Continuing the re/evolution thread.
Interesting to note that today 19th October is the anniversary of the third crash of the DeHavilland Comet in 1954 – the one where subsequent investigations positively identified metal-fatigue as a result of detail design flaws as a limiting factor in aerospace and other metal structure designs.
Equally interesting to note is how far we’ve evolved since the first flight of the Comet in 1952. Boeing (and the whole aviation transport industry) benefit from the failures at the bleeding edge.
And that’s not just the design and structural integrity of the aircraft. Just look at those figures for what was considered pushing the envelope of jet-powered intercontinental travel. London to Jo’burg in 23 hours with 5 stops and a change of crew.