The Comet Cocktail was created in 1952 by Eddie “King Cocktail” Clarke at the Albany Club in London, England and was made to honour the first ever jet aircraft to fly a commercial route, the British made de Havilland DH 106 Comet.  

The prototype first flew on 27 July 1949 and the very same aircraft undertook the first commercial route - London to Johannesburg for BOAC on 2 May 1952.

In this post-World War 2 era, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) was in its infancy – and was established by the Convention on International Civil Aviation (also known as the Chicago Convention), which was signed by 52 States at the end of the Chicago Conference on 7 December 1944. It entered into force on 4 April 1947, which also marks the year an agreement between the United Nations (UN) and ICAO gave recognition to ICAO as a specialised agency, and it officially became part of the UN family of organisations.

The Chicago Convention sought to standardise activities in the promulgation of, and dissemination of, aeronautical information, and in the late 1940s to early 1950s the ICAO Council adopted Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS) relating to Air Traffic Services, Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks, Facilitation of International Air Transport, Procedures for Air Navigation Services, Aerodromes and more. 

These triumphs for modern international technical and regulatory cooperation paved the way for greater efficiency, safety, standardisation and clarity in international air transportation, including faster air services between continents by jet, as the Comet promised. 

One such example of regulatory clarity was in relation to the question of the national laws applicable to an aircraft, both while it is on the ground, and while it is in the air. This is crucial to the question of the service of alcohol onboard, and whether you can even order a Comet cocktail. The national laws applicable on the ground extend into the aircraft until the last external door is closed, and then the laws of the state of registry of the aircraft apply to the aircraft inflight, including the activities onboard. While the Chicago Convention clarified the jurisdiction of the state of registry over an aircraft, it didn’t define a precise point at which the jurisdiction of a state over activities in the aircraft began and ended. This was in the Convention on offences and certain other acts committed on board aircraft (also known as the Tokyo Convention), which was signed on 14 September 1963 and entered into force on 4 December 1969. If and exactly when you can order a Comet cocktail may depend on whether the airline has a licence for service of alcohol from the relevant nation and the conditions of the licence.

While the Comet was an incredible achievement, its design flaws began to surface soon after it entered commercial service. These issues were what ultimately led to its commercial failure. The first signs of trouble emerged when, in 1953, a Comet crashed on a flight from Rome to London. This was followed by a series of similar crashes. Between 1953 and 1954, two more Comets suffered catastrophic failures, with the aircraft breaking apart in mid-air. These events shook confidence in the aircraft and led to an investigation into the causes of the crashes. Investigators discovered that the Comet’s fuselage design, specifically the square windows, contributed to a phenomenon called ‘metal fatigue’. These square windows, unlike the more rounded ones that are common today, concentrated stress around the corners, leading to the development of tiny cracks that spread under repeated pressurisation cycles (such as during taking off and landing).

Following the crashes and investigation, the Comet fleet was grounded in 1954. The aircraft was temporarily removed from service while a redesign was implemented to address the issues. A redesigned Comet 4, introduced in 1958, featured rounder windows, a strengthened fuselage, and other changes to address the fatigue problems. However, the damage had been done in terms of the aircraft's reputation and confidence from both airlines and passengers.

Nevertheless, other commercial jet aircraft, like the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, were being developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Such jets were faster, more powerful, and could carry more passengers than their propeller-driven predecessors.  These aircraft were more reliable, better designed, and they also benefitted from the experience of learning from the Comet’s mistakes.

Joseph Wheeler and Duncan Blake