The future arrived quietly, then thunderously. On July 27, 1949, the de Havilland Comet ghosted into the air above Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and Britain staked its claim as the birthplace of jet travel. But the moment that truly changed history came on May 2, 1952, when BOAC's Comet G-ALYP lifted from London Airport bound for Johannesburg. Thirty-six passengers and a crew of seven climbed away from No. 5 runway in a wake of sound that, as one observer noted, was inaudible near the terminal buildings. Twenty-three hours and thirty-eight minutes later, after halts at Rome, Beirut, Khartoum, Entebbe, and Livingstone, the Comet touched down at Palmietfontein fourteen minutes ahead of schedule. Twenty thousand souls gathered to welcome her. BOAC chairman Sir Miles Thomas declared it had "put British civil aviation—jet-propelled—on the map of the world." The Comet's square windows and thin fuselage skin would later reveal the cruel mathematics of metal fatigue, grounding the fleet and teaching the industry lessons written in sorrow. Yet the first revenue passenger flight of a jet airliner remains indelible: May 2, 1952, the day the propeller's reign began to end.