The DeHavilland Comet was the world’s first jet airliner. After several catastrophic crashes it was grounded and redesigned with the new larger and faster Comet 3 first flying in 1954.

The Comet 1 entered service in May 1952 but lack of experience with pressurised airliners meant there was a critical weakness in the design which led to several fatal crashes in 1953 and 1954 and the Comet 1’s grounding.

Lessons learned from the crash investigations and the need for a larger and faster version of the Comet led to the development of the larger Comet 3 with more powerful engines.

It flew for the first time on 19 July 1954 but plans for Comet development were moving so quickly that only one Comet 3 was manufactured.

It was used for various test and demonstration flights.

This model represents G-ANLO in BEA livery as it appeared at the Farnborough Air Show in 1958.

Airfix 1/144 kit with Welsh Models decals completed by Leigh Edmonds in September 2022.