A link to The Times did not work, so here it is:
August 12, 2002
TV probe into Comet crashes 'wilfully untrue'
By Raymond Snoddy, Media Editor
A ROW has broken out over a Channel 4 documentary that alleged that the Comet jet crashes of the 1950s happened because the makers ignored repeated safety warnings.
Mike Ramsden, an aviation specialist and an apprentice who worked on the jet that began its scheduled passenger services 50 years ago, has denounced the programme as wilfully untrue.
Mr Ramsden, a former editor of Flight International, argues in this month’s issue of General Aviation, the magazine for aircraft owners, that the programme, Comet Cover-Up, claimed wrongly that de Havilland failed to carry out metal fatigue tests.
The documentary in the Secret History series looked at the story of how two BOAC Comet 1s broke up over the Mediterranean in 1954 with the loss of 50 lives.
The documentary alleged that senior de Havilland executives knew that the plane was susceptible to metal fatigue, yet were so desperate to be the first to fly a jet airliner that they chose to ignore repeated warnings and postponed crucial safety testing.
Mr Ramsden says he plans to make a formal compaint about the programme to Channel 4 because it has “damaged the reputation of good men who cannot answer back”.
David Newman and Alan Peters, senior members of the Comet design team, have also publicly criticised the programme broadcast in June.
They believe it gave “a completely false impression of the atmosphere and motivation of the de Havilland company. No one who knew the de Havilland directors of the day would ever associate them with a ‘mad race for profit’.”
The documentary’s core allegation was that secret letters proved de Havilland was advised that the fuselage would fail from fatigue but refused to fatigue-test it.
Mr Ramsden has not received a copy of the secret letters from the senior producer of the programme, Richard Sattin. He believes the letters referred to the wing which was not implicated in the crashes. Mr Sattin insisted that the letters concerned not just the wing but wider safety issues.
An inquiry found that the Comet 1 window frame failed catastrophically from fatigue because of bad riveting of the window frames to the fuselage.
Mr Ramsden and Mr Newman say the programme ignored the extensive fatigue tests carried out before the aircraft flew. “Too technical and boring, perhaps. But to state as fact that de Havilland refused to fatigue-test the Comet is just wilful untruthfulness,” Mr Ramsden insisted.