DH.88 Comet Racer "Black Magic"

"DH.88 Comet", created as an exhibition or experimental aircraft, was one of the last high-performance aircraft built entirely of wood. He became popular by winning a race from the United Kingdom to Australia in 1934, completing the journey in almost 71 hours of flight. In addition, it served as the base for the "DH.98 Mosquito", a popular twin-engine fighter in World War II, with which the mixed wood-steel construction was tried out, motivated by the shortage of raw materials during the war.

The Comet, number 88 in the design sequence of the British company De Havilland, was one of the most elegant competition apparatuses of all time and was conceived to take part in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the State of Victoria (Australia), in 1934.

De Havilland decided to build a small racing plane to participate in the MacPherson Robertson race, which was being held to celebrate the centenary of the city of Melbourne. The race would take place between London and Melbourne and was scheduled for October 20, leaving De Havilland less than nine months to design, build and test the new device, made of wood and powered by 2 Gipsy Six engines, with 2 tandem crew and dual controls. Only 5 copies were made: three for the race and another two apart.

No. 19, with G-ACSR registration and painted in dark green, was the first of the three devices in the initial order that made its first flight on September 8, just 6 weeks before the race. De Havilland realized that the Comet had to be touched up, as it was a very unstable, slow and very dangerous aircraft. He finished third in the race after suffering problems with his engines. Later it was sold to France, who used it for mail delivery. It was destroyed in the fire in his hangar in 1940. The other 2 aircraft would make their test flights soon after.

No. 34, with G-ACSS registration and painted in red, named "Grosvenor House", was the winner of the race achieving a time of 70 hours, 54 minutes and 18 seconds, not without having been on the verge of leaving several times. De Havilland modified the engines for more power, but eventually the pressure increased in such a way that the engines exploded. Despite this problem, however, he arrived in Melbourne with one of the mid-gas engines. This restored device can be seen in the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Airfield in Bedfordshire, UK.

No. 63, with G-ACSP registration and painted black, named "Black Magic", had to be removed with engine problems. Its crew members Jim and Amy Mollison made an impeccable journey to Baghdad and set a new record from England to India, but the problems came when the landing gear was unable to retract and after returning to Karachi for repairs, they had to be delayed again due to an inability to navigate at night. Other problems followed when they made an unscheduled refueling stop without finding aviation fuel and after an engine oil pipe broke. It is undergoing restoration at Derby Airfield, Egginton, UK.

Today, the only DH.88 Comets that fly are replicas. There are 3 of these replicas in the world.