The Comet 3 incorporated a 15ft 5in (4-7m) fuselage stretch and was powered by four Rolls-Royce Avon 502 turbojets in place of the Comet Is de Havilland Ghosts. The new variant was also fitted with wing-mounted pinion fuel tanks at two-thirds span, and made its first flight, at Hatfield in the hands of John Cunningham, on July 19, 1954.

The sole Comet 3 to fly, G-ANLO - essentially a “stretched” version of the Comet 2 with more powerful Rolls-Royce Avon engines - made its first flight on July 19, 1954, and is seen here being hauled around at the 1957 SBAC show by test pilots John Cunningham and Peter Bugge. Colourisation by RICHARD J. MOLLOY

With the famous Harbour Bridge in the background, G-ANLO makes a tour of Sydney, where it arrived on Sunday, December 4, to a virtual riot, such was the Australian public’s enthusiasm to see the British jetliner. When the Comet finally set down at Kingsford Smith Airport, where it is seen.

The shape of things to come? The minimal but stylish BOAC scheme making the aircraft look sleek and ultra-modern, G-ANLO comes in to land with full flap deployed at the 1957 SBAC show at Farnborough. The Comet 3 was “stretched” by some 15ft 5in (4·7m) and maximum accommodation was increased to 78 from the Comet 2’s 44.

The crowd surged, creating headaches for the airport staff, although Cunningham described the welcome as the most fantastic he’d ever seen.

If it’s Saturday it must be Bombay - with a Burmah-Shell refuelling truck alongside, G-ANLO is prepared at the former RAF base at Santacruz for its onward journey to Singapore.

The Comet 3 is prepared for another test flight by groundcrew. In December 1955 G-ANLO was used to undertake a whistle-stop global publicity tour in order to bolster faith in the Comet after the tragic series of Comet 1 crashes the previous year.

The sole flying de Havilland Comet 3, G-ANLO, arrives to a suitably Hawaiian reception at Honolulu on December 13, 1955. The majority of the photographs presented here are from the de Havilland Collection, part of the BAE Systems archive at Farnborough. The author and Editor would like to thank Trevor Friend and Barry Guess at the archive for their invaluable help with the preparation of this article.

Alohaaah de Havilland! Comet 3 G-ANLO is given a traditional welcome in Honolulu during its record-setting promotional world tour in December 1955.

With a flower lei presented to the Comet on its arrival at Honolulu on December 13, Comet crew member Harold Davies (far right) gets into the spirit of the occasion; his colleague, Mr R. V. Ablett, seems rather less inclined to do so. No major technical snags were encountered at Hawaii and the Comet stayed for a few days before heading off across the Pacific for Canada’s west coast.

The Comet at Honolulu Airport, with the distinctive modernist hospital, the Tripier Army Medical Centre, on the slopes of Moanalua Ridge visible in the background.

"Комета"4 авиакомпании BOAC в стандартной окраске.

West meets East - BOAC Comet 4 G-APDD and Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-104 CCCP-42493 go head to head in July 1962. The Soviet jetliner had made its first flight in June 1955, and, in the wake of the grounding of the Comet after the tragic series of crashes, the Tu-104 was the world’s sole jet-powered airliner operating commercial routes.

BOAC was the first airline to fly the Comet and went on to operate a number of different variants. This BOAC Comet 2 (Comet 4 ???) was pictured at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on June 11, 1961, as it was about to fly back to London.

Former Mexicana 4C XA-NAR is preserved at Everett, Washington State, in BOAC colours, having arrived there in January 1980.

With Air France ordering Caravelle short-haul jetliners in 1956, BEA had little choice but to order a fleet of six (upgraded to seven) de Havilland Comet 4Bs in April 1958. The stretched 99-passenger variant entered BEA service in November 1959, initially as a stopgap until the Trident could take over. This BEA Comet 4B is seen being loaded in July 1960.

This Comet 4C, XA-NAR, was delivered to Mexicans in 1962 and flew with the airline for ten years. Currently being restored by the Museum of Flight in Seattle, the airliner wears the livery of BOAC, though it never actually operated for the British carrier.

Компания "Middle East Airlines" получила четыре лайнера Comet 4C с опционом на пятую машину. Позднее компания взяла в лизинг два Comet 4C для замены трех машин, потерянных в 1968 году при ударе израильского спецназа по аэропорту Бейрута.

Поставленные авиакомпании "Sudan Airways" 13 ноября 1962 года, Comet 4C использовались на регулярной линии Каир - Афины - Рим - Лондон. В начале 1970-х годов эти лайнеры заменили на Boeing 707.

Самолет XR397 был построен как Comet C.Mk 4 для британских ВВС и оснащен 94 креслами, установленными спиной по полету. Это был последний из пяти C.Mk 4 (4C), использовавшихся 216-й эскадрильей с базы Линхем.

GORDON BAIN’S colour plate of Canopus was taken from an ETPS Hawk flying from Boscombe Down on July 9 this year. The pilot of the Comet 4C was Flt Lt Bill Ogle.

The only Comet likely to fly again is the ex-Boscombe Down Mk 4C, which is presently at Bruntingthorpe.

Этот Comet 4C (XS235) служил в DTEO (Defence & Test Evaluation Organisation) в Боскомб Даун. Его последний полет состоялся 30 октября 1998 года, и ныне самолет находится в авиационном музее в Брантингтропе, иногда совершая пробные рулежки.

Farnborough's last Comet was the Mk 4 XV814 that made its last flight on January 28, 1993 when it was relocated to Boscombe Down to be used as a spares source for XS235. First flown on December 11, 1958, this aircraft was originally in service with BOAC as G-APDF, and after sale to the Ministry of Technology during 1966 the aircraft underwent rework and was delivered to RAE during 1968. During 1971 a Nimrod-style fin was added, and it received the fin tip pod during 1986, housing an SHF Satcom fit. This classic study from the early 1980s, shows the aesthetic lines of the Comet to good advantage, which also includes the under fuselage radio and navigation equipment pod. At the time of its withdrawal from service, XV814 had amassed over 27,000 flying hours.

‘Canopus’ XS235, a Series 4C delivered to the Blind Landing Experimental Unit at Thurleigh on December 2, 1963, and later used by A&AEE Boscombe Down. It made the last flight by a Comet on October 30, 1997, into Bruntingthorpe.