Desktop Engineering (DTE) is working with volunteers at the t 1A F-BGNX to help restore a rare de Havilland Comet 1A.
DTE has provided its services free-of-charge to produce 3D drawings of the original instrument panels which have been submitted to a sheet metal fabricator to manufacture exact replicas of the original cockpit panels. The volunteers are intending to have the fuselage of the Comet available for public viewing in Spring 2015.
Being the world’s first commercial jetliner in 1952 the de Havilland Comet has, unsurprisingly, gained an industry significant yet tarnished reputation. A year after entering commercial service the Comets began suffering problems, with three aircraft breaking up during mid-flight in well-publicised accidents.
Consequently, the Comet was withdrawn from service in 1954 and extensively tested to discover the root cause of these failures. The findings identified a key design flaw. Once in a pressurised environment the square windows of the Comet would suffer from fatigue failures in the corners which ultimately resulted in the plane crashing – hence why windows in modern commercial aircraft are oval.
Although sales never fully recovered, the improved Comet 2 and the prototype Comet 3 culminated in the redesigned Comet 4 series which debuted in 1958 and had a productive career of over 30 years.
The Comet 1A F-BGNX, which the volunteers are restoring, was delivered to Air France in September 1953 but was withdrawn from service in January 1954. It was subsequently delivered to the Royal Aeronautical Establishment at Farnborough, where it was dismantled.
The wings were removed and tested to destruction; the fuselage was wrapped in a protective cocoon and sat on the airfield for nearly 30 years before it was donated to the de Havilland museum.
In recent years the restoration has begun in earnest, thanks to the generous support of a private donor. Once completed the aircraft will be unique, being the only Comet in the UK with the original square window design.
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