(de Havilland) DH 88 Comet @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • The DH 88 Comet<br>"Grosvenor House"<br>of the Shuttleworth<br>Collection (2014) The DH 88 Comet<br>"Grosvenor House"<br>of the Shuttleworth<br>Collection (2014)
    The DH 88 Comet
    "Grosvenor House"
    of the Shuttleworth
    Collection (2014)
  • F-ANPY (ex-G-ACSR) F-ANPY (ex-G-ACSR)
    F-ANPY (ex-G-ACSR)
  • DH 88 DH 88
    DH 88
  • Amy and Jim Mollison - 1934 Amy and Jim Mollison - 1934
    Amy and Jim Mollison - 1934
  • The DH 88 Comet "Black Magic" was renamed "Salazar" in Portugal The DH 88 Comet "Black Magic" was renamed "Salazar" in Portugal
    The DH 88 Comet "Black Magic" was renamed "Salazar" in Portugal
  • G-ACSS G-ACSS
    G-ACSS
  • The de Havilland Comet of the Shuttleworth Collection The de Havilland Comet of the Shuttleworth Collection
    The de Havilland Comet of the Shuttleworth Collection
  • Grosvenor House became K-5084 (RAF) Grosvenor House became K-5084 (RAF)
    Grosvenor House became K-5084 (RAF)
  • G-ACSS G-ACSS
    G-ACSS
  • G-ALSS "Australian-Anniversary" G-ALSS "Australian-Anniversary"
    G-ALSS "Australian-Anniversary"
  • "Salazar" "Salazar"
    "Salazar"
  • The de Havilland Comet of the Shuttleworth Collection The de Havilland Comet of the Shuttleworth Collection
    The de Havilland Comet of the Shuttleworth Collection
  • The Gipsy Six R The Gipsy Six R
    The Gipsy Six R
  • "Grosvenor House" "Grosvenor House"
    "Grosvenor House"
  • The Gipsy Six R The Gipsy Six R
    The Gipsy Six R
  • de Havilland DH 88 Comet de Havilland DH 88 Comet
    de Havilland DH 88 Comet
  • "Grosvenor House" painted in RAF markings (1936) "Grosvenor House" painted in RAF markings (1936)
    "Grosvenor House" painted in RAF markings (1936)
  • Sydney, Nov 1934 Sydney, Nov 1934
    Sydney, Nov 1934

de Havilland DH.88

The de Havilland DH.88 Comet was a twin-engined British aircraft designed for the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race. Three examples took part in the race and one of them won it. The type set many aviation records during the race and afterwards, as a pioneer mail plane. The modern features and clean lines of the DH.88, especially in the striking colours of Grosvenor House, the race winner, make it a true design classic.

Design and development

The MacRobertson International Air Race, a race between England and Melbourne to be held in October 1934 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the State of Victoria, was announced in 1933. Despite previous British air racing successes, culminating in 1931 in the outright winning of the Schneider Trophy, there was no British aeroplane capable of putting up a challenge over the MacRobertson course with its long overland stages. In January 1934, the de Havilland company stepped into the breach when it offered to design a 200-mile-per-hour (320 km/h) aircraft to compete in the race and produce a limited run if three were ordered by February 1934. The sale price was to be £5,000 each (approximately £320,000 in 2015, when adjusted for inflation). This would by no means cover the aircraft's development costs.

Three orders were indeed received, and de Havilland set to work. The airframe consisted of a wooden skeleton clad with spruce plywood, with a final fabric covering on the wings. A long streamlined nose held the main fuel tanks, with the low-set and fully glazed central two-seat cockpit faired into an unbroken line to the tail. The wings were of a thin cantilever monoplane design for high-speed flight, and as such would require stressed-skin construction to achieve sufficient strength. While other designers were turning to metal to provide this extra strength, de Havilland took the unusual approach of increasing the strength of all-wood construction. De Havilland achieved the skin profile using many thin, shaped pieces set side by side, and then overlaid in the manner of plywood. This was made possible only by the recent development of high-strength synthetic bonding resins and its success took many in the industry by surprise.

The engines were uprated versions of the standard Gipsy Six, being tuned for best performance with a higher compression ratio. The DH.88 could maintain altitude up to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) on one engine. The propellers were two-position variable pitch, manually set to fine before takeoff using a bicycle pump and changed automatically to coarse by a pressure sensor. The main undercarriage retracted upwards and backwards into the engine nacelles, while the tailskid did not retract. Later examples and rebuilds would feature a castoring tail wheel.

Landing flaps were placed slightly forward of the inboard wing trailing edge and continued in to the aircraft centre line. The forward fuselage was occupied by two large fuel tanks, with a third small tank located behind the cockpit.

With de Havilland managing to meet the challenging production schedule, testing of the DH.88 began six weeks before the start date of the race.

In 1935, de Havilland proposed a high-speed bomber version of the DH.88 to the RAF, but the proposal was rejected.

Legacy

The DH.88 might have been the only wooden British high-performance monoplane, but for a shortage of metal for aircraft construction during the Second World War. Experience with the DH.88 would later be put to use in designing the DH.98 Mosquito, also a twin-engined monoplane of wooden construction. The Mosquito was not simply the 1935 proposal revisited but was a much bigger and more powerful aircraft powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin engines delivering over twice the power of the Gipsy Sixes.

Operational history

MacRobertson Race

On the day of the race start, the three distinctively coloured aircraft took their places among 17 other entrants at RAF Mildenhall, a Royal Air Force station in Suffolk, England. These ranged from a new Douglas DC-2 airliner to two converted Fairey Fox bombers.

Black Magic

First to take off at 6.30 a.m. on 20 October were Jim and Amy Mollison in their own G-ACSP Black Magic. They made a faultless journey to Baghdad, and reached Karachi at around 10 a.m. on the second race day, setting a new England-India record. Problems began for the Mollisons when their landing gear failed to retract, and after returning to Karachi for repairs, they were again delayed by an inability to navigate at night.

Further problems followed when they made an unscheduled refuelling stop at Jobbolpore but found no aviation fuel. Running instead on fuel used by the local bus company, an engine piston seized and an oil line ruptured. They flew on to Allahabad and retired.

Grosvenor House

The scarlet G-ACSS was the property of Mr A.O.Edwards and was named Grosvenor House after the hotel which he managed. The crew were C. W. A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black. When the Mollisons ran into problems at Karachi, Scott and Campbell Black took over the lead and were first into Allahabad. Despite a severe storm over the Bay of Bengal they reached Singapore safely, eight hours ahead of the DC-2.

They took off for Darwin, but over the Timor Sea lost power in the port engine when the oil pressure dropped to zero. Repairs at Darwin got them going again, although continuing oil warnings caused them to fly the last two legs with one engine throttled back. Their lead was unassailable despite this, and after the final mandatory stop and more engine work at Charleville they flew on to cross the finish line at Flemington Racecourse at 3.33 p.m. (local time) on 23 October. Their official time was 71 hours 18 seconds.

Records set by G-ACSS 'Grosvenor House'

  • 20–23 October 1934 : C. W. A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black went from Mildenhall, England to Melbourne, Australia (11000 miles) in 70 hrs 55 min. Still held in 2010.
  • 14–16 November 1937 : A.E. Clouston and Mrs Kirby-Green went from London to Cape Town (7091 miles) in 45 hrs 6 min.
  • 18–20 November 1937 : The return trip was completed in 57 hrs 23 min.
  • 15–20 March 1938 : A.E. Clouston and V. Ricketts went from London to New Zealand (13179 miles) in 104 hrs 20 min.
  • 20–26 March 1938 : The return trip was completed in 140 hrs 12 min. Here the times to and from Sydney, Australia en route to New Zealand were also confirmed as records.

G-ACSR

The third Comet, G-ACSR had been paid for by racing driver Bernard Rubin and was flown by Owen Cathcart Jones and Ken Waller. They had to make a second unscheduled stop at Baghdad after they found that they had had a serious oil leak. They were forced to delay for repairs which were carried out by T.J.Holmes. They caught up with the Mollisons at Karachi. They were the fourth aircraft to reach Melbourne, in a time of 108 h 13 min 45 s. Cathcart Jones and Waller promptly collected film of the Australian stages of the race and set off to carry it back to Britain. Their return time of 13½ days set a new record.

Later use

Grosvenor House was taken charge of by the Air Ministry and flown to Martlesham Heath for evaluation. Repainted silver and given the military serial K-5084 it made several flights before being written off and sold for scrap after a heavy landing. It was subsequently sold on, rebuilt and fitted with Gypsy Six series II engines and a castoring tailwheel, in which form it made several race and record attempts under various names. It claimed fourth place in the 1937 Istres-Damascus-Paris race, and later the same year lowered the out-and-home record to the Cape to 15 days 17 hours. In March 1938, Arthur Edmond Clouston and Victor Anthony Ricketts made a return trip to New Zealand covering 26,450 mi (42,570 km) in 10 days 21 hours 22 minutes.

G-ACSR was renamed Reine Astrid and flew the Christmas mail from Brussels to Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo in 1934. It was then sold to the French government as F-ANPY and set a Croydon-Le Bourget record of 52 minutes on 5 July 1935. It subsequently made Paris–Casablanca and Paris—Algiers high-speed proving flights. F-ANPY was destroyed in a hangar fire, alongside F-ANPZ (see below), at Istres in France in June 1940.

Black Magic was sold to Portugal for a projected flight from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. Re-registered CS-AAJ and renamed Salazar it made various flights from London to Lisbon, setting a time of 5 hr, 17 min in July 1937. It was re-discovered in a ruinous condition in Portugal in 1979 and is currently undergoing restoration in Derby, England.

Additional Comets

Following the French government's acquisition of F-ANPY (see above), they ordered a fourth Comet, F-ANPZ, with a mail compartment in the nose. One was destroyed in a hangar fire at Istres in France in June 1940.

The fifth and last Comet, registered G-ADEF and named "Boomerang," was built for Cyril Nicholson. it was piloted by Tom Campbell Black (of Grosvenor House fame) and J.C. McArthur in an attempt on the London-Cape Town record. It reached Cairo in a record 11 hr, 18 min but the Cape Town attempt was abandoned due to oil trouble. G-ADEF crashed in Sudan on 22 September 1935, the crew escaping by parachute.

Survivors

G-ACSS Grosvenor House has been restored to flying condition as it was in the MacRobertson race, and is housed at the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden in England.

CS-AAJ has been rediscovered after being lost for more than 40 years in Portugal and is currently under restoration to its original identity as Black Magic, hopefully to flying condition, by the Comet Racer Project Group based at Derby Airfield in England.

Airworthy replicas

An airworthy full-scale replica of the DH.88 Comet was built in 1993 by Bill Turner of Repeat Aircraft at Flabob airport in Rubidoux Ca. It was built for Thomas W. Wathen of Santa Barbara, California, USA. N88XD flies wearing the full colours and registration of G-ACSS Grosvenor House.

Another example, started in the USA, is under steady construction by the Croydon Aircraft Company at Old Mandeville Airfield, near Gore, New Zealand.

Operators

  • Portugal : Portuguese Air Force.
  • United Kingdom : Air Ministry for evaluation.

In popular culture

In the film Planes from DisneyToon Studios, the British character Bulldog is based on the de Havilland DH.88 and voiced by John Cleese.

In the Dutch aviation comics series "January Jones" the title heroine, a U.S. racing pilot in the 1930s, flies and owns a de Havilland DH.88, usually indicated as (De Havilland) Comet. Its red-with-white colour and #43 resemble Grosvenor House. This series has been published in Dutch, French, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Portuguese, Catalan, Spanish and German.

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article De Havilland DH.88 of Wikipedia ( authors )

Specifications

  • Crew : two.
  • Length : 29 ft (8.84 m).
  • Height : 10 ft (3.05 m).
  • Wingspan : 44 ft (13.41 m).
  • Wing area : 212.5 sq ft (19.75 m²).
  • Airfoil : RAF 34.
  • Empty weight : 2,930 lb (1,332 kg).
  • Loaded weight : 5,550 lb (2,523 kg).
  • Maximum speed : 237 mph (206 kts, 382 km/h).
  • Cruise speed : 220 mph (191 kts, 354 km/h).
  • Stall speed : 74 mph (64 kts, 119 km/h).
  • Range : 2,925 mi (2,541 nmi, 4,710 km).
  • Service ceiling : 19,000 ft (5,790 m).
  • Rate of climb : 900 ft/min (4.6 m/s).
  • Powerplant : Two de Havilland Gipsy Six R six-cylinder air-cooled inverted inline engine.
  • Power : 230 hp (172 kW) each.

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article De Havilland DH.88 of Wikipedia ( authors )
de Havilland DH 88 Comet : Your comments on this subject
Powered by Disqus
Top
Legal Credits FAQ Help Site Map

Terms of use for the services available on this site

By using this Website, Users agree to the following terms of use and rules :

Definitions

  • Webmaster : Head Administrator with all authority over the management and development of the Website.
  • Administrator : Anyone that was given by the Webmaster full or partial access to the Website's structure or with moderation rights on messages posted by Users.
  • User or Visitor : Any person visiting the Website pages.
  • Website : The following provisions apply to a single Website accessible via the www.aircraftube.com, www.aircraftube.org, www.aircraftube.net and www.all-aircraft.com. URL's
  • Service : All free informations and tools contained on the Website.
  • Comments : All text written by users on Blogs and comment pages available on the Website.
  • Media : All media available on or through the Website. One must distinguish the local media (photos, curves, drawings) and the external media (videos) which the Website refers.

    • Purpose of this site

    The purpose of this non-commercial site is purely educational. Reflecting a passion, it is also there to preserve the memory of all those who gave their lives, their health or energy in the name of freedom, aviation safety or simply our passenger comfort.

    Copyright

    Some media may have escaped the vigilance of Administrators with regard to copyrights. If a user reports copyright infringement, he will be asked to prove that he is indeed the rights's owner for the concerned media. If so, his decision on the Administrator's next action will be respected: A total suppression of the Media on the Website, or the addition of some owner's reference. The publication of a media on the internet normally having as a goal to make it visible to many people, the Administrators expect in any case that the second option will be most often chosen.

    Pursuant to the Law on copyright and related rights, the user has the right to download and reproduce information on the Website for personal use and provided that the source is mentionned. They cannot however be used for commercial or advertising purposes.

    Using Blogs and filing comments

  • Moderator : The Administrator reserves the right to prevent the publication of comments that are not directly related to the Service without providing any explanation. Similarly, all insults, out of scope or unethical material will be banned.
  • Identification : Persons wishing to post a comment or use any form of contact are required to provide identification by the means of a valid e-mail address.
  • Responsibilities : Comments are posted on the Website under the unique responsability of their authors and the Administrators may in no case be liable for any statements or claims that the users might have issued.

    • As the comment system is hosted and maintained on servers external to the Website, the Administrators may in no circumstances be held responsible for the use that administrators of these servers or other third parties may have with those comments or filed data.

    Content Liability

    The Administrators carefully check the reliability of the sources used. They cannot, however, guarantee the accuracy of any information contained on the Website, partly because of the multiple sources from which they come.

    JavaScript and cookies - Storing information

    This Website imperatively uses JavaScript and cookies to function properly. Neither of these technologies, or other means shall in no case be used on the Website for the retention or disclosure of personal information about Visitors. Exceptions to this rule will involve storing the Users banned for inappropriate comments they might have given as well as contact information for Users wishing to subscribe to future newsletters.

    When a user accesses the Website, the corresponding servers may automatically collect certain data, such as IP address, date and time of Website access, viewed pages and the type of browser used. This information is kept only for the purpose of measuring the number of visitors to the different sections of the site and make improvements.

    Donations - Advertising

    To continue providing the Service for free, the Webmaster reserves the right to insert advertising or promotional messages on any page of the Site. In the same idea, any donations will only by used to cover the running costs of the site, such as hosting, connection fees, hardware and software necessary for the development and maintenance of the Website.

    Links and other websites

    Administrators shall in no case be liable for the non-availability of websites operated by third parties to which users would access through the Website.

    Administrators assume no liability for any content, advertising, products and/or services available on such third party websites. It is reminded that those sites are governed by their own terms of use.

    Placing a link to third party sites or authorize a third party to include a link on their website refering to this Website does not mean that the Administrators recommend in any way the products or services offered by these websites.

    Modifications

    The Webmaster reserves the right to modify at any time without notification the present terms of use as well as all content or specific functionality that the Website offers.

    The modified terms and conditions immediately apply to the using Visitor when changes come online. Visitors are invited to consult the site regularly on the most current version of the terms and conditions

    Governing Law and Jurisdiction

    These general conditions are governed by Belgian law.

    In case of dispute regarding the interpretation and/or execution of the above terms, the parties agree that the courts of the district of Nivelles, Belgium shall have exclusive jurisdiction power.

    Credits page

    Wikipedia.org

    Wikipedia is a collaboratively edited, multilingual, free Internet encyclopedia.

    Youtube

    YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, view and share videos.

    Special thanks to all Youtube quality aviation vids providers, specially (Those I forgot, please excuse me or report) :

    Airboyd
    Andys Video
    Aviation videos archives
    Bomberguy
    Classic Aviation TV
    Historical Aviation Film Unit
    Horsemoney
    Jaglavaksoldier
    Joluqa Malta
    Just Planes
    Koksy
    Classic Airliners & Vintage Pop Culture
    Memorial Flight
    Octane130
    Okrajoe
    SDASM archives
    Spottydog4477
    The Aviators TV
    Valentin Izagirre Bengoetxea
    Vexed123
    VonBerlich
    Zenos Warbirds

    Bundesarchiv

    The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv are the National Archives of Germany.

    FAQ

    I don't see my comments any more!

    Please note that each page has it's own comment entry. So, if you enter a comment i.e. on the B-747, you will only see it on that related page.

    General comments are accessed via the "BLOG En" button.

    Comments are moderated, so please allow some delay before they appear, specially if you are outside Europe.

    Menus are developing below the page, because they are too long!

    But they remain accessible, for example by scrolling the mouse wheel, or with your finger (on the menu) on a smartphone or tablet.

    I see adds on all videos.

    Use a good free add remover software.

    The site is loading random pages at startup.

    We think it is a good way to bring back the memory of aircraft, persons or events sometimes quite forgotten.

    HELP PAGE

    Why this site?

    Discovery

    This website is dedicated to one's aeronautical passion (which I hope we share) and was realised mainly as an educationnal tool. Knowing that, you'll notice that each new visit brings random topics for the purpose of making new discoveries, some achievements or characters certainly not deserving the oblivion into which they have sometimes fallen.

    By these pages, we also want to pay tribute to all those who gave at one time or another, their lives or health in the name of freedom, aeronautical security or simply our comfort.

    Centralisation

    Internet is full of websites dedicated to aviation, but most are dedicated to subjects or periods that are very limited in space or time. The purpose of this site is to be as general as possible and thus treats all events as well as characters of all stripes and times while putting much emphasis on the most significant achievements.

    The same years saw birth of technologies like photography and cinema, thus permitting illustration of a large part of important aeronautical events from the start. Countless (and sometimes rare) media recently put online by enthousiasts finally give us access to these treasures, but the huge amount of information often makes things a little messy. A centralization effort is obviously most needed at this level.

    All persons who directly or indirectly contributed to the achievement or posting of such documents are here gratefully acknowledged.

    General

    Fluid website

    This site automatically fits the dimensions of your screen, whether you are on a desktop computer, a tablet or a smartphone.

    Bilingual website

    You can change the language by clicking on the flag in the upper left or via "Options" in the central menu. Of course, the videos remain in the language in which they were posted ...

    Browser compatibility

    The site is not optimized, or even designed to run on older browsers or those deliberately deviating from standards. You will most probably encounter display issues with Internet Explorer. In this case, it is strongly recommended installing a modern (and free!) browser that's respecting the standards, like Firefox, Opera, Chrome or Safari.

    Cookies and Javascript

    This site uses cookies and JavaScript to function properly. Please ensure that your browser is configured accordingly. Neither of these technologies, or other means shall in no case be used on the Site for the retention or disclosure of personal information about its Visitors. See the "Legal" page for more on this subject.

    Website layout

    Left menus

    Because of the lack of space on smartphones and small tablets, these menus are hidden. Everything is nevertheless accessible via the main menu option, located between the video and photo sections. This menu is placed there for compatibility reasons with some browsers, which play the videos over the menus.

    "Search" and "Latest" :
    The link "In Titles" restricts the search to the titles of different forms. Use this option if you are looking for a plane, a constructor, a pilot or a particular event that could have been treated as a subject.

    The link "In Stories" will bring you to a search in all texts (the "Story" tab) and will take more time. The search term will appear highlighted in green when opening the corresponding story.

    Would you believe, "Timeline" will show all subjects in chronological order.

    "Random" will reload the entire page with a new random topic.

    The bottom section keeps you abreast of the latest five entries. New topics are added regularly. Don't hesitate to come visit us often : add bookmark.

    Blogs and Comments central section

    Under the photos section comes the comments tabs window :

    You can enter general comments in your own language via one of the two buttons on the left (BLOG EN and BLOG FR). Note that these buttons are accessible regardless of the language to allow some participation in the other language.

    All comments are subject to moderation and will be published only if they comply with the basic rules of decorum, while remaining relevant to the purpose of this site.

    The third tab allows you to enter comments on the shown topic and is bilingual. Personal anecdotes, supplements and other information questions will take place here.

    The "Story" tab shows the explanatory texts. They are most often taken from Wikipedia, a site where we participate regularly.

    The "Data" tab is reserved for list of features and specifications.

    Right menus

    On a smartphone, the lack of space is growing and this menu is moved to the bottom of the page to give priority to videos and pictures.

    The top right icons are links to videos posted by third parties (on their own responsabilities) or by ourselves. The link below these icons will take you to the channel of the one who posted the video. Feel free to suggest other videos if you think they are of some interest (Use the BLOG button or the "Contact" link).