Issue No 22 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN 13
crowd of executives and employees, together
with more than 100 reporters, turned out at the
company’s airfield at Hatfield to see the Comet
off at 0530hr on Friday, December 2, 1955. As
British weekly magazine Flight, covering the
event, put it: “The Comet 3 is one of the very
few aircraft for which we would gladly forsake
our beds in the small hours of a foggy December
morning!”. However, as thick fog descended,
it was obvious that the aircraft could not go.
One take-off was aborted and the aircraft was
brought back to be hosed down to remove a film
of smog. It was more than five hours later that
the aircraft finally took off, still shrouded in fog,
on its first leg to Cairo for a refuelling stop.
AND THEY’RE OFF!
The Comet was painted in BOAC’s elegant
livery but the entire enterprise was pure de
Havilland in concept and execution. The plan
was to take the aircraft on a world tour to study
its operational performance using familiar
techniques on tried-and-tested airline routes
over a wide range of climatic conditions. The
aim was to prove the performance statistics
for the forthcoming Comet 4, despite the fact
that, with typical de Havilland confidence,
such statistics had already been published in
a brochure distributed to potential customers
at that year’s SBAC show at Farnborough. The
manufacturer hoped — and expected — that this
trip would back up those figures.
Cunningham was in charge of the tour, as he
had been for the vast majority of Comet test
programmes since the very beginning. Alongside
him was copilot Peter Buggé and a number of de
Havilland and Rolls-Royce engineers, including
chief radio officer R.W. Chandler, who also
performed navigator’s duties, and chief flight
engineer E. Brackstone-Brown. Looking after the
business aspects was Frank Lloyd, Commercial
Sales & Contracts Manager. The final member of
the permanent tour team was Peter Cane, senior
BOAC Captain and the man who had headed the
Comet pilots’ group since the introduction of the
type into BOAC service in 1952. The Corporation
also provided the use of its facilities and staff at
stops en route. On board for the sectors down to
Sydney was Qantas pilot Capt I.D.V. Ralfe.
The Comet’s late departure from Hatfield
meant that it was getting dark when it landed
at Cairo, necessitating an overnight stop.
According to a report in the de Havilland Gazette,
“English winter fog baulked a 30hr flight time
from Hatfield to Sydney. Reckoning on 24½
flying hours for the 11,610 statute miles and
5½ flying hours for the four refuelling halts, aTOP & ABOVE The first stop on G-ANLO’s tour was
Cairo, where it was dark by the time the Comet landed
and was greeted by an excited reception party. The
following morning the shapely jetliner sashayed its
way past one of the piston brigade — a TWA Lockheed
Constellation — to roar away to its next stop in India.BAE SYSTEMS DH9230H
BAE SYSTEMS DH9230N