Comet_1_tanktest Comet_1_window
During development, components had been tested beyond design strength, far in excess of requirements; but fatigue was not properly understood at the time. The tragedies and subsequent investigation affected the entire industry. BAE SYSTEMS
Tragedies
The first Comet crash was on 26 October 1952, in Rome, where a BOAC flight failed to take off. Nobody was seriously hurt. On 2 March 1953, there was a repeat at Karachi during a ferry-flight from De Havilland to Canadian Pacific Airlines. Crews from both companies were on board, and all eleven people were killed. Both accidents were blamed on the pilots: jet aircraft do not benefit from prop-induced lift on take-off; this was known, and they had been trained for it. However, a great deal of knowledge had been obtained from low-speed work with the DH-108, and de Havilland were able to soften the stall on the Series 2 by giving the leading edges of the wings a slight droop.

On 2 May 1953, BOAC Comet G-ALYV was destroyed near Calcutta during a storm. It caused immediate concern, but accident investigators concluded that the severity of the storm had been violent enough to be the cause. It was a tragedy, but, in the context of air-safety at the time, it did not diminish either public enthusiasm for the Comet, or operators’ willingness to place orders.


On 10 January 1954, BOAC Comet G-ALYP was lost in calm weather off the coast of Elba. Catastrophic failure was obvious, and the entire fleet was grounded. Recovery from the sea was difficult, and crash investigators had little to work with at first. De Havilland immediately looked for trouble in one of the new, relatively unproven, systems: engines, hydraulics, over-pressurisation, even heat from the engine exhaust damaging the tail. With no other evidence, the conclusion was that engine failure followed by fire was the most likely cause. 60 precautionary measures were carried out on all other aircraft, and flying was resumed on 23 March.

On 21 April 1954 the engines from G-ALYP were returned to de Havilland. Subsequent analysis proved that they had been working normally as the aircraft broke up. On 8 April, another Comet was lost, again in perfect conditions, near Naples. All Comets were grounded at once, the certificate of airworthiness was withdrawn, and de Havilland stopped production.