DB-ACH: Screw the de Havilland Comet

[Bahamut-255]

Credited with Opening the Door to the ‘Jet Age’, the de Havilland DH 106 Comet while for a time a good Commercial Success was also the Swansong of the British Commercial Aviation Industry, being the first Passenger Jet Airliner[*] and the most sold Commercial Jet Airliner from 1955-1961 before being succeeded by the likes of Boeing and Douglas.

The challenge here however, is not to try and improve the fortunes of de Havilland and the Comet. Quite the opposite. The challenge here, is to Screw the Comet.

Perhaps a corner cut? A step missed?

And how would this play into the hands of all involved? Not least de Havilland themselves, Boeing, Douglas, perhaps even Lockheed?


[*] OOC - For this DB-ACH, the following are to be assumed for TTL:

Oval Bonded Windows, not Square Riveted Windows

Roll-Royce Avon Engines instead of in-house de Havilland Ghost Engines, which means thicker metal can be used for the skin

Everything else is Fair Game

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Have fewer 707s fall out of the sky? But then we might not have discovered the effects of metal fatigue when Boeing spent all that time investigating the crashes and as a result perhaps even more lives would be lost over time!

 

[Luath]

Plus if something went wrong before a viable, next step machine, was ready to go. As history records that was the excellent Vickers Vc7/V1000 which pretty much killed what was left of the 707. I imagine that if BOAC didn't have a transatlantic aircraft that was as good as the V1000 ready by 1955 it wouldn't be the biggest airline in the world today. Hell the RAF still has a few Vc7 transports flying after 60 years!

 

[Bahamut-255]

Have fewer 707s fall out of the sky? But then we might not have discovered the effects of metal fatigue when Boeing spent all that time investigating the crashes and as a result perhaps even more lives would be lost over time!

Likely, but Boeing, being a large company with contracts with the US Armed Forces could at least recover from the blow to their reputation. Could a smaller one like de Havilland or Vickers pull out of such a mess intact? I have my doubts.

And let's not forget, following the 707 Fiasco, the 717 was brought in to replace it, and unlike the 707, it actually worked so well it remained in production until the early 80's.

But back to the OP. The de Havilland Comet suffering the Metal Fatigue Woes that doomed the Boeing 707? That's one way I can see the smaller British Company being brought down Hard.

Plus if something went wrong before a viable, next step machine, was ready to go. As history records that was the excellent Vickers Vc7/V1000 which pretty much killed what was left of the 707. I imagine that if BOAC didn't have a transatlantic aircraft that was as good as the V1000 ready by 1955 it wouldn't be the biggest airline in the world today. Hell the RAF still has a few Vc7 transports flying after 60 years!

OOC: The OP States that the Comet was the Swansong of British Commercial Aviation. As in the last time they had such success, ending on a High. Thus the also-British Vickers VC7 being more successful - to the point of besting the US Competitors - isn't happening.

IC: The Vickers may have been a good aircraft, but by the time it came out, Boeing had started its rebound from the 707 Debacle, and Douglas had made its own inroads. It was just too late entering the Field to be able to muscle past them.

 

[Cockroach]

The Vickers may have been a good aircraft, but by the time it came out, Boeing had started its rebound from the 707 Debacle, and Douglas had made its own inroads. It was just too late entering the Field to be able to muscle past them.

I think swansong may be putting it a bit harshly. Sure the poms are no longer in the business of building long-haul commercial aircraft by themselves, but Vickers* still plays the leading role in design on the Airbus consortium's widebodies and Hawker-Siddeley's been the leader in regional jetliner market since Fokker fell out of the jetliner business after the failure of the bloody VWF-614 in the mid-1970s.

OOC: * - With greater success in the late-50s and early-60s rather than one big merge the everything into BAC and later BAe the British aerospace industry has instead coalesced into two or three big players.

 

[HongCanucker]

If I remember correctly the original plan for the Comet was to use square windows before they changed that to the round ones after some engineers did some experiments and uncovered serious flaws that could lead to metal fatigue from the stresses of the pressurised cabin. Sticking to those could cause some serious metal fatigue that leads to Comets literally falling apart once they rack up enough hours and destroy confidence in them.

OOC: The square windows were an original Comet design feature that were more vulnerable to metal fatigue due to the pressurised cabin more easily exerting pressure on them than round windows as shown by the crashes of BOAC Flight 781 and SAA Flight 201, a fault which was rectified with the later Comet 4.

 

[perfectgeneral]

If I remember correctly the original plan for the Comet was to use square windows before they changed that to the round ones after some engineers did some experiments and uncovered serious flaws that could lead to metal fatigue from the stresses of the pressurised cabin. Sticking to those could cause some serious metal fatigue that leads to Comets literally falling apart once they rack up enough hours and destroy confidence in them.

OOC: The square windows were an original Comet design feature that were more vulnerable to metal fatigue due to the pressurised cabin more easily exerting pressure on them than round windows as shown by the crashes of BOAC Flight 781 and SAA Flight 201, a fault which was rectified with the later Comet 4.

OOC - For this DB-ACH, the following are to be assumed for TTL:

Oval Bonded Windows, not Square Riveted Windows

Roll-Royce Avon Engines instead of in-house de Havilland Ghost Engines, which means thicker metal can be used for the skin

Everything else is Fair Game

The Comet was a victim of it's own success. de Havilland weren't prepared to alter the "winning formula". Engines in the wings were too expensive to service. As the frontal fan area of engine inlets increased the idea became less and less practical. They refused to go wide body. The seat capacity was too limited for budget airlines. In many ways they were too proud to design for the customers. A class issue maybe?

 

[Bureaucromancer]

Entirely OOC here, but my understanding is that they probably would have gotten away with the windows had parts specified for adhesive not been riveted at a production level - or vice versa of course. In and of itself just an observation, but I think it drives home just how close to a proper success the Comet was.

 

[Lost Freeway]

OOC: The OP States that the Comet was the Swansong of British Commercial Aviation. As in the last time they had such success, ending on a High.

OOC: So no VC-10?

 

[Archibald]

Yes, the VC-7. It served the RAF so well, including the Nimrod and AWACS variants.

 

[Bahamut-255]

The Comet was a victim of it's own success. de Havilland weren't prepared to alter the "winning formula". Engines in the wings were too expensive to service. As the frontal fan area of engine inlets increased the idea became less and less practical. They refused to go wide body. The seat capacity was too limited for budget airlines. In many ways they were too proud to design for the customers. A class issue maybe?

Possible. Even so, they still look beautiful when they're in the sky. Even today.

OOC: So no VC-10?

OOC: No VC10 if the VC7 is made, but can't outsell Boeing, Douglas, and the likes.

IC: Back to Topic. How would you Screw the Comet? And what do you think the results of it would be?

 

[Archibald]

OOC: If the VC-7 is made, and successfull, there will be no VC-10 (AFAIK). They were quite similar, except for the engines.

 

[Bahamut-255]

OOC: If the VC-7 is made, and successfull, there will be no VC-10 (AFAIK). They were quite similar, except for the engines.

OOC: Post edited to accommodate this new detail.

 

[NOMISYRRUC]

The best that I can think of is that BOAC looses interest in the Comet around the time the first prototype flies and cancels its orders for the Comet 1 and Comet 2. Then all the other airlines follow suit.