On May 2, 1952, the De Havilland Comet 1 made the first commercial jet flight.

The flight

It was a BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) flight from London to Johannesburg. BOAC is a British airline whose merger with British European Airways in 1974 led to the creation of British Airways.

The flight will carry 36 passengers who will cover the 10,000 km between the two cities in 17 hours. 17 of flight because the plane will make 5 stopovers because its autonomy was only of 2 415 km, which will bring the real duration of the journey to 24 hours.

If this is the first commercial flight, it is not the first scheduled flight. It was indeed a demonstration flight with paying passengers.

Here is the adventure reported by the media at the time.

The plane

The De Havilland Comet 1 was the first commercial jet plane, the first jetliner.

It is a four-engine aircraft that can carry from 36 to 44 passengers (from 74 to 81 for the Comet 4).

It entered service in 1952 and operated on commercial routes until 1981. The last Comet will fly until 1997 while being used for tests of material by the Ministry of Technologies in Great Britain. It will have been used by 15 airlines, including Air France and BOAC, and 115 were produced.

In 1953 and 1954 it will experience a series of incidents, some leading to crashes and the death of passengers.

The cause is identified: a structural problem which will be quickly corrected on the Comet 2 and 3 which will enter in service from 1953 not without the first generation having been withdrawn from service.

But the Comet will have missed its chance and the Boeing 707 and the Douglas DC-8 will take advantage of its setbacks to install their supremacy.

But that’s another story.