| De Havilland Comet | |
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| This is a plane with many first. The first
commercial passenger jet was a prototype Comet 1 flew in July 1949. The world's
first jet flight was a BOAC Comet 1 from London to Johannesburg in 1952. The first
transatlantic commercial jet flight was from London to New York was made by a BOAC Comet 4
in October 1958.
The British had the lead in the design and development of commercial jet transportation. The bright future for this plane was cut short by a series of crashes. In January 1954 a BOAC Comet crashed into the Mediterranean, soon after a takeoff from Rome. A few weeks latter a Comet on it's way to Johannesburg crashed into the sea near Naples, after takeoff from Rome. An investigation revealed that the cabin had burst and the failure started at the corner of a window due to metal fatigue. The planes were grounded, and it's future remained in doubt. A bigger faster Comet 4 was reintroduced 1958, and was flown successfully by many airlines.
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