Revolutionizing global aerospace transportation

Less than 50 years after the Wright brothers took to the air in 1903, the De Havilland Comet became the world’s first commercial jet airliner, with the British Overseas Airways Corporation conducting a flight from London to Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 2, 1952. Later that decade, the Boeing 707, the Douglas DC-8, and similar aircraft were put into service. Although there have certainly been significant advancements since that time in aircraft safety, noise levels and fuel economy, the cruising speed of commercial airliners today, roughly 70 years later, has basically remained about the same, or even slightly decreased.