BEA Airtours from Gatwick, 1971
I just discovered, thanks to someone putting flight data together for Gatwick, that my first flight ever was on a Comet 4B operated by BEA Airtours to Corfu, KT912, on May 10th 1971. Return was KT913 on May 24th.
I'm now looking for any clues whatsoever regarding the tail number or other interesting details about the operation in 1971 from Gatwick. Long shot, I know, but I thought it worth asking, just in case anyone who knows anyone with pilots logs - there were only 10 Comets I think at this time, and any information about where a frame may have been on those dates is useful for elimination. Also interested in finding ephemera from the period: in flight mags, photos, whatever. And which companies were BEA Airtours doing charters for at that time?
I know about the holdings in the Surrey Archive relating to the 1971 movements (and have viewed these - they don't cover the date needed). And in touch with someone who is collating information from other sources. So I've done all the stuff I think it's possible to do with Google and associated legwork.
I did find a lovely little promotional jigsaw on Ebay of one of the Comets. And dimly remember having this at the time. Also I drew a little picture of Corfu airport (old terminal) and the plane landing, complete with red wings for my school report (because we were shaving time out of term I had to write it all up), also noting that the in-flight meal was ham and chicken. Apart from that I remember being a little apprehensive of take off and landing, but concluding the in between bit was rather dull and unlikely to be eventful. I was 7 years old.