If asked which airline from which country had operated the first commercial jet flight, most people would say it must have been American. But they would be wrong. It was British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) which, on 2 May 1952, made history when their De Havilland Comet flew from London to Johannesburg with 36 passengers, landing in Rome, Beirut, Khartoum (Sudan), Entebbe (Uganda) and Livingstone (Zambia) before arriving at its destination. The total trip time was almost 24 hours.
The four “Ghost” engines were tucked away in the wing and the cabin was roomy. With a capacity of up to 44 passengers, the Comet offered comforts not often seen these days outside the most expensive classes of modern jets.
The Comet first flew in July 1949. At first it looked like the Brits had a winning aircraft in their hands and with competing products still some way off, the commercial outlook for the Comet looked bright indeed. Then disaster struck.
In March 1953, a Comet went down in Pakistan, followed by another one that crashed in India on May 2, exactly one year after the inaugural commercial service. A third crash in January 1954 in Rome, Italy led to the grounding of the fleet.
Three fatal accidents was a high price to pay for the precious intelligence: the cabin windows of pressurized aircraft should not be square shaped. Metal fatigue cracks were spreading from the tips of those square shaped windows with the fuselage practically exploding when the cracks grew to a certain size.
The Comet was redesigned and returned to service in 1958 but by then the competitive environment had changed dramatically. With its reputation irreparably damaged, the redesigned Comet had to compete against the DC-8 and the Boeing 707, both of which were larger and more attractive to the airlines.
Be as it may, BOAC and De Havilland had shown the industry that the jet engine was ready for the commercial world and that it was possible to build a plane that made good use of its capabilities.
The rest is history…
Here is a nice vintage video about the Comet and its historic flight.