De Havilland DH.88 Comet (G-ACSS)

Photograph: De Havilland DH.88 Comet (G-ACSS) taken by Paul Cremin on 30 May 2026 at the Shuttleworth Wings and Wheels Air Show, taken with a Canon EOS 7D Mk II and a Canon 100–400mm zoom lens, f/11, 1/200 sec, ISO 100.

The de Havilland DH.88 Comet (registration G-ACSS), famously named "Grosvenor House", is one of the most celebrated aircraft in British aviation history. Built in just nine months by the de Havilland Aircraft Company, this twin-engine, stressed-skin wooden masterpiece was designed for a single purpose: to win the gruelling 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from England to Australia. Today, it survives as a legendary, near-century-old crown jewel of The Shuttleworth Collection in Bedfordshire.

Sponsored by Arthur Edwards, the managing director of London's Grosvenor House Hotel, the aircraft was painted a striking scarlet red and emblazoned with the hotel's name. On 20 October 1934, pilots C.W.A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black took off from RAF Mildenhall alongside 19 other competitors.

The flight across 11,300 miles was an endurance test plagued by severe weather over the Bay of Bengal and a critical drop in port engine oil pressure over the Timor Sea. Despite flying the final legs with a throttled-back engine, the duo crossed the finish line at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on 23 October. They achieved outright victory with an official time of 70 hours, 54 minutes, and 18 seconds, setting a new world record.

Following its historic victory, the aircraft took on several identities. The Air Ministry purchased the Comet for trial flights at RAF Martlesham Heath. Unused to its high landing speeds, RAF pilots suffered a heavy landing accident, and the military subsequently condemned the airframe to be sold for scrap.

Rescued from the scrapheap by Frederick Tasker, the aircraft was rebuilt by Essex Aero Ltd. with upgraded Gipsy Six Series II engines. Flying unsponsored as "The Orphan", pilot Arthur Clouston flew it to a 4th-place finish in the 1937 Damascus Air Race.

Re-named through a new sponsorship deal, the Comet broke further records under Clouston's hands, notably setting blistering out-and-back times to Cape Town and completing an astonishing England-to-New Zealand round trip in March 1938 in just under 11 days.

The Comet spent World War II in storage before being statically restored to hang from the roof at the 1951 Festival of Britain. In 1965, the aircraft was gifted to The Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden, which set out on a monumental task to return the pioneer back to airworthy condition. Supported by British Aerospace and numerous volunteers, a comprehensive 15-year engineering project culminated in the Comet's triumphant return to the skies in May 1987, flying for the first time in 49 years.

The DH.88 has always possessed notoriously difficult handling characteristics on land. Its landing gear arrangement has caused two major modern setbacks. On 28 October 2002, the right main landing gear collapsed during rollout at Old Warden. Engineering analysis revealed fundamental geometry issues in the original 1934 undercarriage design. After major modifications and CAA structural approvals, the Comet didn't fly again until August 2014.

On 15 August 2026, while performing at a "Flying Proms" air display, the aircraft encountered uneven ground on rollout, veered off the grass runway, and nosed over, ending up inverted. The airframe sustained substantial damage, though the pilot escaped with only minor injuries. True to their ethos of keeping aviation history alive, the Shuttleworth Trust immediately vowed to rebuild the historic racer. An active £250,000 public appeal fundraising campaign is underway to fund a meticulous restoration project, with engineers currently stripping the wings and components for safety testing, targeting a return to airworthy condition.