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| Comet prototype at Hatfield Aerodrome in October 1949 |
24-year-old RAF fighter pilot Frank Whittle first patented a new kind of aircraft - the turbojet - in 1930, but his new design was so radical that the military wouldn't fund it, nor would any manufacturers, Seven years later he found a few private backers and on April 12, 1937 Whittle ground-tested the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at Thomson-Houston factory, Rugby, England.
The German Hans von Ohain developed the concept independently. He wrote in February 1936 to aircraft designer Ernst Heinkel, telling him of the design and its possibilities. The first turbojet aircraft to fly was the Heinkel He 178 V1, first prototype of the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, in August 1939 in Rostock, Germany.
Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at its Hatfield Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, their Comet 1 prototype made its maiden flight on July 27, 1949 out of Hatfield Aerodrome. The flight lasted 31 minutes.
BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) operated the first commercial jet service with the de Havilland Comet jetliner. It made its maiden flight with fare-paying passengers and inaugurated scheduled service from London to Johannesburg in May 1952.
The Comet was a hit with passengers as flights were about 50 percent faster than on advanced piston-engined aircraft such as the Douglas DC-6 (490 mph for the Comet compared to the DC-6's 315 mph), and a faster rate of climb further cut flight times.
The German Hans von Ohain developed the concept independently. He wrote in February 1936 to aircraft designer Ernst Heinkel, telling him of the design and its possibilities. The first turbojet aircraft to fly was the Heinkel He 178 V1, first prototype of the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, in August 1939 in Rostock, Germany.
Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at its Hatfield Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, their Comet 1 prototype made its maiden flight on July 27, 1949 out of Hatfield Aerodrome. The flight lasted 31 minutes.
BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) operated the first commercial jet service with the de Havilland Comet jetliner. It made its maiden flight with fare-paying passengers and inaugurated scheduled service from London to Johannesburg in May 1952.
The Comet was a hit with passengers as flights were about 50 percent faster than on advanced piston-engined aircraft such as the Douglas DC-6 (490 mph for the Comet compared to the DC-6's 315 mph), and a faster rate of climb further cut flight times.
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