COMET - Chapter Four - Denial and Anger

 

I hope the grieving families of the 15 dead recovered from the ocean found some comfort in knowing that while awaiting burial their loved ones rested in peace in the dark little chapel of the fortress Chiesa di San Giacomo Maggiore, treated with reverence and honor. Except they were not left at peace. They could not be for the sake of the living. Each evening a handful of bodies were removed and carried to the hospital in Portoferrai on Elba's north shore.

Awaiting them there, scalpel in hand, was Antonio Fornari, the Professor of Pathology at Pisa University. It was Professor Fornari's job to learn from the dead, to discover what exactly had killed those privileged enough to have flown on the wonder of the modern world, the de Havilland Comet.

What Professor Fornari learned from the autopsies was that none of the bodies recovered from the sea had drown. None had either water nor smoke in their lungs. None had suffered shrapnel wounds. All 15 had ruptured lungs. Most also had suffered skull fractures, concurrent with their deaths. Professor Fornari was certain the combination of these two injuries were the primary cause of death in all cases. And he suspected the cause was an explosive decompression. But aviation medicine was beyond his training.

However, he did observe that all the victims had also suffered broken arms and legs. One body even had a leg entirely ripped off. But those injuries had been suffered postmortem. More, all of the victims had their clothing disturbed. Many were almost naked. One had only lost a shoe. And although none showed any signs of having been exposed to a fire, most bore marks similar to scalding on their backs. Three also had scalding marks on their face. One corpse had scalding marks on their chest and abdomen as well. In the end the Professor was unclear what this all meant.  

But after each autopsy, the body was made as presentable as possible and placed in a coffin before being returned to the chapel, for eventual delivery by British Overseas Airways Corporation and then to their families.

The next question was how to get the 70 to 80% of the Comet Yoke Peter, presently sitting on a barge in Porto Azzurro back to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farborough - about 40 miles west southwest of London. By ship it might take months. 

However there was one aircraft in 1954 which was capable of carrying the wreckage from Italy directly to England; the American built Fairchild C-119 (above),  popularly known as the “Flying Box Car”.  It's distinctive twin boom tail allowed easy loading and off loading from its 10 foot by 8 foot cargo hold. And it could carry a ton and a half of weight. The United States Air Force readily agreed to provide a “Box Car” for the transport flights back to England.

In the meantime, Arnold Hall, Director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, wanted to confirm Professor Fornari's suspicion about the rapid decompression. A model of the Comet's fuselage was constructed at Farnborough. Dummies sat in for the passengers. 

Then, as film camera's rolled, the fuselage was pumped full of air until the container burst. In the explosive decompression the dummies were thrown forward into the back of the seat in front of them, or slammed into the ceiling. This confirmed Professor Fornari 's findings.

As the bits and pieces of Yoke Peter arrived in Farnborough (above), some new discoveries were made. 

Shreds of the cabin carpet were found tangled in the interior of Yoke Peter's tail (above).  A rear fuselage panel bore the distinct imprint of a coin from some passenger's pocket. And paint smears on the rear fuselage had been left by the passenger seats. These were all more evidence of an explosive decompression. But what had caused it? A bomb? Or had one of the Ghost engines exploded, ripping apart the pressurized cabin? 

Clearly the fuselage had come apart in mid-air, but where had the destruction begun? Workers at Farnborough began to reassembled the skin of Yoke Peter on a wire frame. It was a technique which would be used on many future aircraft losses.

Those most closely associated with the Comet were stunned by the accidents, and the groundings – or at least they later claimed to be. With their future careers clearly tied to the success of the Comet, BOAC Captain, R. Clifford “Cliff” Alabaster would later admit, “Initially, we didn’t think it could be mechanical breakup. We had every confidence in the airplane.” And Captain Ernest “Rod” Rodley agreed. “It was a perfect airplane as far as we were concerned. We were absolutely puzzled by the problems.” And a generation of pilots matured in the shadow of RAF Bomber Command, who endured a 46% death rate from 1939 through 1945, would reflexively follow orders even when common sense said to do so was suicide.

The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Mr A. T. Lennox-Boyd (above, left), had so far resisted pulling the Comet's Air worthiness certificate, in part because de Havilland and BOAC as well as Air France and the South African Air Service ordered all Comets returned to London without passengers, and at reduced speeds and altitudes.  But Lennox-Boyd did seek the opinion of the Air Registration Board. This group had been formed in 1937, and was made up of 4 representatives of the airlines 4 representatives of insurance firms, one professional pilot and a representative of the general public, the last two appointed by the Secretary of State. 

The pilot on the board was Peter Duffrey (above),  and as he recalled, “We had a series of meetings at Heathrow. They were quite sure they'd covered what was going on.”

The board considered the possibility of sabotage, and recommended increasing security around the jets. In case one of the Ghost engine's turbines had exploded, they proposed putting a sheet of steel between it and the pressurized cabin. They recommended installing weather radar in future Comets, so thunderstorms could be avoided. 

They recommended modifications to the wings, to increase lift at low speeds. They even considered the possibility of a failure of the pressurized cabin, but the extensive mathematical calculations by the de Havilland engineers, and the generous margins for safety used, convinced the board to reject this as a possibility. In all, 60 modifications were recommended.

The financial pressures after 10 weeks were tremendous. Both de Havilland and BOAC were hemorrhaging money. Salaries of pilots, mechanics, ground crews and support staff continued, while payments on loans taken out to build the Comet continued to pile up.  And British technical capabilities were now being openly questioned around the world. Because of the bad publicity, future sales were slipping away. 

As the editor of one British aviation magazine showed, it was a situation ripe for justification. “The positive cause of the accident may never be found," the author reasoned, "though every effort will be made to do so. The results of the public inquiry will undoubtedly be interesting, but they are not likely to be conclusive...To this extent one agrees with the more vigorous shouts from the Press. Now that we have done everything that the technicians consider necessary to forestall trouble in the future – Let us get the Comet flying again!”

Pilot Peter Duffrey (above) explained, “I voted against, because I felt the modifications had not adequately discovered the reason for the explosion.”  It did not matter. By a single vote the board recommend to release the Comets. 

So, on 5 March, 1954 - 54 days after the sudden and violent deaths of the passengers and crew of Yoke Peter - Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill (above), writing as if the board vote had been unanimous, told his Minster that while, “.... no cause has yet been found that would satisfactorily account for the Elba disaster...everything humanly possible has been done to ensure that the desired standard of safety shall be maintained. This being so. the Board....recommends that Comet aircraft should return to normal operational use...”  And so did he.

All recommended modifications were made as quickly as possible. Perhaps too quickly. And three weeks later, on 23 March 1954, the first Comet, with a full load of enthusiastic paying passengers, lifted off from London.  Sir Miles Thomas, Chairman of the British Overseas Airways Corporation, explained, "We obviously wouldn't be flying the Comet with passengers if we weren't satisfied conditions were suitable." 

And two weeks later, on Thursday, 8 April, 1954, Comet Yoke Yoke, carrying 14 passengers and 7 crew members, disappeared 25 minutes after taking off from Rome.  Decades later, Peter Duffrey would admit, “I still do not forgive those who restarted the services...”  The board members had been gambling with the lives of the crew and passengers. And as Duffrey noted, "I was one of the chits" they were gambling with.

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