DH Comet on the Grass at Luton 1952
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Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: UK
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DH Comet on the Grass at Luton 1952
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
http://www.levien.flyer.co.uk/comet.htm
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!!
Should have added,it was the new "Old tower",not the "New" tower, and Satco was a chap called "Lew" as well, Lew!!
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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?
aceatco, retired
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ex Lew Ton
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.
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vintage ATCO
www.stevelevien.com
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