"Spiv" wrote in message
...

What strange logic. How would they know what the problems were until
the Comet investigation? Were they good guessers?


They were better engineers, and they weren't the only ones that knew de
Havilland designed a poor structure. The RAE and BOAC both expressed their
concerns to de Havilland well before the Comet entered service.

de Havilland had very little experience with all-metal aircraft and none at
all with large pressurized airframes, Boeing had more than any other
manufacturer in the world. de Havilland's first all-metal aircraft was the
DH-95 Flamingo, a small prewar twin-engined transport, only sixteen were
built. Their second was the DH-104 Dove, another small twin-engined
transport. It would be quite successful but it hadn't even entered service
by the Comet's first flight.



This is what you said
"They avoided the Comet's problems even before the Comet's problems
surfaced." So they knew the problems before the Comet was built eh?
The investigation uncovered points that were unknown to science
beforehand in metallurgy.


You make it sound like metal fatigue was first discovered via the Comet's
structural problems. Not so!

The Comet was the star of the 1949 Farnborough show, but during a flight
there a fuselage panel buckled. The skin was too damn thin. The RAE was
quite concerned about fatigue. de havilland's chief engineer, Ronald Bishop,
was asked to test for fatigue, but he did not. In November 1951 the
Ministry of Supply threatened to stop the project because of continuing
concerns over metal fatigue, and BOAC was expressing concerns as well. It
was decided that testing would be carried out after the aircraft entered
service. Unknowingly, BOAC and the Comet's crew and passengers would become
test subjects.