A discussion arose about a BOAC early version of the Comet that was seen in the US in 1958. This was unusual because the earlier Comet 1s had been grounded and withdrawn from service as early as 1953. The first commercial jetliner revolutionized air travel as early as 1952. "It was the Concorde of its day – it flew higher, faster, and smoother than any other airliner of that time and made everything else obsolete." - Alistair Hodgson, de Havilland Museum Unfortunately, de Havilland and British aviation generally paid a high price for pioneering jet transport due to the structural failure of the pressure cabin caused by fatigue. This led to the crashes of BOAC's G-ALYP near Elba and G-ALYY near Naples, which ultimately ended the Comet's success story. The De Havilland DH.106 Comet 2 had several sub-variants. The image shows the Comet 2E, which had Avon 504s Turbojets in the inner nacelles and Avon 524s in the outer ones. BOAC used these aircraft for proving flights during 1957–1958. The North American proving route flight was the test for introducing the Comet 4 to be the first Transatlantic crossing of a Jetliner with paying passengers, which BOAC won over Pan American with their Boeing 707s in 1958. Another shot of G-AMXK at Baltimore on 20 July 1958. Zoggavia Collection. Interested in the De Havilland Comet? Read the story and see the photo gallery. https://lnkd.in/gJniQrbT #aviationphoto #aviationphotography #civilaviation #stockphotos #zoggavia #dehavilland #comet #boac #slides #kodak #kodachrome #classicaviation #jetliner
Aviation Historian, Media/Social Media Resource on Airlines/Airliners, Executive Director (Emeritus) Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of NJ
A bit of a mystery for today. When I found this photo I assumed it was a rare British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in-service shot of the ill-fated de Havilland Comet 1, the world's first pure jet airliner. However the "G-AMXK" registration does not match any BOAC Comet 1. Furthermore the 1958 year and Baltimore, U.S.A. location assigned to this shot does not match the 1952-54 service dates and routes for the original Comet. Apparently this is actually an example of the first redesign of the type, the Comet 2. BOAC had ordered 11 of this variant prior to the catastrophic loss of two of its Comet 1's in the well-known "metal fatigue" crashes. After those accidents, however the orders were cancelled. Apparently a few Comet 2's were briefly painted up in BOAC colors prior to the cancellation, but that would have been well before 1958 and what, then, was a variant without transatlantic range doing at Friendship Field? (Any of my expert friends from the U.K. are certainly welcome to chime in here!) NOTE: IF PHOTO IS THUMBNAIL SIZE ONLY, PLEASE CLICK ON IT FOR FULL SIZE IMAGE. Interested in legendary Pan Am? Check out my new Tuesday and Friday posts for the Pan Am Historical Foundation at: https://lnkd.in/eJ_ES-RF. One of my latest posts: 1969 Pan Am stewardess training video from the archives of NBC! Would you be willing to contribute to help me continue creating these free daily educational airline-history posts (over 1,400 since 2017)? If so please check out: https://lnkd.in/ebnx6r7U. Any size gift is much appreciated and can be anonymous if you prefer. Photo link from Zoggavia.com. Photographer unknown.
