The 1930s were years of significant development in the aircraft industry. The boundaries of speed, aerodynamics and design were all being pushed to its absolute limits. Biplanes had reached its absolute peak and with it came the slow transition to monoplanes. In 1934 De Havilland would take air racing to a new height when one of its aircraft would win the Great Air Race of 1934 from England to Melbourne, Australia. This plane was the DH 88 Comet.
The story of the DH.88 Comet started in Australia in 1934, the year that marked the centenary of the state of Victoria. To celebrate the special occasion, the Royal Aero Club with sponsorship from the business tycoon, Sir Macpherson Robertson set up the 1934 MacRobertson Centenary Air Race. Providing a prize pool of £15,000, the race would start from Mildenhall, England, and finish in Melbourne, Australia. With compulsory stops at Baghdad, Allahabad, Singapore, Darwin and Charleville, the race would test the endurance of flight. The race was set up with two separate divisions speed and handicap.
Throughout the 1930s the English had massive success in races such as the Schneider Trophy, however these races focused on maximizing the speed of an aircraft and not its endurance. Hence, the English did not have a suitable contender for the air race. Not wanting to see the trophy handed over to an American, Geoffrey De Havilland set out to ensure the race would be won by an English man. Arthur Hagg was the man put in charge to lead the design. With its cantilever design, the DH.88 was to be powered by two 230p Gipsy Six R engines that drove the Ratier two position propellers. These propellers automatically changed pitch from fine to coarse depending on airspeed which was quite advanced for the time. To finish the DH.88 had a retractable undercarriage and three massive fuel tanks behind the cockpit to give it an impressive nearly 3,000 mile (ca. 4,828 km) range. With a light-weight construction of virtually all wood, with metal only being utilized on load bearing components, the DH.88 was the ultimate long-distance plane.
Initial estimates of the plane's cost placed it around the £50,000 per aircraft mark. Needless to say this was too expensive and would provide De Havilland with little chance for individual customers let alone any form of production run. The De Havilland Board decided that they would subside the project purely on the grounds of prestige and the possibility of gaining research data out of the project. If orders were placed before February 1934, each craft would cost £5,000. Three orders arrived at De Havilland headquarters and on the 8th of September ,just a mere six weeks before the races started, E-1(G-ACSP) graced the skies for the first time after a nine-month development period.
The DH.88 would be flown by three entrants in the 1934 Great Air Race. Sporting a black and gold livery, “Black Magic” (G-ACSP) would be flown by Jim and Amy Mollinson (nee Amy Johnson). G-ACSR was bought by Bernard Rubin, but flown by Owen Cathcart and Ken Waller. Lastly, the red and white “Grosvenor House” (G-ACSS) would be flown by CWS Scott and Tom Campbell. The owner Mr AO Edwards named it “Grosvenor House” after the London Hotel where he was Managing Director.
Above: Cathcart Jones' Commet about to land at Charleville. Source: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
Out of the 60 applicants, on October 20th, 1934, just 20 aircraft lined the tarmac at RAF Mildenhall to begin the race. All three DH 88 Comet were present on the start line. In front of 60,000 spectators, the race commenced with the DH.88 “Black Magic” soaring into the skies.The race was a gruelling 11,380 miles (ca. 18,314 km) journey. The DH.88 Comet’s superior endurance was on full show when both G-ACSP and G-ACSS flew non-stop to Baghdad. Unfortunately after leading much of the early stages, G-ACSP Black Magic had to pull out when a piston seized mid-flight after the Mollisons were forced to use contaminated fuel in Jubbulpore. 70 hrs and 54 min after takeoff, G-ACSS Grosvenor House reached Melbourne, securing first position from KLM’s DC-2. G-ACSR finished in fourth. Flying home, G-ACSR completed the round trip in thirteen and a half days producing a record-breaking flight in itself.
Above: DH.88 Commet, Grosvenor House, after winning the race. Source: National Library of Australia
The impressive victory by G-ACSS Grosvenor House interested the RAF who took hold of the plane shortly after the race. Stripping it back to an all silver paint scheme and re-designated K-5084, the Air Ministry sent it to Martlesham Heath for evaluation. However, the plane suffered a series of mishaps and with the RAF not interested in its design, it was sold as scrap. Such a famous and iconic plane was on the verge of disappearing forever to be left to the pages of unturned history books. Luckily the plane was saved and bought by F Tasker and sent to Essex Aero Ltd at Gravesend for restoration. Finishing restoration, it was re-named to ‘The Orphan’ and was back to racing. Re-named again as “The Burberry”, throughout 1937 and 1938 it was involved in a series of record-breaking runs. From 14-20 of November 1937, Flt. Off A. E Clouston alongside Mrs Betty Kirby-Green took G-ACSS from Croydon, England to Cape Town and back in a record 5 days 17 hours and 28 minutes. Then in March 1938 Arthur Clouston and Victor Ricketts took the plane down under again, this time flying from Gravesend, England to Blenheim, New Zealand, and back. The return 26,450 miles (ca. 42,567 km) trip, took an impressive 10 days, 21 hours and 22 minutes. In the three years since its first flight, the DH.88 Comet still had some impressive performance characteristics. Unfortunately, after these feats, G-ACSS was abandoned at Gravesend where it saw out World War Two in storage. Still, it would be pulled out again in 1951 to be statically restored by De Havilland apprentices and displayed at the 1951 Festival of Great Britain. G-ACSS was eventually handed over to the Shuttleworth collection in 1965, where the long road to airworthiness began. On Sunday 17th of May 1987, forty-nine years since it last flew, G-ACSS graced the skies of Britain once again. After a few problems and moving airfields, the Shuttleworth Collection has been able to ensure that Grosvenor House can still be seen by the public dancing around in the skies.
Above: G-ACSS in RAF Colours. Source: Imperial War Museum
The other DH.88 Comet’s also had fairly colourful histories after the race. G-ACSR after its record-breaking return trip to England after placing fourth in the Air Race, was renamed “Reine Astrid” and sold to France as F-ANPY. Here it continued to break records to and from French colonies in Africa. It is contested that this plane was lost in a fire at Istres air force base in 1940, but others claim it was worse for wear, but still at the base when the Germans arrived at Istres.
G-ACSR wasn’t the only Comet to find a home in French hands. The French Government also bought a second Comet. F-ANPZ, a Comet that hadn’t seen action in the Great Air Race of 1934, was tested by the Armee de l’Air. The French Government wanted the Comet as a fast mailplane, to and from their colonies in Africa, however a lack of carrying capacity soon proved to make the Comet unsuitable. Again the ending of F-ANPZ is unknown. Sources claim it was destroyed alongside G-ACSR in a hangar fire at Istres, while others claim it crashed over Kenya.
After having to retire from the air race due to a piston seizing, G-ACSP Black Magic was bought by the Portuguese Government and renamed “Salazar” with the registration CS-AAJ. Making a number of flights with the Portuguese to South America as a mail plane, G-ACSP soon just disappeared. In the mid eighties it resurfaced in Portugal and is currently under restoration to flight in the UK.
G-ADEF “Boomerang” was the last Comet built and put production numbers to a total of five aircraft. With a silver and blue paint scheme, it took part in a number of attempted record-breaking flights. Most notably it attempted to break the record for a flight from London to Cape Town. With Tom Campbell Black at the controls, it reached Cairo in 11 hours and 18 minutes, a record in itself. On track for the record, the plane developed oil troubles and the record attempt was abandoned. Ashame, considering it was well on track for the record. In 1935 the plane crashed over Sudan, with the crew safely parachuting clear.
The DH.88 Comets were a formidable racing aircraft. It soared long distance flight to new heights. De Havilland was disappointed at not getting a contract with the RAF, however the research no doubt contributed heavily in the development of the famous De Havilland Mosquito bomber. The resemblance between the two planes can clearly be seen. Still, the DH.88 Comet was a truly unbelievable aircraft design and is a beautiful aircraft that continued to break records three years after its first flight. It paved the way for a new era of flight.
Above: Two DH.88 Comets on the start line of the air race.
Bibliography:
Swopes, B.R., de Havilland DH.88 Comet Archives. This Day in Aviation. Available at: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/de-havilland-dh-88-comet/ [Accessed June 1, 2019].
Anon, De Havilland DH88 Comet. BAE Systems | International. Available at: https://www.baesystems.com/en/heritage/de-havilland-dh88-comet [Accessed June 1, 2019].
Anon, de Havilland DH88 Comet Racer. de Havilland DH88 Comet Racer – de Havilland Aircraft Museum. Available at: https://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/aircraft/de-havilland-dh88-comet-racer/ [Accessed June 1, 2019].
Anon, DH88 Comet. Shuttleworth. Available at: http://www.shuttleworth.org/collection/dh88comet/ [Accessed June 1, 2019].
Zuijdwegt, T., De Havilland DH-88 Comet. De Havilland DH-88 Comet. Available at: http://dh88.airwar1946.nl/ [Accessed June 1, 2019].
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