After seeing the majestic 'Grosvenor House' fly numerous times at The Shuttleworth Collection, I decided to attempt to capture it's beauty in this game... 8 times.

This is the 8th comet I've made, and by far the best. This version took me 37 hours to make (I messed up half way through, got annoyed and started again!)

I believe this to be the best (as in the most realistic) replica of the comet on Simpleplanes (that is untill one of you guys does a better job!)

Flying this beauty i is simple, she takes off fast, and is a delight to fly! LAnding gear up with VTOL and you can lock them in place with 8, front light is on 7. Landing can be a bit tricky so come in low and above 60mph, and when you are ready to touch the ground pitch up to touch the wheels to the ground, this plane is prone to tip stalls so try not to go below 60-7-mph whilst in flight as the plane will stall and go wingtip first into a downwards spin.

The plane has lots of fuel and I estimated it should last 2 and a half hours (irl)

HISTORY:

The Dh88 comet was designed specifically for the 1934 Macrobertson Air race from England to Australia 5 Comets were built, and 3 entered the race, these were:

Dh.88 G-ACSS 'Grosvenor house,
Dh:88 G-ASCP 'Black Magic' and
DH:88 G-ACSR (It had no name but many call it 'the green one')

G-ACSS, piloted by W.A. Scott and Tom Cambell, Won the race with a record time of 71 hours 18 seconds

G-ACSP, piloted by Jim Mollison and his wife Amy Johnson, Did not finish as they had to refuel at Jabalpur and found no aviation fuel, they then used fuel from a local bus company and this wrecked the engines forcing the two to retire from the race, they did however set a new England-India record.

G-ACSR, piloted by Owen Jones and Ken Waller, got lost near Baghdad, overshot it in the dark and landed in a village, they flew back to Baghdad the next day, the rest of the race they were troubled with mechanical problems but reached Melbourne in 4th place with a time of 108h 13 minuets, however their return time of 13.5 days set a new record.

After the race two more comets were built:

F-ANPZ was sold to the French goverment as a mail plane but was destroyed in a fire in 1940

G-ADEF 'Boomerang' was built for Cyril Nicholson and attempted a record London-Cape Town time but failed as the plane crashed (both pilots escaped)

Two aircraft survive,

G-ACSS After the race went to the RAF, it then went to DeHavilland and restored for the 1951 festival of Britain. It was acquired by the shuttleworth collection in 1965 and restored to flying condition (it flew again in 1987)

G-ACSP was sold to Portugal after the race and re registered as CS-AAJ 'Salazar' it was lost for 40 years but was found decaying in a hedge, it was returned to Great Britain and is now under restoration to flying condition in its original livery as 'Black Magic'


I am delighted to bring you this plane and I very much hope you...

ENJOY!