Comet 1 fatigue problems
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Comet 1 accidents
Were cracks emanating from the ADF aperture in the Comet 1 forward roof the common cause in all the fatigue related crashes. Did the Farnborough tank specimen fail there too ,or at a different 'cut-out'. How significant was the change from rectangular windows with slightly radiused corners to fully rounded windows ? Is it correct that the RCAF Comet 1s were satisfactorily modified and how?
Last edited by A30yoyo; 14th Sep 2014 at 18:06. Reason: To broaden the thread scope slightly
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No, the ADF cut-out was not common to all failures. The tank specimen ruptured from the corners of the forward escape hatch cut-out.
http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1388321/
The three Air France Comet 1s were returned to the UK, two were rebuilt and served for various non-airline trials purposes. One was being flown by Hawker Siddeley, De Havilland's successors, until 1978, and is the one now in COSford museum in faux BOAC colours, which it never carried in service.
This webpage says a bit about the rework that was done
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research...t-comet-1.aspx
Last edited by WHBM; 10th Sep 2014 at 19:02. Reason: For Dux read Cos
The one in Duxford is a genuine BOAC Comet 4 (via Dan Air). Think you may be thinking about G-APAS which is in RAF Museum Cosford.
Planemike
Planemike
Last edited by Planemike; 10th Sep 2014 at 19:32.
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Well here's another slightly unlikely websource on the Comet 1 fatigue problems...seems to know something about it.
http://www.visit-gloucestershire.co....and-106-comet/
http://www.visit-gloucestershire.co....and-106-comet/
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Neville Shutes book 'No highway'
Good radii, holes correctly de-burred, rivet edge margins and improved riveting just to mention a few
TW
Last edited by Tinwacker; 12th Sep 2014 at 14:14. Reason: Extra line
Neville Shute (Norway) was a distinguished aircraft and airship engineer and designer. "No Highway" was very prescient, and I still recall the film although I was quite young when I persuaded my Dad to take me to see it.
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In case you haven't already found it, the report of the tank test will be of interest: http://naca.central.cranfield.ac.uk/...rc/rm/3248.pdf
There was a complete Comet 1 fuselage at Farnborough up until the early '80s. Part of the mothballing had peeled away revealing Air France markings. Can't remember if it had square or round windows. I'm not sure what happened to it but last time I saw it was near the airfield fire service practice ground.(not the present one, this one was on the north side in what is now Qinetiq), previously it had been in 'the dump' on the north side and prior to that near the test tank on the south side.
There was a complete Comet 1 fuselage at Farnborough up until the early '80s. Part of the mothballing had peeled away revealing Air France markings. Can't remember if it had square or round windows. I'm not sure what happened to it but last time I saw it was near the airfield fire service practice ground.(not the present one, this one was on the north side in what is now Qinetiq), previously it had been in 'the dump' on the north side and prior to that near the test tank on the south side.
Photos: De Havilland DH-106 Comet 1A Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net
Both Air France and the independent French carrier UAT had three Comet 1s. AF used them from Paris to the Middle East, while UT ran them to the French colonies in West Africa. The UAT ones were stored at le Bourget when the type was withdrawn and lay there for years, finally being scrapped in the 1960s.
I don't know to what extent these purchasers were given their money back when the type was withdrawn.
An interesting assembly of all the timetables of the Comet 1 users at point of withdrawl in 1954 is here :
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/comet1.htm
Last edited by WHBM; 13th Sep 2014 at 23:42.
Dear Mr Goon
Please get a grip on the chronology:
"No Highway" was first published in 1948 by William Heineman, London.
I cannot remember when the DH106 was named Comet, but it was first revealed to the public in 1949. Norway would probably have known the name before that, but so what? The Rutland Reindeer was more Bristol Brabazon than anything else and the alliterative name was typical of the period.
The first Comet disaster was 1954.
Please get a grip on the chronology:
"No Highway" was first published in 1948 by William Heineman, London.
I cannot remember when the DH106 was named Comet, but it was first revealed to the public in 1949. Norway would probably have known the name before that, but so what? The Rutland Reindeer was more Bristol Brabazon than anything else and the alliterative name was typical of the period.
The first Comet disaster was 1954.
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In addition to the Comet project being at the painful end of the learning curve for pressurized fuselage design didn't it also bring about the formalization of take-off procedures for jet airliners (V1, V2, rotate....)?
I remember there was a Comet 4 sitting at KORD for many, many years...tied up in legal difficulties.
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On a programme about the Comet I saw recently they talked about a TO crash at Rome. All survived, but programme said that flight crew were not familiar enough with early turbine acceleration compared to piston engines, and that exact TO angle was crucial.