List of de Havilland Comet operators
The following is a list of civil and military operators of the de Havilland Comet since its introduction in 1952.
Civilian
[edit]Argentina
[edit]- Aerolíneas Argentinas ordered six Comet 4s in 1958 and they were delivered in 1959 and 1960, with a service introduction on 16 April 1959, between Buenos Aires and Santiago, Chile. Due to the loss of three aircraft, a replacement Comet 4C was bought in 1962. After being moved from international flights to domestic flights from 1966, the survivors were retired and sold to Dan-Air in 1971.[1]
Australia
[edit]- Qantas Empire Airways leased seven different Comet 4 aircraft in the early 1960s mainly to operate the Sydney to Singapore route.[2]
Canada
[edit]- Canadian Pacific Airlines ultimately had none in operation. One Comet 1A aircraft crashed on delivery and another was cancelled.[3]
Ceylon
[edit]- Air Ceylon chartered BOAC Comet 4s in the early 1960s to operate international services, they were not re-painted but carried Air Ceylon titles.[4]
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Central Africa Federation)
[edit]- Central African Airways operated weekly Salisbury to London services using wet leased BOAC Comets during the early 1960s
East African Community (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania)
[edit]- East African Airways acquired three Comet 4s in 1960/62 and operated them on services to Europe for the next decade. They also chartered an additional Comet 4 from BOAC/Dan Air during 1965/66, and an additional three (consecutively) on short-term charters during 1970/71, by which time the Comets were being used for inter-African services.
Ecuador
[edit]- AREA Ecuador had one Comet 4 delivered in 1966 that was used on services between Quito and Miami.[5] In 1968, the aircraft was impounded at Miami and remained under legal custody until scrapped in 1978.[5]
Egypt
[edit]- Misrair had two new Comet 4C delivered in 1960. The airline became United Arab Airlines in 1960, which took delivery of seven more Comet 4Cs over the course of the 1960s. Upon the transformation of United Arab Airlines into EgyptAir in 1971, four of these aircraft were inherited by the new airline; they were all sold off over the course of the 1970s.[3]
France
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- Air France operated three new Comet 1As briefly in the 1950s before they were withdrawn.[3]
- Union Aéromaritime de Transport operated three new Comet 1As briefly in the 1950s, one was destroyed and two were withdrawn from service.[3]
Greece
[edit]- Olympic Airways had four new Comet 4Bs delivered in 1960, operated in a pooling arrangement with BEA.[6]
Indonesia
[edit]- Merpati Nusantara Airlines had a Comet 2 in 1972.
Kuwait
[edit]- Kuwait Airways operated one second-hand Comet 4 and two new Comet 4Cs in the 1960s.[3]
Lebanon
[edit]- Middle East Airlines[7] Middle East Airlines (MEA) ordered four Comet 4Cs in 1959 which were delivered by 1961 these were supplemented by leased aircraft from BOAC (1960 and 1961) and Kuwait Airways (1968-1969).[8] Three Comets were destroyed in 1968 following an Israeli attack on Beirut Airport.[8]
Malaysia
[edit]- Malaysian Airways operated five second-hand Comet 4s in the 1960s. The airline became Malaysia-Singapore Airlines in 1966.[3]
Malaysia (Singapore)
[edit]- Malaysia-Singapore Airlines inherited five Comet 4s from Malaysian Airlines in 1966 and two more Comet 4s in 1967 and 1968. All sold to Dan-Air London in 1969.[3]
Mexico
[edit]Portugal
[edit]- Transportes Aéreos Portugueses, between 1959 and 1962, chartered a British European Airways Comet 4B to operate a service between London and Lisbon.[10]
Saudi Arabia
[edit]- The Government of Saudi Arabia ordered a Comet 4C for use of King Saud bin Abdul Aziz. The Comet 4C was delivered in 1962 but crashed in 1963.[3]
South Africa
[edit]- South African Airways chartered two Comets from BOAC, 1953–1954.[11]
Sudan
[edit]- Sudan Airways operated two new Comet 4Cs in the 1960s and early 1970s.[3]
United Kingdom
[edit]- BEA Airtours was a subsidiary of British European Airways formed to operate IT charter flights using Comet 4Bs transferred from BEA in 1970.[12] The aircraft we converted to 109-seat single-class tourist layout and ten aircraft were operated until being sold from 1972 when replaced by Boeing 707s.[12]
- British European Airways (BEA)[13] in 1957 BEA ordered six Comet 4Bs with the first two delivered on 16 Nov 1959 for use on European routes. The airline eventually operated 18 different Comet 4Bs, two were lost in accidents and most were transferred to BEA Airtours in 1970.[12]
- British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) had a total of 10 Comet 1As delivered in the 1950s, with survivors withdrawn after the Cohen Inquiry findings on early Comet crashes.[3] A total of 19 Comet 4s were delivered from 1957.[14]
- Channel Airways obtained five Comet 4Bs from British European Airways in 1970 and these were re-configured to a high-density 109-seat configuration for the inclusive tour charters from the United Kingdom.[15] One aircraft was retired in 1971 as life-expired, the remainder were obtained by Dan-Air when Channel went into receivership in 1972.[15]
- Dan-Air, also known as Dan-Air London, bought all of the surviving flyable Comet 4s from the late 1960s into the 1970s; some were for spares reclamation but most were operated on the carrier's inclusive tour charters. A total of 48 Comets of all marks were acquired by the airline.[16]
Military
[edit]
Canada
[edit]- Royal Canadian Air Force[17]
- 412 Squadron (1953–1963) Comet 1A (later retrofitted to 1XB)
United Kingdom
[edit]- Royal Air Force[18]
- 51 Squadron (1958–1975) Comet C2, 2R
- 192 Squadron (1957–1958) Comet C2, 2R
- 216 Squadron (1956–1975) Comet C2 and C4
- Royal Aircraft Establishment[19]
See also
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to De Havilland Comet.
References
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Darling 2005, pp. 113–114.
- ^ Darling 2005, p. 119.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Roach and Eastwood 1992, pp. 331–335.
- ^ Painter 2002, p. 35
- ^ a b Darling 2005, p. 114.
- ^ Jackson 1987, p. 459.
- ^ Howard, Paul. "De Havilland DH.106 Comet 4C, OD-ADT, MEA – Middle East Airlines." Air-Britain Photographic Images Collection. Retrieved: 19 November 2010.
- ^ a b Painter 2002, p. 49
- ^ "de Havilland D.H. 106 Comet Mk. 4C." Museum of Flight. Retrieved: 2 November 2010.
- ^ Darling 2005, p. 117.
- ^ Withey, P.A (1997), "Fatigue Failure of the de Havilland Comet I", Engineering Failure Analysis, 4 (2): 147–154, doi:10.1016/S1350-6307(97)00005-8
- ^ a b c Painter 2002, pp 37-38
- ^ Macfarlane, Ian. "Within Europe, BEA introduced jet service with the Comet IVB in 1960." Archived 2012-09-21 at the Wayback Machine U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, 2003. Retrieved: 19 November 2010.
- ^ Walker 2000, pp. 187–188.
- ^ a b Darling 2005, p. 138.
- ^ Davies and Birtles 1999, p. 54.
- ^ Walker 2000, p. 40.
- ^ Jones 2010, p. 68.
- ^ Institution of Electrical Engineers 1978, p. 89.
Bibliography
[edit]- Antennas and Propagation, Part 1. London: Institution of Electrical Engineers, 1978. ISBN 0-85296-196-0.
- Darling, Kev. De Havilland Comet. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2001. ISBN 1-58007-036-1.
- Davies, R.E.G. and Philip J. Birtles. Comet: The World's First Jet Airliner. McLean, Virginia: Paladwr Press, 1999. ISBN 1-888962-14-3.
- Jackson, A.J. De Havilland Aircraft since 1909. London: Putnam, Third edition, 1987. ISBN 0-85177-802-X.
- Jones, Barry. "Database: D.H. 016 Comet." Aeroplane, Volume 38, No. 4, Issue no. 444, April 2010.
- Painter, Martin. The D.H.106 Comet - An Illustrated History. Tunbridge Wells, UK: Air-Britain, 2002/ ISBN 0-85130-330-7.
- Roach, J. R. and A. B. Eastwood. Jet Airliner Production List. West Drayton, UK: The Aviation Hobby Shop, 1992, ISBN 0-907178-43-X.
- Walker, Timothy. The First Jet Airliner: The Story of the de Havilland Comet. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Scoval Publishing Ltd., 2000. ISBN 1-902236-05-X.