they turned out to be impractical. Thanks Paul I’ve enjoyed every one of your videos. Thank you so much Peter
A friend of mine use to work on the engines. He hated it. Extremely difficult. This compare to the Being engine pylon mounts. This was a few years ago.
Been in and worked on this very Comet at Duxford.Fascinating.ln immaculate condition and well looked after,and a thorough insight in to the "Golden Years" of airliner operations👍
It was extremely deafening to hear one of these Comets taking off. Could wake up the deceased for miles around. Same goes with the BAC 1-11s, the Concordes, and the VC-10s. Not even the Boeing 727s could match the decibel range these early British aircraft generated. So for those who are still complaining about airplane noise, I have a suggestion: Let's bring back the Comets, the Concordes, and the BAC 1-11s, and restore them into full operational service. They just don't know how lucky they are.
I flew on a Comet IV of United Arab Airlines in 1964. (The Year of Living Dangerously!) My preferred aircraft in those days was the VC10. Now my favourite is the A380.
Takes me back! I had my first ever flight deck visit on a Dan Air Comet IV when I was 7 years old, on our way to the Canaries. Passing the Pyrenees, the skipper had his feet up, reading a newspaper. He turned round, peering over the top of his half-moons, and said 'Don't touch anything!' I thought this was super cool, and it ignited my passion for aviation (that, and growing up, near Binbrook)! Some 50+ years later, and I'm now a skipper of the 787 with a rather well known British outfit. Nowhere near as cool as the Comet though!
De Havilland Comet had rectangular windows which caused few crashes before they figured out that having round windows is a better design, reducing the fatigue on the corners of the window.
Although the window shape was part of it, the main problem was the machining around the window frame which should have used glue as well as rivets but the way it was riveted weakened the structure.
A thoroughly modern aircraft, using a sextant like Ferdinand Magellan, lol. My father navigated a B17 using a sextant in WWII and he pilfered it after the war ended. I played with it as a kid. It was fascinating. He showed me how it worked by shooting some stars and referencing his charts. Years ago I was able to tour a B17 and sit at the navigators table. What a life he had at 18.
G-APDB would have been a familiar sight in my neck of the woods way back in the 1960s - after its stint with BOAC, it served with Malaysian-Singapore Airlines for 4 years before it going back to England to Dan-Air.
