Sixty years of the jet age

From the debut of Comet to carbonfibre airliners, we list the era's 60 most memorable milestones

While Queen Elizabeth commemorates her Diamond Jubilee, another important anniversary is worth celebrating. Sixty years ago, in 1952, a BOAC De Havilland Comet took to the skies on its first revenue flight…the commercial jet era had started!

To celebrate 60 years of jet airliners we have delved into our archives and compiled a a list of sixty important milestones of commercial jet aviation, with the corresponding images, so that you can get a flavour of what the evolution of the jet airliner has been in this past six decades.

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January 1952

The de Havilland Comet 1, first flown in July 1949, gains the first certificate of airworthiness to be awarded to a turbojet-powered airliner
May and August 1952

The world's first jet airliner revenue services, operated by BOAC Comet 1s, are inaugurated with flights from London Heathrow to Johannesburg and Colombo, followed by services to Singapore and Tokyo in October 1952 and April 1953
April 1954

The Comet 1 is immediately withdrawn from service after G-ALYY breaks up and falls into the sea south of Naples, with the loss of all on board. This is the fourth Comet accident to involve loss of life
July 1954

The prototype Boeing 707, developed as a private venture, makes its maiden flight. Pan American Airlines places the first order, for six 707-121s, in October 1955
May 1955

The first prototype of the Sud Aviation Caravelle, France's first jet airliner, makes its maiden flight. The first such aircraft to have rear-mounted engines, its nose is copied from that of the Comet
June 1955

The prototype of the Soviet Union's first jet airliner, the Tupolev Tu-104, a re-fuselaged derivative of the Tu-88 (Tu-16) bomber, makes its first flight
September 1956

The Soviet Union's first domestic jet service, using the Tupolev Tu-104, is opened by Aeroflot between Moscow and Irkutsk, following deliveries of production aircraft to the airline in May
October 1958

BOAC inaugurates the first fare-paying jet services across the North Atlantic, operating Comet 4s between London and New York, and beating Pan American by some three weeks
October 1958

Pan American inaugurates its first Boeing 707-120 services on its New York-London route. The -120 - the first production variant and basic domestic version - was larger than the prototype
April 1959

Caravelle I aircraft belonging to Scandinavian Airlines System become the first of the type to enter service, followed by those of Air France
September 1959

The Douglas DC-8-10 becomes the first model of this airliner to enter service, starting operations with United and Delta simultaneously. The maiden flight of the prototype had been made in May 1958
May 1960

Delta Air Lines introduces the Convair 880 Model 22 into service, the prototype having first flown in January 1959. It is followed by the 880-M, designed for intercontinental routes and first delivered to Chinese airline CAT in June 1961
July 1960

The Boeing 720, an intermediate-range version of the 707, enters service with United Airlines, the type's major operator. The 720's fan-engined counterpart, the 720B, would enter service in 1961
January 1962

At Hatfield, UK, the first Hawker Siddeley HS121 Trident medium-range "second-generation" jet airliner makes its first flight. The aircraft is designed to meet a BEA requirement and has three tail-mounted engines
October 1962

The Tupolev Tu-124, a scaled-down version of the Tu-104, enters service on Aeroflot's Moscow-Tallinn route. The type had first flown in March 1960
August 1963

The prototype of the BAC One-Eleven rear-engined twinjet short/medium-haul airliner, a Series 200 model, makes its maiden flight. In October, it crashes at Cricklade, UK, after failing to recover from a phenomenon known as deep stall, costing the lives of seven crew
February 1964

The first commercial service by a Boeing 727 is inaugurated by Eastern Airlines, on the carrier's Miami to Washington Dulles and Philadelphia route. The trijet medium-range airliner had first flown in February 1963
April 1964

The BAC VC10, which had made its maiden flight on 29 June 1962, begins operations on BOAC's service to Lagos, Nigeria
April 1965

The BAC One-Eleven is issued with its UK certificate of airworthiness, and three days later launch customer British United Airways initiates the first commercial services with the type, from London Gatwick to Genoa, Italy
June 1965

The world's first automatic touchdown on a commercial service is made by a BEA Trident 1C on arrival at London Heathrow from Paris. The first fully automatic landing in fog by a civil aircraft would be made at Heathrow in nil visibility in November 1966
November 1965

Delta Air Lines inaugurates the first McDonnell Douglas DC-9 services, following the maiden flight of the short/medium-haul twinjet's first prototype in February of the same year
June 1966

Hawker Siddeley Trident G-ARPY enters an irrecoverable deep stall and crashes at Felthorpe, Norfolk, during its maiden flight. Four crew members lose their lives
March 1967

The Soviet Union's Ilyushin Il-62, a VC10 look-alike, enters national cargo service with Aeroflot; international service, on the airline's Moscow-Montreal route, follows in September
April 1967

The Boeing 737 short-haul twinjet takes off for the first time; by mid-1974 total orders reach 415, most of them already delivered
September 1967

The first passenger services are flown by the Tupolev Tu-134 T-tailed twinjet, a replacement for the Tu-124. The maiden flight of the Tu-134 had taken place in July 1963
December 1968

The Soviet Union becomes the first nation to fly a supersonic transport aircraft when the Tupolev Tu-144 makes its first flight. On May 26, 1970, it becomes the first SST to fly at a speed in excess of Mach 2, attaining 1,336mph (1,160kt)
March 1969

The first prototype of the Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde, the West's first supersonic airliner, makes its maiden flight from Toulouse, followed by the second prototype, which takes to the air at Bristol in April
January 1970

The Boeing 747 jumbo enters passenger service in its initial 747-100 form on Pan American's New York-London route, the type having first flown in February 1969
May 1971

The first prototype Dassault Mercure high-capacity twin-turbofan transport makes its maiden flight. Air France subsidiary Air Inter would take delivery of its first Mercure in April 1974
Mid-August 1971

American Airlines and United Airlines begin operations with the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 new-generation widebody airliner, first flown in August 1970
February 1972

Aeroflot begins the first scheduled passenger flights with the Tupolev Tu-134 twinjet, which had made its maiden flight in October 1968
April 1972

Eastern Airlines initiates passenger services using the widebody Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, which had made its maiden flight in November 1970
October 1972

The first airliner produced by international company Airbus Industrie, the A300B1, makes its maiden flight. The prototypes are followed by the B2, representative of the initial production version
May 1974

The Airbus A300B2 enters service with Air France on the carrier's London-Paris route
January 1976

Concordes of British Airways and Air France operate the world's first scheduled passenger services by supersonic airliners. At the same time that a BA Concorde takes off from London Heathrow for Bahrain, an Air France aircraft leaves Paris Le Bourget for Rio de Janeiro. By reaching its destination first, the BA Concorde, G-BOAA, becomes the first SST to complete a commercial service between planned destinations
March 1977

The world's worst aviation disaster occurs at Los Rodeos airport, Tenerife, when a KLM Boeing 747 making its take-off run collides with a Pan American 747 still clearing the runway. All 234 passengers and the 14 crew members of the KLM aircraft are killed, and 317 passengers and nine members of the cabin crew aboard the Pan Am aircraft perish. Nine of the 70 survivors from the Pan Am aircraft later die from their injuries
October 1980

The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 twin-turbofan short-haul airliner is introduced to commercial service. The prototype had made its first flight in October 1979
December 1980

Russia's first widebody, the Ilyushin Il-86 four-turbofan medium-haul airliner, enters service. The first of the type had made its maiden flight in December 1976. Production would end in 1994
June 1982

All four engines of a BA Boeing 747 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland, New Zealand, fail when it flies through the plume of ash and dust from Mount Galunggung, an active volcano that had erupted the previous day. After three engines are successfully restarted, the airliner makes a safe landing at Jakarta Airport
April 1982

The first Airbus A310 makes its maiden flight. A year later the -200 variant enters service with Swissair and Lufthansa
September 1982

The Boeing 767 widebody twinjet enters service with United Airlines when a 767-200 flies on the Chicago-Denver route. The type's maiden flight had taken place in September 1981
May 1983

The British Aerospace BAe 146-100 four-turbofan short-haul regional airliner enters service with launch customer Dan-Air, having first flown in September 1981. From the initial design evolve the -200 and -300 and the Avro RJ70, RJ85, RJ100 and RJ115
March 1988

The Airbus A320 short- to medium-range narrowbody airliner is delivered to the first customers, Air France and Ansett, having made its maiden flight in February 1987. It is followed by the A321, delivered in 1994; the A319, delivered in 1996; and the A318, delivered in 2003
September 1988

The Ilyushin Il-96, an almost total redesign of the Il-86, makes its maiden flight. First flight of the Il-96M, a stretched version, would follow in April 1993
January 1989

The Tupolev Tu-204 twin-turbofan medium-haul airliner, intended to replace the Tu-154, flies for the first time. It would enter service in 1992, followed by the Tu-214, with increased weight and range
March 1993

Launch customers Lufthansa and Air France put the Airbus A340 long-range four-engined widebody airliner into service, following the type's first flight in October 1991
February 1995

Delta Air Lines takes delivery of its first McDonnell Douglas MD-90, a stretched follow-on variant of the MD-80 first flown in February 1993
May 1995

The first Boeing 777, the world's largest long-range widebody twinjet, is delivered to United Airlines and, later the same month, the US Federal Aviation Administration awards 180-minute ETOPS clearance, making the 777 the first airliner to carry this rating at its entry into service. The 777 had made its maiden flight in June 1994
August 1997

The Airbus A330-200 makes its first flight. The first customer is the International Lease Finance Corporation, which leases the aircraft to discount charter airline Canada 3000
October 1999

The Boeing 717 enters service with AirTran Airways on the Atlanta-Washington DC route. Developed as the McDonnell Douglas MD-95, this twin-engined, single-aisle airliner became the 717 with the merger of McDonnell Douglas and Boeing in 1997, and had first flown in September 1998
July 2000

Air France Concorde F-BTSC suffers a tyre burst during take-off from Paris Charles de Gaulle and crashes in flames into a hotel at Gonesse, killing all 109 on board, as well as four on the ground, and injuring six other people. All Concordes in the Air France and BA fleets are subsequently grounded. The type's certificate of airworthiness would be restored in September 2001 following an investigation into the accident and the incorporation of various modifications, and in November of that year BA and Air France would resume services to New York
September 2001

Terrorists fly three Boeing airliners into New York’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon – a fourth aircraft crashes in Pennsylvania – changing history and aviation secutiry in the 21st century
February 2002

Maiden flight of the Embraer 170 marks a major milestone in development of the Brazilian airframer's E-Jet family, which would add a new competitor in the narrowbody market
October 2003

The final three BA Concorde landings at London Heathrow - from Edinburgh, Heathrow itself (a round-trip via the Bay of Biscay) and New York - are witnessed by massive crowds on the SST's last day of commercial operation
April 2005

The Airbus A380 double-deck, widebody superjumbo flies for the first time. It is the world's largest airliner, with accommodation for 525 passengers in a three-class configuration or up to 853 in an all-economy-class configuration, a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 and sufficient range to fly from New York to Hong Kong.
October 2007

The Airbus A380 enters initial commercial service with Singapore Airlines on its service between Singapore and Sydney, Australia, passengers having bought seats in an online auction. Within four years some 16 million passengers would have been carried by A380s. Today, 72 are in service
May 2008

The Superjet 100 regional aircraft - product of a pioneering Russo-Western collaboration between Sukhoi and Alenia - makes its first flight
December 2009

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner long-range mid-size widebody twinjet makes its first flight
September 2011

First delivery of the Boeing 787, to All Nippon Airways, belatedly takes place. It is followed by the type's first commercial flight, from Narita to Hong Kong, in October and its first commercial long-haul flight, from Haneda to Frankfurt, in January 2012
April 2012

Airbus begins final assembly of the first A350 XWB. The company has orders for 548 A350s, a family of long-range 250-350-passenger widebody airliners with both fuselage and wing structures made primarily from carbonfibre-reinforced polymer. The first flight is planned for mid-2013