The World’s First Passenger Jet is Being Brought Back to Life

Photo Credits: Vintage Aviation News

Air travel powered by jet engines is something we now easily take for granted. We've grown accustomed to the surge of speed along the runway that pins us to our seats, and the luxury of looking at clouds beside us with little risk to our safety.   

Commercial jet travel has existed for the past 73 years. The late Queen Elizabeth II was the reigning monarch in Britain when the first commercial jetliner, the de Havilland DH106 1A Comet G-ALYP, took off from London Airport (as Heathrow was known at the time). 

This marked a major breakthrough in commercial aviation, as the first jetliner outperformed the best propeller-driven aircraft, such as the Lockheed Constellation, in both comfort and speed. 

The British aviation company de Havilland was the first to launch a commercial jet aircraft, gaining a first-mover advantage over its American rivals like Boeing. However, this advantage was short-lived. Not long after entering service, the original Comet DH106 suffered a series of disasters across the world, leading to the entire fleet being withdrawn. 

Previously, the only way to revisit this aircraft was through old grainy, black-and-white photographs. Now, however, some enthusiasts have made painstaking efforts to reconstruct the jetliner. 

Photo Credits: Wiki

The de Havilland Aircraft Museum, located on a stretch of farmland and greenery northwest of London, can be easy to miss. There are signposts, but they lead down a narrow lane between hedgerows that appears to end at a farmyard. When driving down that road, it may even look like a farmyard until you reach a large field filled with old aeroplanes and hangars.

The site itself holds historical significance. It was here that Mr. Geoffrey de Havilland began designing and testing the famous DH98 Mosquito. After the Second World War, this site became Britain's first aviation museum. The museum houses other notable aircraft, such as the single-seat fighter DH100 and the Horsa Glider, among others. However, the star of the show remains the DH106 Comet. 

Its wings are missing, but the Air France livery has been left untouched. When the museum received the aircraft in 1985, its condition was so poor that the fuselage was described as a bare metal tube. Thanks to the dedication of volunteers over the years, the plane has been restored to its former glory, just without wings.