Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 22 minutes ago
As Great Britain and the United States competed for leadership in aviation in the immediate years after World War II, the seek and graceful de Havilland Comet seemed to point the way to the future of commercial aviation. Just as Britain seemed poised to become the world leader in commercial jet aviation, three Comets suffered mysterious and catastrophic in-flight break-ups within a single year. With nothing less than the survival of the British aviation industry at stake, an investigation was launched.
Note that this program was made in 1996. In 2015, it was revealed that in June 1956 some more wreckage from G-ALYP ('Yoke Peter') was accidentally trawled up from an area about 15 miles south of where the original wreckage had been found. This wreckage was from the starboard side of the cabin just above the three front windows. Subsequent examination at Farnborough suggested that the primary failure was probably near to this area rather than at the rear automatic direction finding window on the roof of the cabin as had been previously thought (and cited in this show).
As Great Britain and the United States competed for leadership in aviation in the immediate years after World War II, the seek and graceful de Havilland Comet seemed to point the way to the future of commercial aviation. Just as Britain seemed poised to become the world leader in commercial jet aviation, three Comets suffered mysterious and catastrophic in-flight break-ups within a single year. With nothing less than the survival of the British aviation industry at stake, an investigation was launched.
Note that this program was made in 1996. In 2015, it was revealed that in June 1956 some more wreckage from G-ALYP ('Yoke Peter') was accidentally trawled up from an area about 15 miles south of where the original wreckage had been found. This wreckage was from the starboard side of the cabin just above the three front windows. Subsequent examination at Farnborough suggested that the primary failure was probably near to this area rather than at the rear automatic direction finding window on the roof of the cabin as had been previously thought (and cited in this show).
