De Havilland Comet - Aircraft On Display

Aircraft On Display

Since retirement, three early-generation Comet airframes have survived in museum collections. The only complete remaining Comet 1, a Comet 1XB with the registration G-APAS, is displayed at the RAF Museum Cosford. While painted in BOAC colours, it never flew for the airline, having been first delivered to Air France and then to the Ministry of Supply after conversion to 1XB standard; this aircraft also served with the RAF as XM823. The sole surviving Comet fuselage with the original square-shaped windows, part of a Comet 1A registered F-BGNX, is undergoing restoration at the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre in Hertfordshire, England. A Comet C2 Sagittarius with serial XK699, later maintenance serial 7971M, has been on display at the gate of RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, England since 1987. In 2012, with the planned closure of RAF Lyneham, the aircraft was slated to be dismantled and shipped to the RAF Museum Cosford where it will be re-assembled for display.

Seven complete Comet 4s are housed in museum collections. The Imperial War Museum Duxford has a Comet 4 (G-APDB), originally in Dan-Air colours as part of its Flight Line Display, and later in BOAC livery at its AirSpace building. A Comet 4B (G-APYD) is stored in a facility at the Science Museum at Wroughton in Wiltshire, England. Comet 4Cs are exhibited at the Flugausstellung Leo Junior at Hermeskeil, Germany (G-BDIW), the Museum of Flight near Seattle, Washington (N888WA), the National Museum of Flight near Edinburgh, Scotland (G-BDIX), and the Parque Zoológico Irapuato in Guanajuato, Mexico (N777WA).

The last Comet to fly, Comet 4C Canopus (XS235), is kept in running condition at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, where fast taxi runs are regularly conducted. Since the 2000s, various parties have proposed restoring Canopus, which is maintained by a staff of volunteers, to airworthy, fully flight-capable condition. The Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome also displays a related Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR2 aircraft.