It was a design that had seemingly jumped the fence from the future and arrived with an effortless three-point touch down in the present day. From that moment, everyone knew two things: the world of aviation would never be the same again, and Britain would rule it. Well, one out of two ain't bad: the Comet did change the world, but its reign was short and problematic (to put it mildly). Meanwhile, over the water another company was looking on in interest, learning from the De Havilland's mistakes, designing its own jet with the benefit of that hindsight. It was called the 707, it went into service nearly 10 years after the Comet first flew and Boeing has ruled the skies ever since.