DH Comet on the Grass at Luton 1952

[Lew Ton]

Going through some stuff I found the following which was published in a local news paper in 1998. John Cunningham landed the Comet on the grass at Luton (no hard runway then) when Hatfield was shrouded in fog. The words are from the newspaper.

http://www.levien.flyer.co.uk/comet.htm

[LowNSlow]

Judging by the background, Luton was quite foggy as well. Or was the lens on your Box Brownie a tad dirty :D :D

[sycamore]

Nicely parked outside old Fred`s Flying club bar,where a few years later a Messenger/Auster?? ended up after someone tried to start w/out chocks,and it did start and went round and round and round,got dizzy(not Addicott-who worked at Huntings for a while),and tried to get to the bar,but ran into the hedge!!AHHHH, those were the days!! What`s in the background-York,and Pembrokes??

Should have added,it was the new "Old tower",not the "New" tower, and Satco was a chap called "Lew" as well, Lew!!:D

[wet wet wet]

Very interesting. But I'm curious, there were many other hard runways available in the vicinity, e.g. Bovingdon, Cranfield, Stanstead etc. Were they all fogged out? Or was the fuel situation critical? Luton was also the home of Hunting Percival, was the plan to “show off” the Comet to a rival of De Havilland?

[newswatcher]

Sadly, if I read the Reg correctly as G-ALYP, this aircraft was the one that crashed near Elba on 10/1/54, killing 6 crew and 29 passengers.

[spekesoftly]

"Why Luton and not elsewhere?"

Perhaps JC just didn't fancy a long journey home in the fog - didn't he live in nearby Harpenden? ;)

[vintage ATCO]

Just for the record, I was Lew Ton. The name change is to protect the inncocent, or was it guilty. . . . ?

sycamore, you're showing your age now. I remember the Messenger through the flying club bar wall although I was only in short trousers at the time.

If you are referring to the ATCO 'Lew', he was never SATCO but I knew him very well. I was SATCO 1992-1999.


JC used to live at Kinsbourne Green, near Harpenden. His ashes were dropped there from Tiger G-APLU a few weeks ago.

-----------------------
vintage ATCO
www.stevelevien.com

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

It has to be said that DH produced a fabulous looking aeroplane in the Comet airliner.

Do you remember what cars looked like in 1952??

SSD

[no sig]

I seem to recall another Comet grass field landing, didn't some take one into the museum at Strathallan's grass field back in the late 70's?

[spekesoftly]

Yes.

[newswatcher]

http://www.rob.clubkawasaki.com/jas1420.jpg

XK655 ex 51 Sqn, April 1980. (photo courtesy John Smith)

[no sig]

Thank you for that newswatcher, what a pretty picture.

[poetpilot]

...not to mention the Comet C2 that resided at RAF Halton. As confirmed by others when I posted a query about the Vulcans arriving on grass at Halton.