This striking picture, which is such a contrast of new and old, emphasises the astonishing beauty of the De Havilland Comet.

The avoidance of engines hanging down beneath wings, or perched up on tails, together with the perfect line of the fuselage and the sweep of the wings, gave this aircraft a gracefulness seldom matched by any other. Because the Comet flew to South Africa, other artists have identified this as the perfect venue for a picture, but in this case Malcolm has been very careful to show the pyramids as they appeared in the mid 1950s, before Cairo had crept out to within a few hundred yards of the pyramids of Giza. There is not a tourist or a camel to be seen, but one can spot the small door by which one entered the pyramid.

The DH 106 Comet 1 entered service in 1952, being the logical development of the prototype which first flew on 27 July 1949. It was powered by four De Havilland Ghost turbojets, which in the Comet 2 were to be upgraded to Avon 503 turbojets of 7000lbs thrust.

The Comet 1 accommodated up to 44 first-class passengers, and was designed for stage lengths of about 1750 miles; it could carry a payload of 13,000lbs, with a cruising speed of 480mph at 40,000 feet. This altitude factor contributed to the tragic crashes of three Comet airliners. It is now suggested that because the Comet was developed and built as quickly as possible, and De Havilland insisted on using their less powerful Ghost engine, rather than the more powerful Rolls-Royce Avon, the weight of the aircraft had to be kept to a minimum. This meant the thinnest possible metal for the fuselage, and it is suggested that this, combined with the enormous pressure difference at an altitude of 40,000 feet contributed to the explosions that caused three Comets to crash.

It was a great tragedy that the Comet, an aircraft so far ahead of any others in its day, should  have been sabotaged by such an inbuilt flaw, and thus be denied the worldwide success it deserved. The aircraft's story also uncannily mirrors that of the airship R101, where again outside pressure was applied to hasten its introduction into service before full testing had been done.

A fabulous image in a 25 x 20 cm. (10 x 8 inch) clipframe.