The de Havilland Comet
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The de Havilland Comet
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Re: The de Havilland Comet
#2One story I heard was that one of the production engineers added a rivet in the skin near the corners of the window. This was added because he thought it would strengthen the structure. Unfortunately it actually acted as an additional stress concentrator. I'm not entirely sure there wouldn't have been an issue without that extra rivet. The guy that made that change thought he was doing the right things but in fact made things much worse.
Re: The de Havilland Comet
#3One amazing story about this is that the film 'No Highway in the Sky' [1], which (almost) predicts this exact problem, was made a couple of years before these actual events took place.
Re: The de Havilland Comet
#4One amazing story about this is that the film 'No Highway in the Sky' [1], which (almost) predicts this exact problem, was made a couple of years before these actual events took place. [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043859/
The film was based on the novel "No Highway" (1948) by Nevil Shute, who had worked as an aeronautical engineer at De Havilland.
Re: The de Havilland Comet
#5One amazing story about this is that the film 'No Highway in the Sky' [1], which (almost) predicts this exact problem, was made a couple of years before these actual events took place. [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043859/
The film was based on the novel "No Highway" (1948) by Nevil Shute, who had worked as an aeronautical engineer at De Havilland.
It's good that not all of Nevil Shute's predictions were so accurate:
Re: The de Havilland Comet
#6I still think the Comet manages to look more futuristic than other civil planes. Something about the look of those engines in the wing roots with not a nacelle in sight.
Such a shame it turned out to be doomed due to being first and the now well known metal fatigue story.
The article, as with everything Comet related, ends with noting that lesson is why airliners now have very rounded windows. Yet none ever wonder or look at why cockpit windows remain decidedly rectangular. :)
Re: The de Havilland Comet
#7I still think the Comet manages to look more futuristic than other civil planes. Something about the look of those engines in the wing roots with not a nacelle in sight. Such a shame it turned out to be doomed due to being first and the now well known metal fatigue story. The article, as with everything Comet related, ends with noting that lesson is why airliners now have very rounded windows. Yet none ever wonder or…
The Comet did go on in a military role as the Nimrod - I once saw an AEW Nimrod parked at the edge of RAF Kinloss - a staggeringly ugly beast:
Re: The de Havilland Comet
#8I still think the Comet manages to look more futuristic than other civil planes. Something about the look of those engines in the wing roots with not a nacelle in sight. Such a shame it turned out to be doomed due to being first and the now well known metal fatigue story. The article, as with everything Comet related, ends with noting that lesson is why airliners now have very rounded windows. Yet none ever wonder or…
The Comet did go on in a military role as the Nimrod - I once saw an AEW Nimrod parked at the edge of RAF Kinloss - a staggeringly ugly beast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Nimrod
Yeah but Nimrod was bloated, and positively covered with warts and radomes. I'd claim they spoilt the lines a tad. :)
Re: The de Havilland Comet
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Comet did go on in a military role as the Nimrod - I once saw an AEW Nimrod parked at the edge of RAF Kinloss - a staggeringly ugly beast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Nimrod
Yeah but Nimrod was bloated, and positively covered with warts and radomes. I'd claim they spoilt the lines a tad. :)
The normal Nimrod's were quite handsome beasts - used to see them a lot when I was a kid as I grew up near Kinloss.
Re: The de Havilland Comet
#10I still think the Comet manages to look more futuristic than other civil planes. Something about the look of those engines in the wing roots with not a nacelle in sight. Such a shame it turned out to be doomed due to being first and the now well known metal fatigue story. The article, as with everything Comet related, ends with noting that lesson is why airliners now have very rounded windows. Yet none ever wonder or…
> Something about the look of those engines in the wing roots with not a nacelle in sight.
Quite a few early jetliners lacked normal nacelles.