CRASHES OF JET AIRLINERS
Cause May Have Been Supersonic Vibration
(Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, August 30. Supersonic vibrations may have caused the Comet crashes, the aviation correspondent of the “News Chronicle" "Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory believe they have Solved the mystery of the crashes. They are working on an entirely new theory that the cause was unpredictable and unforeseeable—a product of the Jet age.” the correspondent said. , “If these .scientists are right, major modifications of the other larger versions of Comets will have to be made. In particular, jet engines would have to be moved further away from the fuselage,” he said. The correspondent said supersonic vibrations were set up by the jet exhaust rushing along the sides of the fuselage over the tailplane of Comet I at 1200 miles an hour (twice the speed of sound).
“If a piece of metal alloy is flexed continually in flight there comes a moment when without warning its crystalline structure changes. The metal spar breaks at once. Then the whole aircraft structure collapses,” he said.
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Press, Volume XC, Issue 27442, 31 August 1954, Page 11
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175CRASHES OF JET AIRLINERS Press, Volume XC, Issue 27442, 31 August 1954, Page 11
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