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  de Havilland D.H.88 Comet 'Grosvenor House'

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Winner of the 1934 MacRobertson air race between England and Australia



ORIGINAL FILE:



(c) 1997 Doe & Joe Aircraft Unlimited & Martin Pengelly

Freeware (see further copyright notes below)

Visual model & artwork      : Stefan 'Doe' Doebereiner

Flight model                : Joe Ng

Drawings, photos, documents : Martin Pengelly



Modified for FS2000 by Gerard Bonneke as DH88_2YK



See also DH882YK_panel.zip for a modified panel and Mag1.zip for De Havilland Gypsy Major 1 soundfiles by Mike Hambly



Original text included in DH88.ZIP for FS5:



History:

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In 1934 the Australian candy magnate Macpherson Robertson put up a purse

of Australian Pounds 15,000 for an air race between London and Melbourne, to commemorate

the centenary of the founding of the State of Victoria. The 11,323 miles

of the MacRobertson race, as it became known, were to be flown in six legs.

Prizes would be awarded for the winners and runner-ups in the speed and

handicap classes.



At that time, there was no British plane available which was able to

compete against the far superior American aircraft. The de Havilland

company took the challenge. Only nine months before the race Geoff de

Havilland and his chief designer Arthur Hagg (of Moth fame) proposed

to construct a high-speed, long-endurance racer especially for the

MacRobertson race, pricing it at œ5,000 for potential competitors.

Immediately three orders came in, by the pilot couple Jim and Amy

Mollison, by the racing driver Bernard Rubin, and by Arthur O. Edwards,

director of London's Grosvenor House hotel.



"This Comet had to be ready for the day of the race or all the work and

time and money we had put into them would be wasted, I don't think any

of us would care to live again through the weeks of agony that preceded

the start of the race", recalled Geoffrey de Havilland later.

Indeed, constructing, building, and testing a high-performance aircraft

in only nine months was a nearly impossible task. Of light-weight all-wood

construction, the racer was to be powered by two 230-hp Gipsy Six R engines

in streamlined nacelles, giving it a max cruising speed well above 200 mph.

The projected range of 2,925 miles was enabled by a large tank which had to

be installed in the fuselage since the wings were razor-sharp for minimized

drag. Absolute necessities were variable-pitch propellers, flaps, and retrac-

table gear - all of them innovations for British aircraft of this era.



Despite the difficulties, the first Comet flew on 8 Sept 1934, only six

weeks before the race. The sleek racer exceeded all expectations, but it

was a beast to fly. The poor visibility, due to the streamlined cockpit

and above all due to the long fuel-filled nose, made the Comet difficult

to take off and land. Even in level flight a constant slight weave was

necessary since there was no view ahead. Stewart Waring, the last pilot

(up to now) who flew the Comet, called her a "demanding lady".



1934, October 20, early morning, the day of the greatest air race in

aviation history. 20 planes lined up at the Royal Air Force Base Milden-



hall. Among them were the three Comets, looking among the others as

futuristic as space rockets - the black-and-golden G-ACSP 'Black Magic'

of the Mollisons, Rubin's British-racing-green G-ACSR piloted by Owen

Cathcart-Jones and Ken Waller since Rubin itself was sick, and the red-

white G-ACSS 'Grosvenor House' piloted by Charles Scott and Tom Campbell-

Black. The experienced Mollisons were the favourites, with 1/12 odds given

by the British bookmakers - but the odds at the bookmakers were also 1/12

that they would not survive the race.



On the first leg 'Black Magic' and 'Grosvenor House' flew nonstop to

Baghdad, while the green G-ACSR had to depart to Persia due to problems

with the weather and the compass. The Dutch DC-2 'Uiver' took the route

Rome, Athens, and Baghdad. 'Black Magic' flew into Baghdad hours ahead

of the others, and took off immediately for Karachi. Reaching Karachi,

the Mollisons were told that Scott and Black in the 'Grosvenor House'

were closing on them. On take-off the gear of 'Black Magic' did not

retract, so the Mollisons were forced to return to Karachi for repairs,

while 'Grosvenor House', 'Uiver', Geysendorfer's Panderjager, and Roscoe

Turner's Boeing passed them. Meanwhile New Zealands entry, a Fairey Fox

bomber hopelessely behind the field, crashed in the mountains of Italy,

killing both pilots.



'Grosvenor House' landed in Allahabad first and took off for Singapore.

Over the Bay of Bengal they ran into a raging storm, but they made it

into Singapore with heavy black smoke pouring from both exhausts, risking

death landing on the rain-softened field. Meanwhile 'Black Magic' withdrew

in Allahabad with a seized piston. The KLM DC-2 'Uiver' and Turner's Boeing

were chasing the leading Comet, followed by Cathcart-Jones and Waller in

the third Comet.



Scott and Black were pushing their engines to the limits. Over the Timor

Sea the port engine failed, and they reached Darwin in Australia limping

on only one engine, badly leaking oil. Makeshift repairs restored enough

power in the port engine for take-off. The ailing Comet made it into

Charleville, where two hours were lost while further repairs were made on

the sick engine. The last leg to Melbourne was an "all-out" effort, but

the crippled 'Grosvenor House' and its crew were the first to land in Mel-

bourne, finishing the race in the incredible time of 70 hours, 54 minutes,

and 18 seconds. The next day the second plane arrived, the dutch 'Uiver',

followed by Turner's Boeing. Cathcart-Jones and Waller came in forth,

immediately returning to England with film material and newspapers

documenting the event.

'Grosvenor House' was first both in the speed and in the handicap section,

but rules forbade awarding both prices to the same plane. So the 'Grosvenor

House' G-ACSS was declared overall winner and was awarded the speed trophy.

The handicap price was given to the DC-2 crew.



What happened to the Comets?

'Black Magic' was sold to the Portuguese Government and renamed 'Salazar'.

It is not known what happened to her after 1937, but in 1980 some parts of

her were discovered in a barn in Portugal.

Rubin's G-ACSR, renamed 'Reine Astrid', was sold to France. With the new

registration 'F-ANPY' it was used for further record flights, among them

the famous flights between Paris and Dakar of Jean Mermoz. The Comet design

was copied closely for the French express mail plane Caudron C.641 Typhon.

After the German occupation of France, F-ANPY was destroyed in a hangar

fire at Istres, in 1940.

Apart from the three MacRobertson racers, two other Comets were built.

One was also sold to France. Registrated as F-ANPZ, it shared F-ANPY's

fate at Istres. The fifth Comet was bought in 1935 by former 'Grosvenor

House' pilot Tom Campbell-Black who named her 'Boomerang'. Registrated

as G-ADEF and piloted by Campbell-Black and Gordon McArthur, 'Boomerang'

started at Hatfield in September 1935 for an attempt to break the out-and-

back record between England and Cape Town, South Africa. After encountering

very severe weather, 'Boomerang's crew were forced to bail out over North

Africa, and the Comet crashed and exploded in the desert.



G-ACSS 'Grosvenor House' is the only surviving Comet. It was tested by

the British Air Ministry as a potential war plane, but its difficult

handling characteristics forbade that. At least the design of the Comet

influenced the development of the famous light bomber de Havilland Mosquito.

In 1936 G-ACSS was damaged in a landing accident and sold for œ250 as scrap.

Restored by Essex Aero works at Gravesend, Arthur Clouston flew her under

the names 'The Orphan', 'The Burberry', and 'Australian Anniversary' to new

fame, setting several long-distance speed records. Again damaged in 1938,

G-ACSS spent the war in the open at Gravesend. After the war, the empty

hulk of G-ACSS, repainted in the original 'Grosvenor House' livery, was

exhibited at the 1950 Festival of Britain. Later it was again used as a

showpiece, a static exhibit at the de Havilland Engine Company in Leavesden,

"a beautiful butterfly pinned to the ground" (Stewart Waring).

Few people could have imagined then that the remains of this beautiful racer

once would cruise the air again.



In 1965 G-ACSS was handed over to the Shuttleworth collection, the world's

largest collection of historic aircraft, as a static exhibit. In 1976

work began to restore the Comet to airworthiness, sponsored by The Transport

Trust and Hawker Siddeley Aviation. It was the longest and most difficult

restoration in aviation history, but on May 17th, 1987, 'Grosvenor House'

took off from Hatfield for her first flight after nearly fifty years.

It was considered too risky to fly the invaluable plane from Shuttleworth's

own airfield at Old Warden, so 'Grosvenor House' stayed stationed at the

larger airstrip at Hatfield. Shuttleworth pilots George Ellis, Angus

McVittie, and Stewart Waring flew her in the following years on display

flights, always sure to be the highlight of every airshow. After the

closure of Hatfield in 1993, the decision was made to ground 'Grosvenor

House' again, so that the "original, priceless 'SS would be preserved

forever, free from the risk of accident or damage" (Stewart Waring).

Today 'Grosvenor House' is on display at Old Warden, as airworthy but

'taxi-only' exhibit. Many of those who experienced the unforgettable sight

of this fascinating plane in flight, do not understand the decision to

ground her. Well, as a small consolation for them, at least there is a

replica of 'Grosvenor House' flying in California.





Visual model:

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The visual model is based on 3D drawings and photos of the 'Grosvenor

House'. Since 1934 the original was modified slightly; the most apparent

alteration was the fitting of a tailwheel instead of a tailspur. We tried

to model the Comet as it appeared at the time of the race, in 1934.



The AF5 model is very close to AF5's internal complexity limit. Therefore

we were forced to skip some minor details, like detailed exhausts and

position lights. To minimize the number of required parts and at the same

time avoiding 'flashing' parts due to non-planar parts in components,

we sometimes had to edit the parts .AFP files directly, to avoid the

the 0.1 feet rounding of AF5. Therefore distributing the AFX file would

be of not much use since packing the parts into an .AFX file would

reintroduce the rounding, resulting in disappearing parts.





Flying the Comet:

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Take-off:

Set flaps to 1st position, apply full throttle.

Without stick input, tail up at 60 KTAS. Slight forward stick at this

point to further raise the tail.

At 84-85 KTAS apply moderate back pressure to climb out, retract LG as

soon as positive rate of climb is achieved. The DH 88 doesn't climb like a

bat out of hell (published initial rate of climb is about 900'/min).

Retract flaps at pilot's discretion.



Landing:

Slow down to 105 KTAS, deploy landing gear and set flaps to 2nd position.

Give yourself plenty of time to stabilize airspeed at this approach

configuration.

Set flaps to 3rd position and start descent at 500'/min, adjust power so

as to reach 300' AGL at 83 KTAS minimum, fly this speed until 100' AGL.

Reduce rate of descent and speed to 77 KTAS and fly this speed to the runway.

When you hear the tires chirp, chop power to idle and as airspeed bleeds off,

the plane will settle down.

Do not use brakes, the plane will flip over. To slow down on the runway,

use the spoilers - but don't do that in the air!



Acknowledgements:

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Drawings, pictures, data, and historical information of and about the

Comet were taken from many different sources. Especially valuable was an

article by Stewart Waring (the last pilot who flew the 'Grosvenor House'),

appearing in the November, 1994 issue of the English 'Pilots' magazine.

Parts of the history told here are citations from this article. A valuable

source about the MacRobertson race were the city archives of Corinth, home

town of Roscoe Turner.

Most of the information was located and provided by Martin Pengelly.





Copyright notice:

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