Comet

The world’s first jet airliner flew for the first time barely four years after the end of World War II, and it was a sensation. It revolutionized commercial air travel. It was the fastest airliner in the world and it inspired a post-war public with its pioneering jet engines and sleek design. Packed with rare and unseen images and memorabilia, this delves into an amazing aircraft from the dark days of World War II when it was conceived by Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, through its design and manufacture and introduction to service with British Overseas Airways Corporation amid cheering and flag waving. It covers in-depth the tragic Cometcrashes, the exhaustive work done on solving the crash mysteries, and its successful reincarnation, both for civil airlines and for the military, as theComet 4 and eventually the RAF’s Nimrod, the ultimate and final variant of theComet design. This book also gives the reader a flavor of the excitement of air travel in the 1950s and provides an invaluable reference work to everyComet built.

Bruce Hales-Dutton is an aviation journalist who has written many books and articles for aviation magazines.