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DH 111 Comet nuclear bomber

The Ministry of Air issued the B35/46 specification for a nuclear bomber, the requirement that produced the "V-bomber" trio of Royal Air Force (RAF) nuclear-capable bombers - the Avro "Vulcan", the Handley Page "Victor", and the Vickers "Valliant". In response De Havilland proposed a Comet 1 derivative on May 27, 1948.

The DH 111 originated with the PR Comet, a high-altitude Photographic Reconnaissance project originally proposed in 1948. It featured different Ghost engines, narrowed fuselage, radar, range of 3,350 miles (5,400 km). The fuselage was narrower than the passenger Comet, the aircraft powered by more powerful Ghost DGT3s, a bulbous nose contained an H2S Mk IX radar and the crew of 4 men seated in a pressurized cockpit with a bubble canopy. The aircraft's narrow fuselage had a bulb-shaped nose with H2S Mk IX radar - a rare case of an aeroplane planned with odd lumps and bumps from Day One. The airtight cabin accomodated four crew members, while a large flash lamp supported night photography. The plane had a fuel capacity of 11,000 liters giving it a range of 5400 km. Although it did have a wholly new fuselage, the design managed the quite impressive feat of not actually being big enough to carry the H2S radar, all five crew or the specified bomb, let alone all three.

The contractorproposed providing the RAF with a bomber in the shortest possible time compared to competing clean-sheet designs. Technologies and design elements would all be based on proven technologies from the DH.106, instead of relying on all-new components. Based on the production "Comet 1" airliner, the DH.111 was to retain as much of the original passenger jet as possible. The fuselage was new, with slimmer lines which reduced drag and weight. The new aircraft featured additional internal fuel stores to increase estimated operational range. Pressurization would be in all crew spaces - four crewmen would operate the machine as opposed to the Specification's required five personnel. The wings retained their original design lines but were raised to a mid-mounted position along the sides of the fuselage. The wings housed the paired turbojet engines at the wing roots, two engines on each side, as on the civilian DH 106 Comet.

The nose accomodated the H2S Mk.IX airborne ground-scanning radar system, though the volume of this unit required the nose section be reworked with cheek "blisters" to better accommodate the system's width. The cockpit was positioned aft of the nose cone, with a framed, "bubble-style" canopy seated atop the fuselage. The tubular fuselage tapered elegantly towards the tail, which mounted a single vertical fin with upward-canted horizontal planes. Landing gear was a conventional (wholly retractable) tricycle undercarriage utilizing a double-wheeled nose leg and single-wheeled main landing gear legs. The nose leg retracted under the cockpit while the main legs were set just outboard of the outer-most turbojet engine installation.

Propulsion was 4 x de Havilland "Ghost" turbojet engines of 5,700lb of thrust each. Designers estimated the aircraft to have a maximum speed of 518 miles-per-hour while reaching an altitude of 50,000 feet out to a range of 4,280 miles. Internally, the bomber was to carry up to 18 x 1,000lb conventional drop bombs or 1 x 10,000lb nuclear weapon. However, concern arose that the bomb bay as initially designed could not accommodate the existing nuclear bombs, so a modification to the fuselage was proposed to keep the DH.111 design in the running.

The design work was readied for official review in May of 1948. In the end, Air Ministry officials elected not to pursue this somewhat promising, yet ultimately questionable, de Havilland bomber entry - this while the Royal Air Force was already awaiting the results of a handful of other more potential and possible higher-performing bombers in the pipeline. The Royal Aircraft Establishment seriously doubted the DH-111's ability to carry a significant military load due to weapons storage issues.

Thought was also given to keeping the DH.111 on hand as an "insurance policy" against these complicated aircraft in much the same way the Short "Sperrin" was retained (this aircraft is detailed elsewhere on this site) but this came to naught. and the Air Ministry considered it redundant compared to the V-Bombers: the program was canceled on October 22, 1948. The project wouldn't have matched the requirements of B.35/46 and with 5 projects under development, there was little value in proceeding even as insurance against problems with the Short B.14/46.