As any aviation enthusiast will tell you, the name “de Havilland” is synonymous with the history of the jet engine. The British de Havilland Comet was the first of its kind — a jet airliner that would revolutionize air travel and pave the way for other airliners to follow. Its first prototype launched in 1949, according to the Royal Air Force Museum. After two disasters, the result of structrual deficiencies, the Comet 1 was retired.
But the Soviet Union unleashed its own jet airliner: the Tupolev TU-104. The body of a TU-16, another Soviet bomber, was adapted to add more passenger space inside, and the aircraft switched from a military to a commercial capacity.
In authorities’ zeal to put the Soviet stamp on the history of global jet travel, about 10,000 staff members worked on the plane, and its flight debut occurred several weeks earlier than originally intended. This seemed to mean, though, that testing wasn’t as rigorous as it could have been, and the aircraft was plagued by problems as a result.
