DH 106 COMET — THE WORLD'S FIRST JET AIRLINER

The Comet paid the price for being the first commercial jet as it encountered the inevitable pitfalls which other manufacturers took note of and remedied

- Joseph noronha

THE FIRST FLIGHT OF A TURBOJET-POWERED MANNED aircraft, a Heinkel He 178, took place in Germany on August 27, 1939. During World War II, the focus was naturally on military jets. The United States soon took and retained its lead in jet technology ever since. Yet, it was in the United Kingdom that the first commercial jet airliner emerged. Aviation company de Havilland challenged the then widely held skepticism about the suitability of jet engines for commercial aviation and proposed a pure turbojet design to the British government.

The de Havilland DH 106 Comet prototype first flew on July 27, 1949. It was an all-metal, low-wing, cantilever monoplane featuring several elements that were fairly innovative for the period. It was powered by two pairs of de Havilland Ghost 50 Mk1 turbojet engines buried in the wing roots. The engines were economical in operations above 30,000 feet.