De Havilland DH.88 Comet
| DH.88 Comet | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| G-ACSS Grosvenor House during a display at the Shuttleworth Collection in September 2014 | |
| Role | Racing aircraft |
| Manufacturer | de Havilland |
| Designer | A. E. Hagg |
| First flight | 1934 |
| Status | Two in restoration |
| Number built | 5 |
The de Havilland DH.88 Comet was a British twin-engined aircraft designed for the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race. Three examples took part in the race and one of them won. The type set many aviation records during and afterwards some were used as mail planes.
The MacRobertson International Air Race was a race from England to Melbourne held in October 1934 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the State of Victoria. Sponsored by Macpherson Robertson, an Australian confectionary manufacturer, the race was announced in 1933. Despite previous British air racing successes, culminating in 1931 in the outright winning of the Schneider Trophy, there was no British aeroplane capable of putting up a challenge over the MacRobertson course with its long overland stages. Geoffrey de Havilland was determined that the race should be won by a British aircraft. It was estimated that development of a suitable aircraft would cost around £50,000 Since there was no prospect of recouping this through a large production run and equally it was not considered likely that there would be anybody prepared to purchase an example at anything approaching its true cost, the De Havilland board therefore decided to subsidise the project, hoping that it would both add to the company's prestige and also provide benefits resulting from the research involved.
Accordingly, it was announced that an aircraft would be sold for £5,000 (approximately equivalent to £320,127 in 2015, when adjusted for inflation) to anybody placing an order before 28 February, with delivery guaranteed in September. Three aircraft were ordered one by Jim Mollison, to be flown by himself and his wife Amy; one by the racing motorist Bernard Rubin; and a third by A. O. Edwards, the managing director of the Grosvenor House hotel.
De Havilland initially intended to produce a twin-engined development of the DH.71. However the design team, led by A. E. Hagg, soon determined to produce a more innovative design, a cantilever monoplane with an enclosed cockpit, retractable undercarriage and flaps. It was also decided that in order to achieve take-off at a high all-up weight combined with a satisfactory high-speed cruise it would be necessary to fit variable-pitch propellers.
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