Interesting letter in the 'Guardian' yesterday from two DH designers (AGT Peters
and DR Newman) who were senior members of the 'Comet' team from prototype to
Comet 4. They take Channel 4 to task thus:
1) There was no 'mad race for profit'. DH in those days were just not like
that.
2) The contract for BOAC and BSAA were placed by the airlines themselves,
not the Ministry of Supply. The MoS only bought the first 2 examples.
3) The Ghost engines were the only ones certificated for civilian use at the
time. There was no alternative. The RR Avon was not even civilian-approved
by the time of the groundings, in 1954.
4) Weight reduction is standard procedure in aircraft design. There was
nothing sinister about 'the right engines not being available'.
5) There was no mention of the ARB, the body responsible for public service
certification.
6) The RAE's concerns about fatigue were about wing fatigue, not the
fuselage.
7) there was no mention of the extensive fatigue tests on major airframe
parts undertaken by DH before the prototype flew.
8) Senior people at DH, BOAC, and the ARB are no longer around to defend
themselves against the charges implied by the program.
They also mention that such was the mutual interest in safety that senior
Boeing people came to Hatfield to help after the cabin failure - but the
cynic in me makes me think they may have had their own agenda there...
SSD