During the final years of the Second World War, aircraft designer Sir Geoffrey de Havilland commenced development on the de Havilland Comet, which would become the world's first jet airliner. An early design consideration was whether to apply the new swept-wing configuration.[51] Thus, an experimental aircraft to explore the technology, the de Havilland DH 108, was developed by the firm in 1944, headed by project engineer John Carver Meadows Frost with a team of 8–10 draughtsmen and engineers. The DH 108 primarily consisted of the pairing of the front fuselage of the de Havilland Vampire to a swept wing and small vertical tail; it was the first British swept wing jet, unofficially known as the "Swallow".[52] It first flew on 15 May 1946, a mere eight months after the project's go-ahead.