British Overseas Airways Corporation Archives

DE HAVILLAND COMET 1: THE FIRST JET AIRLINER FLIGHT TO CEYLON, IN 1952 Compiled by Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde, SLAF (Retd) Based on written material and pictures supplied by Roger Thiedeman and Capt Dhamseth Pallawela In 1952, less than 40 years since the birth of aviation in Ceylon/Sri Lanka, another significant milestone was reached. On Wednesday the 21st of May that year the first jet-powered airliner to arrive in Ceylon landed at Ratmalana Airport. The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) de Havilland D.H.106 Comet 1, an example of the world’s first jetliner, was following in the ‘vapour trails’ laid nearly 14 months earlier by the first jet-propelled aircraft of any type to touchdown on Lankan soil – five de Havilland Vampire and two Gloster Meteor fighter-jets of Britain’s Royal Air Force (see RAFOA e-Doc ‘First Jet Aircraft to Land in Sri Lanka’). The Comet’s pioneering visit to Ceylon was one ...