Profile – DH Comet Pt 11

Continuing the story of the world’s first jet airliner

De Havilland Comet Part II

The seemingly bright future for the Comet took an abrupt turn for the worse with a series of accidents, the first of which occurred in late 1952.

On 26 October 1952, BOAC’s Comet 1 G-ALYZ was badly damaged in a takeoff accident at Rome. A more serious takeoff accident involved Pacific’s second Comet 1 A CF-CUN ‘Empress of Hawaii’ which was lost on takeoff at Karachi on 3 March 1953. The aircraft had been on its way to Australia to inaugurate a service from Sydney to Vancouver. The investigation following these two takeoff accidents revealed that flying speed would not be attained if the nose was held too high during takeoff. To remedy the problem, a drooped leading edge was fitted to the wings.

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