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Description

AEROPLANE 1950's ENGLISH ALUMINIUM DE HAVILAND 'COMET' JET DESK ORNAMENT
ORIGINAL 1950's NOT A COPY OR REPRODUCTION
Size is - 15 cm's Long x 10 cm's high x 19 cm's Wingspan
MOUNTED ON AN OVAL SHAPED DISHED ALABASTER BASE
Size 20x 15.5cm's
PLEASE VIEW ALL THE PICTURES, IN VERY GOOD CONDITION
The de Haviland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at its Hatfield Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines buried in the wing roots, a pressurised cabin, and large square windows. For the era, it offered a relatively quiet, comfortable passenger cabin and was commercially promising at its debut in 1952.

However, within a year of entering airline service, problems started to emerge, with three Comets lost within twelve months in highly publicized accidents, after suffering catastrophic in-flight break-ups. Two of these were found to be caused by structural failure resulting from metal fatigue in the air frame, a phenomenon not fully understood at the time the other was due to over stressing of the air frame during flight through severe weather. The Comet was withdrawn from service and extensively tested