60 years ago today
Posted: 02 May 2012, 16:02
...The Comet made its first passenger flight.
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Must be referring to Theodore Honey in 'No Highway'.That was the first novel that I ever read.Somewhat ahead of its time. EricTAnd no one believed Neville Shute Norway?
In a period of post-War austerity, Britain decided that any new airliners must be able to operate from existing airports without changes to infrastructure. They would have to take off from short runways and mix comfortably with slower traffic on approach. These requirements affected both the de Havilland Comet and the still-born Avro Canada C102.Chris558 wrote:Just think what might have been had the disasters not occurred...might the type have been a world beater or would US domination have been inevitable?
It wasn't quite as simple as in "No Highway". Fatigue was known about, but not properly understood. There was already a suspicion that the existing certification requirements were not sufficient, and that the greatest risk came from cabin pressurisation at high altitude. For example, the British Ministry of Supply required that aircraft hulls were designed to twice operating pressure (2P) and tested to 1.33P. For the Comet, de Havilland decided to design to 2.5P and test to a minimum of 2P. The infamous windows were tested to 100 PSI without failure. At the same time, de Havilland worked closely with the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) on up-to-date certification requirements, which changed throughout the Comet's development.Dev One wrote:And no one believed Neville Shute Norway?
Keith