Sedalia Dave Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 The De Havilland Comet: A Pioneer with a Fatal Flaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chantry Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Once De Havilland figured out the problems, Comet IV and it's offshoots (mostly military) went on to be reasonably successful civilian airliner and was the basis of the British Nimrod, a maritime ASW aircraft which had a role similar to the P-3 Orion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 I remember reading about the the first two crashes and how the investigators were completely dumbfounded as to what had caused them. Somebody had suggested after the first one that it could've been structural failure, but nobody believed it. After the second crash they finally decided to put it to the test, and they submerged a third aircraft in a water tank and pressurized it repeatedly. Ultimately it failed right along the length of the squarish windows, revealing that they were a serious weak point in the design. Non-pressurized WW2-era aircraft never had that problem, but modern jetliners did. And so we now have those funny-looking oval-shaped portholes in modern aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 What's interesting is that in 1951 "No Highway in the Sky" was released. About a type of aircraft the gas a problem with metal fatigue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailrider #896 Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 The other problem was that the structural design had no "rip stop" in the design, which the B707/KC135 and all subsequent jet liners have. This stops a crack from propagating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 My Father was an RCAF/CEPE crash investigator and worked on the crashes. He was one of those who ID'd a similar issue, (metal fatigue) in WWII with the Cessna Crane., so the issue was not totally unknown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 11 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said: My Father was an RCAF/CEPE crash investigator and worked on the crashes. He was one of those who ID'd a similar issue, (metal fatigue) in WWII with the Cessna Crane., so the issue was not totally unknown. I had no idea. That’s the same plane used in the early episodes of “Sky King” before he switched to a Cessna 310. I learn something new every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 2 hours ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said: I had no idea. That’s the same plane used in the early episodes of “Sky King” before he switched to a Cessna 310. I learn something new every day. Dad was at the crash scene and noticed the tail was separated from the A/C and had a unique dent in it. He went over photos of previous Crane crashes and saw the same thing and alerted the engineers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 1 minute ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said: Dad was at the crash scene and noticed the tail was separated from the A/C and had a unique dent in it. He went over photos of previous Crane crashes and saw the same thing and alerted the engineers. My dad did similar post-crash analysis on Douglas A3Ds from his squadron. Wish we had a Canadian flag icon. A salute to your dad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Haller Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 I initially thought "No Highway in the Sky" came out after the Comet crashes; then I found out it was before; rather eerie if you ask me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chili Ron Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Howdy, I was thinking a comet in the sky..... Best CR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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