Jet Age
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For other uses, see Jet Age (disambiguation).
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The introduction of the Concorde supersonic transport (SST) airliner to regular service in 1976 was expected to bring similar social changes, but the aircraft never found commercial success. After several years of service, a fatal crash near Paris in July, 2000 and other factors eventually caused Concorde flights to be discontinued in 2003. This was the only loss of an SST in civilian service. The only other SST to enter service was the Soviet Tu-144. The aircraft saw limited passenger service within Russia but proved expensive to operate and maintain and was retired from civilian service in 1978, though it was later used for research flights by NASA. McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed and Boeing were three US manufacturers that had originally planned to develop SSTs since the 1960s, but these projects were abandoned for various developmental problems, cost, and other practical reasons.
Aviation history
The de Havilland Comet was the first jet airliner to fly (1949), the first in service (1952), and the first to offer a regular jet-powered transatlantic service (1958). One hundred and fourteen of all versions were built but the Comet 1 had serious design problems, and out of nine original aircraft, four crashed (one at takeoff and three broke up in flight), which grounded the entire fleet. The Comet 4 solved these problems but the program was overtaken by the Boeing 707 on the trans-Atlantic run. The Comet 4 was developed into the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod which retired in June 2011. The first successful jet-powered airliner was the Tupolev Tu-104.The first five jet airliners to fly were:
- The UK de Havilland Comet, 1949
- The Canadian Avro Jetliner, later in 1949
- The French Sud Aviation Caravelle, 1955
- The Soviet/Russian Tupolev Tu-104, 1955
- The US Boeing 707, 1957
- The UK de Havilland Comet, 1952
- The Soviet/Russian Tupolev Tu-104, 1956
- The US Boeing 707, 1958
- The French Sud Aviation Caravelle, 1959
- The US Douglas DC-8, 1959
Following the grounding of the Comet 1, the Tu-104 became the first jet airliner to provide a sustained service and it was the only jet airliner in operation between 1956 and 1958 (when the Comet 4 and Boeing 707 entered service). The plane was operated by Aeroflot (from 1956) and Czech Airlines ČSA (from 1957). ČSA became the first airline in the world to fly jet-only routes (using the Tu-104A).
The first western jet airliner with significant commercial success was the Boeing 707. It began service on the New York to London route in 1958, the first year that more trans-Atlantic passengers traveled by air than by ship. The Boeing 747, the 'Jumbo jet', was the first widebody aircraft, reducing the cost of flying and further accelerating the jet age.
Use of the term
The term "jet age" was first coined in the late 1940s, before the appearance of any jet airliners. At the time, the only jet-powered aircraft were military types, most of which were fighter designs. The expression reflects the recognition that the jet engine had effected, or would soon, a profound change in aeronautics and aviation. In the history of military aviation, the "jet age" began in 1944, during World War II, when the first jet fighters and bombers entered service whereas for commercial aviation the "jet age" began in the late 1950s.See also
References
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Jet Age
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