The Loss Making Winner DH88 Comet

[@pauls.2526]

De Havilland aircraft are works of art.😊

[@bwest2010]

This story is a perfect example of the chaos theory. An event occurs. Unforeseen and unintended consequences follow. The Mosquito was the most important legacy of the DH88 program. It gave DeHaviland the confidence to proceed with his Mosquito project when he was rejected by the British government. It's capabilities at the time were jaw dropping. It's only defence was speed. The results were just as astounding. It had an unmatched ability to get it's crew home. One stat suggested that there was a 95% survival rate. Another averred that 199 of every 200 mosquito sorties returned to their field. Simply astonishing. The DH88 program resulted in saved pilot lives and very likely contributed to shortening the war and the saved lives that implicates.

[@davidholmgren659]

A winner through and through! Great video...lovely airplane.

[@ThreenaddiesRexMegistus]

It’s a stunningly beautiful aircraft. Imagine this scaled up with a couple of V12 engines? Oh, wait - Mosquito! 👍🏻

[@deaks25]

The stand out stat for me that shows just how good the Comet was is that if Black Magic hadn't broke down, all three brand new, one-off, essentially prototype aircraft would have come in the top 5 of a challenging, long-distance endurance race. When taking into account the other successful planes were converted airliners, the performance of the DH.88 is incredibly impressive.

[@monostripezebras]

What a beautiful aircraft

[@Firebrand55]

Nicely done, with good succinct narration!

[@deHavMuseum]

Glad you liked it!

[@Farweasel]

REALLY got to go to that Museum Worth a mention too, not all that many miles to the north (maybe about 40 in fact) Shuttleworth have a FLYING Comet - Beautiful, elegant aeroplane.

[@timmeinschein9007]

I imagine that you're talking about the Jet Passenger plane .vs. one of the (only) three propeller driven Comets...

[@GRAHAMAUS]

@@timmeinschein9007 No, the Shuttleworth collection have G-ACSS 'Grosvenor House', in flying condition. It's the original, restored, not a replica.

[@timmeinschein9007]

@@GRAHAMAUS Thanks for letting me know! If I ever get to go back to Britain that's another stop for me, it's just now I know of Another airplane I want to look at while visiting.... (I hope that the Shuttleworth is open to the Public at least a few days a week!)

[@oxcart4172]

There are 2 more being built to fly in England

[@grahammonk8013]

Some years ago, (more than 20 I think) I was on a bike ride with some friends, and near Beiseker, on the back roads of Alberta, I saw an open sided barn with a DH Dragon Rapide. Of course I convinced the others to come with me and rode down to investigate. In the barn we found a guy that had been flying his kit plane from the grass strip. He wasn't the owner but he took us around and showed us all the surprising planes and parts all around the property. At one point he was talking about The Comet - "Wait, what?" Yes, the guy had a *COPY* of a DH88 under construction in the barn. As I remember it, the old guy that owned the place (George Lemay, quite a famous guy in his own right) had somehow got his hands on a copy of the plans and had most of the fuselage and wings built. I've since found that it went to Croydon aircraft in New Zealand where it is being restored/finished. I think they may have done a restoration of a staggerwing from the same place. In addition there was a Dove airliner in pieces. He also showed us some small parts from a Sea Hornet in the long grass behind the barn.

[@deHavMuseum]

Thank you for sharing. I wish all my bike rides were as interesting as that. Really cool.

[@nealrehm6900]

So what happened to the black one?

[@colvinator1611]

Excellent video. Great history and presentation. Thanks a lot.

[@TRHARTAmericanArtist]

One of the most beautiful planes ever built.

[@ricklacy5116]

I don’t understand how you guys don’t have more subscribers. Your videos are informative and excellent. 4:12

[@deHavMuseum]

Thank you, we'll keep on making them and growing our following.

[@peterrollinson-lorimer]

Really enjoyed this explanation. Or Ex-plane-ation. An iconic aircraft.

[@loubrackbill3632]

Truly a beautiful plane, it looks fast enough when sitting still.

[@cryptoslacker-464]

Great video, love hearing the history behind great planes like the Mosquito. I found out recently that my Grandad used to fly them in W11 . I know he flew other planes but he never talked about that one. Not sure why not 🤔

[@williamkennedy5492]

A very good video, my father and grandfather went to see these aircraft off at the start of the race, As i looked at the aircraft i could perhaps see where Willie Messerschmitt got his inspiration for his Me262 from.

[@alanholloway1264]

you are drawing a fairly long bow there

[@K3rbalSpace]

@@alanholloway1264 hmm come to think of it now, sweep the wings of an DH-88 back a bit and you get a very similar look

[@cryptoslacker-464]

It did look really modern for its time.

[@johnblack7966]

I'm surprised that there is no reference to A. E. Clouston, who with Fred Tasker acquired the MacRobertson winner G-ACSS in 1937 and used it in races and successfully broke several records. The aircraft features on the cover of his book "The dangerous Skies"

[@chrisangove8997]

Yes I agree, knew Air Commodore Clouston when he lived at his house "Wings" at Constantine Bay Cornwall.

[@franksgattolin8904]

Thank you very much.

[@davidmcintosh7563]

Great video! Thank you for sharing that interesting story! I really need to make my way over to your museum someday!

[@deHavMuseum]

Please do!

[@darticulate8751]

Very Sleek aircraft for that time, also see bits of the later Spitfire in the shapes here !

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video...👍

[@GWAYGWAY1]

The second plane was a standard DC2 the fore runner of the Dakota, it had bigger tanks but led the way for future long distance airliners.

[@davidwheatcroft2797]

The props could not be turned back to fully fine. (Had to be done on the ground with a pump.). So, NO go-rounds. Also they set the compass and then the gyro compass to 0 and just kept it there. They did not bother with wind drift as cruising at 220 mph. Nice aeroplane. Love the Mosquito!

[@mikecarbone828]

Wonderful to learn a little more about this airplane! I have recently acquired a kit to build a small RC flying model of this aircraft, and was very interested in watching this video and learning more about the DH-88. It would be really impressive to modify the landing gear to retract, however, it is a small model and the additional weight may be prohibitive, although I had no idea that the actual airplane was even equipped with retractable landing gear, when I ordered the kit. I may end up scaling up the plane kit to build a larger version that would allow room for more options, such as flaps and the retractable landing gear, as well as the other channels for ailerons, elevator, rudder, and throttle. I also now would like to add an LED headlight, and a set of LED navigational lights, and landing lights, as well, now that I have noticed those features also. Thank you for sharing this video with us all! Please have an excellent an awesome day! ☀️✨✈️

[@mikeburton7077]

Very interesting !

[@stay_at_home_astronaut]

Did they get that compass off HMS Victory?

[@defender1006]

Thank you for this insight into the DH88 design and philosophy that lead to the DH98 Mosquito, undoubtedly Britain's fastest and most deadly piece of furniture?!

[@Suprahampton]

A Comet featured in the Pixar film 'Planes' painted in Union Jack colour scheme & voiced by the legend John Cleese

[@mic709]

Around 1990 there was a DH88 Comet exact replica project in Alberta Canada. The project was about 70-80% complete last time I saw it, unfortunately the builder died before it was completed. Last I heard the project was sold to someone in New Zealand or Australia. I wonder if the Comet featured in this video is the same aircraft?

[@beemergb]

Thank you for this fantastic video .Is the film you talked about avaliable ? That must be quite something to watch .

[@deHavMuseum]

I understand that this is the original Australian film for which the replica DH.88 Comet Racer was built. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_a_World_Away_(miniseries)

[@Surestick88]

I bet a composite version of the DH88 with a couple of small turboprops of appropriate hp would be a great cross country airplane.

[@lau4893]

Problem would be the number of seats, you could fit max 2 seats in tandem config.

[@steveschunk5702]

There’s a lot blocking the pilot’s view, but the Mosquito fixed that.

[@englishguy215]

In my opinion this is the most beautiful aircraft ever built. Several others came close but none matched the DH88.

[@philstevo9170]

I wondered initially why anyone would build a replica of the green dH88 when the red and black ones were more famous, 1, for winning the race and 2, for having celebrity pilots. But I forgot it came 4th and then when he said its in the dH museum, it made more sense. The original Grosvenor House at Shuttleworth is a masterpiece of determination. It actually looks better than the green one and it still flies, which would discredit any other red replica. I was stunned when I visited Shuttleworth in 2014 and met the GH parked in the car park and could walk all around it. I was a few months early to see it fly that year. I built two RC models of GH. One basic but only 200mm span and 10g did fly well, but my 2m span one at 5kg proved more of a handful than the original, so I also have huge react for the pilots of the 1930s and of this century. I always wanted to build another, maybe next time just 1m and the greed one.

[@AbelMcTalisker]

Apparently The Mollison`s "Black Magic" also still exists at Darby and is slowly being restored to hopefully flying condition at some point.

[@mekanikerpetersen4876]

My favorite colour, RAL 6005!

[@downwindchecklist6567]

Fantastic report! It would be great to see one of those flying. Great elements you have, I liked how you show the u/c retraction system. Thank you for sharing!

[@deHavMuseum]

The red DH88 ‘Grosvenor House’ which won the 1934 Air Race was restored to flying condition by our friends at The Shuttleworth Collection in Old Warden Airfield in Bedfordshire.

[@donwright3427]

Do any of the original ones survive

[@kenurquhart2061]

An alltime classic what a beauty. DE H aviland just had the ability to produce such winners. A few specs on enjine etc would be great. The racing green was a bit off hue.

[@timmeinschein9007]

I imagine another thing the DH88 did was put the name DeHavilland name into peoples' mind and would help them sell many, many airplanes!

[@kevinsands7639]

The museum is only up the road from me.

[@blxtothis]

“Loss Making”, thanks like comparing a racing car manufacturer building 3 winning examples of a model and not selling them,this magnificent machine was built for a single purpose and not for a mass market. Amy Johnson though, an absolute trailblazer!

[@drstrangelove4998]

The birth of the Mosquito!

[@dannycalley7777]

DHM .................where are the gun ports and hard points for the missiles and bombs ?

[@stephenhobbs1052]

You can see the Mosquito in this

[@johnnyappleseed6415]

I would like to go look at that example but, alas, I already have three of 'em parked in the garage right next to the '70 Hemi Cuda convertible and the mint V16 Caddy. Gotta go, all of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit models are phoning me...

[@kevinsands7639]

The RAF had a silver comet 8.

[@KB10GL]

And yet, the aircraft that filled both second & third place were off the shelf commercial airliners. Both had reliable radial engines, both already had retractable landing gear, both were monoplanes, both had enclosed cockpits, both were all metal, which is how almost all planes are made today. The second place winner, the DC2 of KLM was carrying six fare paying passengers, so flew a slightly longer route to remain within a reasonable distance from an alternate landing field. It would have finished only a short time after the winning Comet but for a severe storm over the last mountain range at night, so a precautionary landing & overnight stay was made. The true winners were the two airliners. Both flew home to continue their lives as revenue earning aircraft while the Comets were, in reality, playthings for the very wealthy which, apart from contributing to the advancement in wooden construction, did not really have any features that were not already in use on the "off the shelf" all metal airliners already in production. Very nice planes, good to see them around, but even the De Haviland Gypsy Six engines proved, ultimately, to not measure up in terms of performance & reliability, which is why their proposed use on the DHC1 Beaver was abandoned in favour of a US made Radial engine. It was this engine that made the Beaver a real aeroplane.