de-Havilland Comet 1 – The worlds first jet airliner
de-Havilland Comet 1
The Comet was an early commercial jet airliner (the first prototype flew in 1949) and debut commercially in 1952. The comet was powered by 4 jet engines in the wing roots (early versions were equipped with RATO motors between the engines-not used on production aircraft).
The comet is perhaps most famous for 3 high profile disasters occurring within a year of entering service killing all those aboard. The cause of 2 of these disasters (the other weather over-stressing the fuselage) was eventually traced to fatigue in the rivets surrounding the windows (the comet had a significantly higher cabin pressure than contemporary aircraft) which caused rapid depressurisation upon failure. The lessons learnt from the comet 1 were quickly incorporated by its competitors and the later comets 2 through 4. Whilst the comet would never fully commercially recover, its legacy in aircraft design and construction laid the basis for the modern commercial air industry.
Later variants (2,3,4) would improve upon the design increasing its length, range and capacity with the last comet 4 flying in 1997 and the RAF variant (the Nimrod) flying until 2011.
Features
–Full Interior
–Altitude hold
–Seating for 5 crew and approximately 30 passengers
Issues
–I couldn’t quite fit 2 double rows of seats so the capacity and seating layout isn’t quite realistic
(the fuselage could probably have done to be 1 wider)
