de Havilland DH 106 - Comet 1 was a major achievement for the British Aviation Industry.
It first flew on the 27th of July 1949. Upon completing its series of test flights, if joined British Overseas Airways Corporations (BOAC), becoming the first jet commercial airliners in the world.
The first commercial flight, on the 2nd of May 1952, under the responsibility of Capt. Michael Majendie and Capt. R. C. Alabaster proved a success. This quickly silenced critics who thought jet aviation would never succeed. The flights had an average 80% occupancy.
The first flight through this region of the world is celebrated with the below cover showing the departure from Bahrain on the 11th of August 1952 and arriving Bombay on the 12th on its way to Colombo.
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The return flight is shown in the below two covers. These are special for the sender, went to the trouble of using a unique set of stamps in each cover.
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Unfortunately, within one year of beginning commercial operations the problems began. Cumulating with the accident in 1954 which resulted in the complete grounding of the aircraft.
Not one, but three major accidents led to this grounding:
- The first, exactly a year, to the day, of the inaugural flight, a flight departing Calcutta disintegrated at 10,000 ft in the vicinity of a thunderstorm (43 passengers and crew perished).
- 10th January 1954, departing Rome exploded mid air taking with it 26 passengers and 6 crew members. This led to an initial grounding of the aircraft,
- While the initial investigation of the last accident was still undergoing, but appearing to clear mechanical problem of the aircraft, flight resumed. So within a few months, on the 8th of April 1954 another Comet, inbound Cairo from Rome disappeared over the Mediterranean. Leading to a new grounding of the aircraft,
Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister of the time, had the Royal Navy locate and salvage the wreckage of the aircraft and take it to Farnborough for a complete analyses of the causes of the accident.
Mr. W.D. Tonkinson, a known philatelist and frequent flyer in the region commented on the last accident on a later to his family back in England.
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It was found that metal fatigue, due to the high altitude flights requiring cabin pressurisation and the design option of using square windows, rather than today’s oval windows so familiar to us.
It took de Havilland another 4½ years to re-design the aircraft. This proved a success, with the aircraft remaining in service until 1980.
The restart of the Comet operations can be seen in the below cover which commemorates the first Bahrain to Singapore flight using a BOAC Comet 4.
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The 're-birth' of the Comet came at the perfect time for a new airline in the region - Kuwait Airline's which quickly ordered the new aircraft leading it to become the first all jet Arab airline. The aircraft's history at the airline is celebrated on the below stamp issue show in its first day cover.
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But how does this relate to Qatar, after all this site is specifically to Qatar philatelic history?
Well, Kuwait Airways and Qatar have a long tradition. The first aircraft to be shown on a Qatar stamp is that of the Kuwait Airways Comet 4C. Kuwait Airways also came to the aid of Qatar Airways at its first ever flight.
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Well, the Comet story doesn't end there as can be seen on the below slide.
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I hope this has been an interesting story. Should you have any additional information or covers to add to the story feel free to post them below or send me an e-mail.
