De Havilland DH 108

DH 108 "Swallow"
The first DH 108 built – TG283. The torpedo-shaped objects on the wingtips are containers for anti-spin parachutes.
Role	experimental Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	de Havilland
Designer	John Frost
First flight	15 May 1946
Introduction	Experimental programme only
Status	Cancelled
Primary user	Royal Aircraft Establishment
Produced	1946–1947
Number built	3

The de Havilland DH 108 "Swallow" was a British experimental aircraft designed by John Carver Meadows Frost in October 1945. The DH 108 featured a tailless, swept wing with a single vertical stabilizer, similar to the layout of the wartime German Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet. Initially designed to evaluate swept wing handling characteristics at low and high subsonic speeds for the proposed early tailless design of the Comet airliner, three examples of the DH 108 were built to Air Ministry specifications E.18/45. With the adoption of a conventional tail for the Comet, the aircraft were used instead to investigate swept wing handling up to supersonic speeds. All three prototypes were lost in fatal crashes.