Fly Past

May 2018 FLYPAST 123

Arriving by road, G-ALYU was
placed inside a huge water tank on
May 19, beginning four months of
intensive pressurisation trials. An
unfinished C.2 airframe went into
a similar tank at Hatfield.
Meanwhile Yoke - Papa, retrieved
from the deep, was reassembled
in a hangar at Farnborough. Mk.1A
G-ANAV flew in from Hatfield on
May 24 and underwent a variety
of tests until it was grounded in
mid-August. Up to 1957 another
four Comet airframes were brought
by road to Farnborough to join the
diagnostic effort. The investigation
process was unprecedented at the
time. Its fuselage was put through
successive pressurisation cycles
before cracking, which stemmed
from a bolthole by the fuselage-
mounted escape hatch window,
led to catastrophic failure of the
structure of G-ALYU in the tank,
repeating the misfortunes that
had befallen its sisters. With much
redesign (including the shape of the
cabin windows) and strengthening,
Comets returned to service and
production started again
The type’s vast sales potential
had suffered a mortal blow and
Boeing and Douglas reaped the
rewards. The Avon-engined
Comet 4 series, with capacity for
100 passengers, attracted some
interest, but when the last of
those was delivered in February
1964 total production of all Comet
variants came to a disappointing
112.

Last warplane
John Cunningham was at the
controls of the prototype DH.110,
WG236, on September 26, 1951 for
its maiden flight. The twin-engined,
twin-boom, all-weather fighter was
originally aimed at both the RAF
and the FAA, but only the navy

adopted it, as the Sea Vixen.

Satisfied with progress,

Cunningham handed the

programme over to test pilot John

Derry. With Tony Richards in the

radar operator’s ‘cubicle’, known as

the ‘coal hole’, the pair took the big

fighter supersonic on February 20:

WG236 was the first twin-engined

jet to break the ‘sound barrier’.

John and Tony then carried out

the inaugural flight of the second

DH.110, WG240, on July 25.

They demonstrated WG240 daily

at the Farnborough airshow from

September 1 to 5 – John taking

WG240 back to Hatfield on the

6th and he and Tony returning

in WG236 to Farnborough. They

started their display ‘off slot’ at

height in the overhead with the

‘double boom’ of a sonic bang.

Neville Duke was to follow

WG236’s display in the second

prototype Hawker Hunter, WB195.

In Supermarine test pilot Mike

Lithgow’s book Vapour Trails

(Wingate, 1956), Neville described

the scene after John and Tony had

returned to conventional display

height and “began to slow down

and turn back over the airfield,

getting ready to go through [the]

normal routine before landing.

“The DH.110 disintegrated while

it was in a moderate turn. Like

everyone else, I was shocked to see

the cockpit and the two engines

flying through the air.”

As well as John and Tony, the

DH.110 claimed the lives of 29 of

the crowd as airframe wreckage

and the engines ploughed into the

public area. Another 60 spectators

sustained injuries ranging from

emergency treatment in hospital to

cuts and shock.

It was the first fatal accident

to befall an SBAC display since

the event restarted in 1946 and

remains Britain’s worst-ever

airshow accident.

Almost completely rethought by

the Christchurch design office, the

enlarged Sea Vixen FAW.1 and

later FAW.2 became the backbone

of FAA carrier aviation, entering

operational service in 1959. The

Sea Vixen was the final warplane

built by DH, the last of a total of

148 coming off the production line

in 1966.

Return to jetliners

De Havilland was not through

with airliners. The prototype

three-engined Trident, G-ARPA,

took to the air at Hatfield shortly

after noon on January 9, 1962

for an 81-minute sortie with John

Cunningham at the controls –

and, piloted by Chris Capper, the

prototype of the spectacularly

successful DH.125 executive jet,

G-ARYA, made its first flight on

August 13 that year.

The story of these two belongs

with the history of Hawker

Siddeley Aviation which absorbed

DH in 1963. Two years later

the great name of de Havilland

disappeared amid the corporate

reshuffle.

As mentioned in the main narrative, de

Havilland acquired Airspeed in 1940.

Throughout the war the Christchurch

factory produced Oxford crew trainers

and Mosquitos, and developed the

Horsa assault glider.

Post-war, reconditioning Oxfords

provided much-needed income. A more

refi ned civilian conversion, the Consul,

also helped keep the workforce going.

The Ambassador airliner stretched the company’s capabilities but its future

depended on it. Designer Arthur Hagg created a beautiful aircraft, but its looks

could not overcome the fact that only British European Airways wanted it, taking

delivery of just 20 beyond the trio of prototypes between 1951 and 1953.

The Ambassador was the last aircraft to carry the Airspeed name. Beyond that,

Christchurch built types for the parent company – Vampires and Sea Vixens.

Airspeed’s swansong

The seventh Ambassador built, G-ALZR,

of BKS Air Transport on approach at

Teversham, Cambridge, on one of its last

fl ights, July 1969. ROY BONSER

The second prototype DH.110, WG240, was fi rst fl own at Hatfi eld by John Derry on July 25,

1952. DE HAVILLAND

John Cunningham captaining the prototype Trident, G-ARPA, on its maiden fl ight, Hatfi eld

January 9, 1962. HAWKER SIDDELEY

Sea Vixen FAW.1s of 766 Naval Air Squadron’s ‘Fred’s Five’ aerobatic team at Upavon in June

1962. ROY BONSER