Clive Whittenbury

Clive Whittenbury celebrating his fodding of a Comet engine 50 years ago - a commercial first

Fodding?? Having "Foreign Objects Damage" (FOD) an engine by litter from the airport apron or flight deck (aircraft carrier).

As a student at De Havilland's (UK 1952 working on the Comet airliner prototype) I was cutting templates out of cardboard to see if the inlet had been too sharply curved (causing flow separation). I cleaned up all the bits and pieces but one piece caught by the wind scurried away and then came back (during engine runs) after I left. I was soundly chewed out and threatened with engine removal expenses.....