Recession Road: The Comet
This post is from our Recession Road series, part of our special report on the global downturn.
We've made a brief stop in Hatfield, home of the de Havilland Comet, the world's first commercial jet airliner to make it into production. The first prototype took to the skies just over 60 years ago, on 27 July 1949.
Following a number of accidents caused by metal fatigue, the Comet had to be re-designed. The original Comet can be identified by its square windows, but following testing this was found to be one of the factors that led to the accidents.
The picture of a model outside the Comet pub is taken on the edge of the well-known landmark the Comet Roundabout.
Update 1350: Thanks to many of you for pointing out that we had badly described the model - it does indeed sport a pair of propellers and is not a jet plane. Many apologies - our next post from the road will hopefully be error-free.
You can read an explanation of our Recession Road series here.
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