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The De Havilland Comet: A Pioneer with a Fatal Flaw
The story of the design of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner. Why the two high-profile crashes occurred, and how this was fixed. (aeroxplorer.com) More...
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In 1950, the UK had a population of 50 million, about a third of the USA's population at that time and the most populous European country. Hardly a "tiny country"! Also, at that time the UK led the world in the development of jet engines, so it's not surprising that the first commercial jet transport came from Britain. GE developed the first American jet engine with British help, provided during WW2. See https://www.ge.com/news/reports/history-in-the-making-how-ge-turned-america-from-laggard-to-leader-in-jet-engine-design
tiny ? The sun would never set on the british empire. tiny my ass.
We may be a tiny country but have always had excellent designers, engineers and a workforce as good as any .All we lacked was commercial acumen and investment
Lucas Refrigeration....why the English drink warm beer.
Lucas - the prince of darkness! I worked for a time at Great King Street, Birmingham for Lucas... a horribly run company.
However the actual reason people in England drink "warm" beer (if ~55F is considered "warm") is that most British beers are actually "ales" which use a different yeast than most "largers" that form the basis of most American beers. Largers are brewed at 48F to 58F ales are brewed at 60F to 78F.
Largers at 50F are not fun...in contrast a British bitter at 50F is really good. Most IPAs served in the US today are served way too cold and are almost tasteless at around 35F.....
All of course nothing to do with metal fatigue.......
It was my understanding that the reason the fault was not found was due to the fact the the airframe used for fatigue testing had previously been used for over pressurization tests and due to that the stress intensity factor had been reduced due to yield, which blunted the tip of the cracks.
However the actual reason people in England drink "warm" beer (if ~55F is considered "warm") is that most British beers are actually "ales" which use a different yeast than most "largers" that form the basis of most American beers. Largers are brewed at 48F to 58F ales are brewed at 60F to 78F.
Largers at 50F are not fun...in contrast a British bitter at 50F is really good. Most IPAs served in the US today are served way too cold and are almost tasteless at around 35F.....
All of course nothing to do with metal fatigue.......
It was my understanding that the reason the fault was not found was due to the fact the the airframe used for fatigue testing had previously been used for over pressurization tests and due to that the stress intensity factor had been reduced due to yield, which blunted the tip of the cracks.
The Comet's problems being solved, it went on flying passengers around the globe in its 4-Series. Also, until very recently its military version, as the submarine-catching Nimrod. Those early failures served as an invaluable learning tool for today's airline-building giants. Like they say, as the most modern fighters can trace their roots to the Nazi-thrashing Spitfire, so too the venerable Comet was the father of all today's most sophisticated jetliners.