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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0130.PDF
58 FLIGHT FROM ALL QUARTERS B.O.A.C. Comet Lost: Services Suspended WITH deep regret Flight has to record that Comet G-ALYP— the aircraft which on May 2nd, 1952, inaugurated the world's first scheduled airline service to be operated by jet airliners—was lost, together with all the 29 passengers and six crew aboard, when it dascended into the Mediterranean on Sunday, January 10th. The following day B.O.A.C. announced the temporary suspension of Comet services, to permit close examination of the entire fleet. Commanded by Capt. A. Gibson, D.F.C., the Comet was one of B.O.A.C.'s fleet of eight Series Is. At the time of the accident, which is thought to have occurred just before 1000 hr G.M.T., it was flying from Rome to London on the last leg of a service from Singapore (one of 11 extra flights scheduled for mid-winter on this route). The time of "chocks away" at Rome was recorded as 0931. The first stages of the climb to cruising height were apparently unevent ful, as routine messages only were passed to Rome control, the last being at 0950 Nothing more was heard until fishermen reported seeing an aircraft fall into the Mediterranean between the islands of Elba and Monte Cris:o; at least one had previously recognized the sound of the machine as being that of a jet aircraft. Some witnesses spoke of explosions in the air and others reported that smoke was coming from the aircraft. Such reliable evidence as is available at the time of writing leaves little doubt that the impact of the Comet on the water was extremely violent and that its descent was uncontrolled. Fifteen bodies were recovered shortly afterwards, together with small pieces of wreckage. (Large-scale sea and air searches and rescue services had been initiated by Italian, American and R.A.F. organizations immediately after the alarm had been given.) The disaster is thought to have taken place about eight minutes after the final message at 0950, by which time the Comet would pre sumably have been between 20,000 and 30,000ft. Caprain Gibson, who was 31, had over 5,500 flying hours to his credit, of which he had flown 4,267 since joining B.O.A.C. in 1946. The other members of the crew were: lst/Off. W. J. Bury, Eng/Off. F. C. Macdonald, Rad/Off. L. McMahon, Steward F. L. Saunders and Stewardess Jean Clark. Among the passengers were six children. The adults included Mr. Chester Wilmot, the famous Australian broadcaster and writer; Captain V. Wolfson, O.B.E., V.R.D., M.A., R.N.V.R., director of B.E.A.'s associated companies and the general manager of B.O.A.C.'s subsidiaries; Captain C. Livingstone, a B.E.A. Pionair pilot; Mr. J. P. Hill, B.O.A.C. assistant sales manager in South East Asia, and six other members of B.O.A.C. staff or their relatives. Two members of the M.T.C.A. accident investigation branch left London for Rome a few hours after the loss of G-ALYP, accompanied by Mr. B. J. Folliard of the B.O.A.C. accidents branch and a D.H. field service engineer, Mr. P. J. Detmold. Up to the time of the disaster Comets had flown over 30,000 hr, of which some 3,500 had been logged by G-ALYP. The overall total included 12m miles of flying in scheduled airline service, with four Comet operators then flying some 180,000 miles weekly. Production of Series 1 and 1A Comets totals 21, including two prototypes, the first of which has been dismantled for structural tests at the R.A.E., Farnborough. Two previous accidents involving the loss of Comets had resulted from an excessively nose-up attitude during take-off and thus obviously had no relation to last Sunday's accident. On May 2nd last year 43 people were lost when B.O.A.C. Comet G-ALYV disintegrated in the air shortly after taking off from Calcutta for Delhi while flying through a heavy storm. The Indian official report on this accident was inconclusive and detailed study of wreckage with a view to finding the cause has not yet been completed. So far as the results of salvage opera tions permit, it is certain that a similar analysis will be made of the wreckage of G-ALYP. There appears to be a good chance of retrieving a major portion of the aircraft, which has been approxi mately located in water 260ft. deep. In the circumstances, it was not at all surprising when, on Monday evening, B.O.A.C. announced that "as a measure of prudence" all their normal Comet passenger services would be temporarily suspended from midnight. This suspension, the statement said, would permit a "minute and unhurried technical examination of every aircraft in the Comet Fleet to be carried out at their maintenance headquarters at London Airport ... to be conducted in closest collaboration with the de Havilland Aircraft and Engine Companies and with the Air Registration Board." The Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation had been con sulted and concurred with this B.O.A.C. decision. It was emphasized that the decision to suspend services was a commercial one, and was not "an official grounding." There are three other Comet operators—Air France, U.A.T. and the R.C.A.F., all of whom use Series lAs. Both French air lines have announced temporary suspension of their Comet ser vices, but at the time of going to press the R.C.A.F. had announced that they saw no reason at present to ground their machines. Nash Collection for R.Ae.S. CIR WILLIAM FARREN, President of the Royal Aeronautical ^ Society, discloses that some months ago Mr. R. J. G. Nash decided that he would be obliged to dispose of his collection of historic aircraft, which he had long hoped might form the nucleus of a National Air Collection. Though favourably disposed to the suggestion that there should be such a collection, the council of the Society (particularly in view of the storage problem) had not then been in a position to put forward a considered proposal with the object of securing public support. In November an offer came from America. Mr. Nash was anxious that the collection should not leave the country and at a meeting on November 26th the council unanimously decided that an attempt should be made to buy the collection. Mr. Peter Masefield and Mr. Peter Brooks negotiated with Mr. Nash and a price within the sum authorized by the council was agreed on December 10th. Sir William Farren then authorized completion of the purchase. A further announcement will be made when the council has considered how best to deal with the future of the aircraft. They are: Bleriot XIA (1910), Bleriot XXVII (1911), Cauldron G.3 (1912), Maurice Farman F.40 (1913), Avro 504 (1914), Sopwith Camel (1917), Fokker D.VII (1918), S.E.5A (1918). South African Shackletons IN face of strong American competition A. V. Roe and Co. Ltd. have secured an order for an unstated number of Shackleton maritime-reconnaissance aircraft. News of the order was simul taneously released in South Africa by Mr. F. C. Erasmus, Minister of Defence, and in England by Sir Roy Dobson, who recalled the cruise, in April last year, of Shackletons of No. 42 Squadron from Ceylon to the Union during a 17,000-mile round trip from their home base. Mr. Eras mus added that de liveries are expected to commence within 15 WESTWARD WITH THE SUN: a Shackleton 2 of No. 42 Squadron, setting out for a long patrol over the Atlantic, forms the subject of this impressive "Flight" photograph. As recorded above, aircraft of t'-is basic tvpe are the subject of a South African order.
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