Heathrow Airport by Alan Gallop

Author:Alan Gallop
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: TRANSPORTATION/Aviation/General
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2019-02-17T16:00:00+00:00

The de Havilland Comet 1 was a revolutionary new form of air transportation and the world’s first pure jet passenger aircraft to enter commercial scheduled service. With flying speeds of over 500 mph, it was in 1952 way ahead of its international rivals, designed to give BOAC a competitive advantage over foreign airlines, and it was British.

It looked different to any other aircraft seen in skies over London Airport: sleek, futuristic and with almost invisible engines contained within swept-back wings. It was designed to fly at previously unheard-of altitudes of 40,000ft requiring effective cabin pressurization and at speeds of up to 500 mph. The Comet 1 was a world away in terms of speed and comfort from Avro Lancastrians and Yorks and entered service less than three years after its first test flight, during which it broke a handful of point-to-point speed records along the way.

The man in charge of putting the Comet through its testing paces was John Cunningham DSO, OBE, DFC and bar and known across the country as Johnny ‘Cat’s Eyes’ Cunningham following his RAF career commanding the famous ‘Mosquito Squadron’. He had joined de Havilland at the age of 18 and following the war had worked on the Comet project since it was a plywood mock-up. As the airliner’s chief test pilot, Cunningham flew hundreds of hours in the aircraft before it entered service with BOAC in 1952.

The late John Balding from Ashford, Middlesex joined BOAC as an apprentice engineer at Whitchurch, south of Bristol, in October 1940. Whitchurch was BOAC’s secret wartime headquarters and was requisitioned by the Air Ministry for the duration of the war. After working for the airline in Egypt, he returned home in October 1946 to work on Vikings, DC3s, Lancastrians and Yorks at London Airport. In 1951 he was appointed an airframe inspector on BOAC’s new aircraft, the Comet. John remembers:

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