The Comet and Concorde have both demonstrated that British aviation manufacture was capable of leading edge pioneering through a period of national stagnation. This new book provides a first rate review of the history of the world’s first commercial jetliner, its early difficulties and their rectification. – Highly Recommended
NAME: Worlds Greatest Airliners, De Havilland Comet, The First Commercial Jetliner FILE: R2792 AUTHOR: Colin Higgs PUBLISHER: Pen and Sword, Air World Books BINDING: soft back PAGES: 168 PRICE: £15.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Passenger aircraft, jet airliner, BAOC, British aircraft manufacturer, pressure hulls, Comet crashes, re-launch, RAF transport
ISBN: 1-52671-962-4
IMAGE: B2792.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/ybqf23nh LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The Comet and Concorde have both demonstrated that British aviation manufacture was capable of leading edge pioneering through a period of national stagnation. This new book provides a first rate review of the history of the world's first commercial jetliner, its early difficulties and their rectification. - Highly Recommended The Second World War ended with Britain facing massive debts, run up to support the defeat of Germany. To compound the challenges, a national socialist government was elected and promptly introduced command economics with intrusive, but ill-skilled, interference and mass nationalisation of industry. In this very hostile environment British aircraft manufacturers managed to continue world beating innovation in design and a significant lead in jet aircraft development. The Comet was not just a new class of aircraft, but it was beautiful with the elegance of a thoroughbred. Overnight it made all other airliners look obsolete. However, being first brings its own difficulties. The Comet was not just an aircraft with new engines, it was intended to operate on long distance routes at high altitude to dramatically shorten travel times to the corners of the Earth. That meant it was very different in almost every respect from passenger aircraft that had gone before. Much of its structure and components were to operate in conditions that had not been experienced before and there were no computer-based engineering simulators to allow the potential dangers to be explored before metal was cut and people were using the new aircraft. A number of unexplained losses tarnished an exciting new machine and a solution was only found after marine salvage efforts recovered a Comet from the seabed. The problem was a failure in the pressurised hull that could be fixed, but precious time had been lost and passenger and airline confidence shaken. Against the odds the Comet was improved and re-launched although the time lost meant that later US designs were coming into service and offered greater capacity. Against the Boeing 707, the Comet was cramped and its operating costs higher. That did not stop it continuing and producing newer versions. It was to have a commendable service career with the RAF and it was to form the basis of the outstanding Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft. The story is well-told and is supported by an impressive large selection of images, many of them in full colour and many of them rare images. Aviation enthusiasts will not be able to resist this book, but it should be widely read because, in the exciting period of Britain breaking the European Union shackles and rejoining the World, it shows what Britain is capable of and what fantastic opportunities exist for it as a sovereign country once more. The Little Englander minority is still fighting for mediocrity in the EU but the World calls.