Witness History: Archive 2014 - The World's First Jet Airliner

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In July 1949, the British-built de Havilland Comet took off for the first time to become the world's first jet-propelled passenger plane. But a flaw in its construction would end up costing lives and leaving crash investigators baffled. Mike Ramsden was an apprentice aeronautical engineer who worked on the jetliner.

(Photo: Mike Ramsden (right) in 1955 with a second generation Comet at the de Havilland airfield at Hatfield, England)

Published on Tuesday, 29th July 2014.

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