Originally Posted by
Flitefone
Channel Airways, for ...... cunning use of Continental's colour scheme ......Oh and the Stansted Comets too!
I never saw the Channel/Continental "golden" colour scheme for real. But I saw one of their Comets at Manchester, on the next stand (fortunately), operating to Palma about 12 hours late, and it had the most tatty livery I have EVER seen. They had taken the BEA livery and overpainted all the markings etc, but no more, with blue and white paint of not quite the same shades. A simplistic Channel Airways name above the windows was the only identification. Much of the fuselage sheet metal looked uneven like it had been fitted by apprentices.
This was summer 1971, about 6 months before Channel went under. I believe many of the Comet charters were for the long-established Lyons holiday company, who had given up a BUA One-Eleven contract for the Channel Comets, and had huge delays in the 1970 and 1971 seasons. Lyons didn't last much longer either.