Originally Posted by
rog747
In the early spring of 1970, the Comets were immediately deployed on the lucrative Clarksons Holidays contract for bulb fields tours flights to Rotterdam from many UK departure points.
I'd be surprised if they were "lucrative". The Clarksons bulbfields day return flights, a strange market niche, only ran for about 6-8 weeks each Spring, before the main IT season started. They were notably low priced, which included the day's coach tour. The destination was sufficiently close that it didn't suit jets at all, which probably couldn't even get up to cruising altitude before starting the descent. The aircraft used to do an early morning departure, sit at Rotterdam all day, return in the evening, and then commonly position empty on to a different departure point for the next day's trip. I think they used to use a range of prop aircraft, which at the time normally meant Viscounts, from quite a range of operators.