BOAC Comet 4 memories and memorabilia
 

I am the co-custodian of the Comet 4 G-APDB currently on display at the Imperal War Museum Duxford, and owned by the Duxford Aviation Society.
I am looking for any stories from anyone who crewed the Comet 4's, in order to enhance the experience of the visitors.
I am also looking for a BOAC stewardess uniform size 12-14 that could be worn on major flying days to meet and greet everyone when all the re-enactment groups are on display.
Would like to establish a complete list of what was provided by BOAC for their passengers in the late 1950's
Really what I am trying to say, is I want to bring alive the story of the golden age of jet travel with interesting facts to enhance families visits to what is a static exhibit.

All credit to you Sarah yours is a sound idea, as ex 60,s cabin crew (Not BA)
so if I can help PM me.

You might try what I just did on this thread.
Go to search and type in BOAC comet cabin crew 1950s, or your choice of wording, and have a good look at what comes up.

Theres a fund of information in past posts on PPrune forums which is wonderful archive !!!

Touchdown
 

Hi Sarah,
Re your search for BOAC uniforms.
There is a website BA-Touchdown for retired BA staff many of its readers will have worked for BOAC I'm sure there are plenty of spare outfits still kept by the retired community.

Sarah

Great idea, e-bay is your friend, save a search using BOAC+ Comet, you will be amazed what appears from time to time. delcampe can also be useful.

FF

My dad was BOAC cabin crew on the Comet IVs. What sort of things are you looking for?

Comet questions
 

Would like to establish the China used on the Comet around 1958 jet crossing and also the glasswear, plus cutlery. Size of trays used for meals in first class was it A4 size or normal tea tray size, was there a tray cloth? I want to put together an exhibit of tray setting as used on 4th October 1958.
Would like to confirm configuration of galleys. There was one cockpit end we are missing the LEC refrigeration unit, but where were all the China etc stores?
How did the foot/leg rest attach to the Slumbereze seats? Did they slide under or were they detached and stored if so where? Yellow pure wool blankets were provided together with multi coloured head pillows where were these stored? The is a fairly small cupboard at the rear of aircraft between the 2 rear toilets what was stored in there, looks like there was a small hanging space too.
There seems to be some conflicting information on class of travel offered during 1958, 42 passengers, front half Monach (treated like a king)? Back half first class OR front first and back tourist class.
I have established Elizabeth Arden provided toiletries for the Ladies to use, can you confirm it was Yardley for men any other products provided?

BOAC Comet cabin crew and flight crew life histories
 

i am compiling a file on the BOAC and DAN AIR staff that flew G-APDB. A description of their lives whilst flying the aircraft. Their career histories. If anyone can help please.

Sarah .
An ex Dan - Air friend has suggested you might get something from:

http://www.danairremembered.com/index.html

https://en-gb.facebook.com/danairstaffassociation/

http:www.danairstaffassociation.uk/news-1.html

Sarah,
If you try here you will find many Comet people who are most helpful and knowledgeable
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/...tions/messages
You will have to subscribe to join but it's free.
Good luck with your search.
Be lucky
David

I cannot help you with your search. I was a pax on this aircraft once, and I would like to congratulate you and your team on the beautiful way this lovely aircraft has been preserved at Duxford.

I visited the DeH Museum last year and was surprised at the small cross section of the Comet fuselage - reminded me of Concorde

An ex airline colleague suggested you write to monthly aviation titles the Aeroplane and Flypast for assistance or they might run an article on your particular part in conserving the DH Comet.

Wander00 wrote: I flew back from Mahon once on one of Dan Air's Comets - I'm sure that we boarded on the RHS as I recall the door being very small. But the seats and seating pitch were fine! I've only been in a Concorde once (at Brooklands), but the fuselage cross-section didn't seem that small compared with, say, an A320.

All the doors, forward and aft, port and starboard were very small. I am about 5ft 7in and always had to stoop when entering or exiting.

Also the flight deck, forward galley and first couple of rows of seats could always bet on getting wet when the aircraft started its descent. This was due to all the condensation flowing forward to the lowest point and providing an impromptu shower to all and sundry.

Only was near Comets on a few occasions when both of Aeronaves de Mexico's Brttanias were down and they subbed Mexicana Comets to fly to KJFK. Remember they had a leather padded head protector that swung out from inside to cover the top of the entrance door frame. Being 6'4" tall I appreciated the protection. Also noticed the baggage holds were very small, the fly-away kit filling up much of the forward bag hold. Caravelle (Varig) had the same problem of course.

Best Comet story I heard.

On Dan-Air holiday flights, in the old days (of course), having the kids up to the flight deck while in the cruise was standard stuff.

Small boys would regularly ask "Does it have machine guns ?". To which the skipper would reply "Well, it does actually. Step forward here and press that for a moment", pointing to some innocuous switch on the yoke. The boy would hesitantly do so.

Meanwhile the flight engineer, seated right behind them, has moved his finger over the Stick Shaker Test Switch. Boy presses switch. FE operates Stick Shaker Test. Thump-Thump-Thump in the yoke. Boy is amazed. Crew smile.

Now on one occasion they were following another aircraft visible above them in the airway. Skipper extends his invitation to "See that aircraft ahead. See if you can aim at that". Small boy does as usual. Meanwhile the aircraft ahead by chance passes into a slightly different air mass and starts visibly jet-trailing where it had not before. Skipper says nonchalantly "Oh, there, good shot. You got him". But the boy is panic-stricken, and runs back into the cabin yelling.

This isn't 100% related to your original request for info but it's interesting:

360° Virtual Reality tour of the Cockpit of a de Havilland Comet by Ken McBride

Flew NBO-ADD-NBO on EAA's Comets quite often in the early seventies. Didn't think much of it at the time but now I'm glad I had the chance to fly on such an historic aircraft.

Do any of EAA's Comets still exist anywhere?

A bit of effort here:

de Havilland D.H. 106 Comet Mk. 4C | The Museum of Flight

As a RAF kid in the 70s, I flew out of Tengah to Kia Tak on a RAFTC Comet 4C.
There was only me & one other passenger!
I distinctly remember looking back through the cabin and being amazed at how much the floor & seats seemed to flex!
Dean

No.

Dan-Air bought all seven of the EAA Comet 4 fleet, but only operated four of them with the other three being used for spares.

Five of them were scrapped at its Lasham base in the '70s, with one soldiering on till 1980 before meeting the same fate, and one being damaged beyond repair in a wheels-up landing at Newcastle in 1970.

Returning to doors, the Pax entry doors were nominally the doors (fwd and aft) on the port side. The Stbd side doors were smaller and, in Dan Air service were used as catering doors as they opened at the galleys. The rear door on the Stbd side also gave access to the Dome Freight area, which, in modern terminology would be a bulk cargo hold. It was a small area between the aft galley and the aft pressure bulkhead.

That Museum of Flight restoration is beautiful, I've never seen a Comet in that condition !

Yes the stbd doors were smaller and while I'm sure we called the forward one the Crew Door I can't remember what we called the rear one. In 1958 as a dH apprentoid, one of the jobs I had was assisting the man who fitted those doors so I really should know.

Senior Management who was Cabin Staff 1971 to Dan ceased flying them agrees with your Fwd Crew Door but just referred to the aft stbd door as an emergency exit, if it helps.

One memorable flight in a BEA Comet, went tech in flight, diverted to Madrid. Continued journey next day, on an Iberia DC-8, to Heathrow. Vanguard back to Glasgow. Now that is nostalgia.....

EAA had 3 Comet 4s, VP-KPJ, KPK and KRL: the first 2 delivered in 1960 and the latter in 1962 (the last 4 built, amongst the production of 4Cs, which creates confusion to this day)

All 3 were sold to Dan-Air at the end of 1970. Additionally, 3 Comets were chartered from Dan-Air during 1970 (and one from BOAC for a year or two in the mid-60s) but they had all gone by early 1971: presumably coinciding with the arrival of the DC9s (and the final VC10). All were given African registrations, so maybe they had EAA livery too, who knows: at least one of them apparently didn't.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4203/3...50f1040c_b.jpg

Yes, I stand corrected, of the three that were leased from Dan-Air, the last (5Y-AMT) definitely didn't wear EAA livery and I suspect that the others didn't either, given their short leases.

The fourth, leased from BOAC, did and was the one that Dan-Air later wrote off at Newcastle:

http://www.mccrow.org.uk/eastafrica/...AAronleese.jpg

I visited the DeH Museum last year and was surprised at the small cross section of the Comet fuselage - reminded me of Concorde

I too had a look at the comings and goings of the EAAC Comets. Anything but simple to follow. As far as I can see none of the original three ever carried British registrations, so that looks as though they never flew with Danair.

I guess that photograph was taken from the "waving base" at Nairobi Embakasi where I spent many happy hours, Tusker in hand, watching the comings and goings of some very strange airlines. It's also good to see the Comet and the VC-10, along with the engines on the Friendship, representing British engineering. It was always good to see the takeoff performance of the British aircraft compared to the Boeing 707/720s which did seem to struggle a bit at midday on a hot day. Ahh de Havilland......

Certianly ties in with my memories of Embakasi in the early 70s, though I thought the viewing point was somewhat higher! (And I was much smaller!).

PS, did you know W*th*rsp**ns are selling bottled Tusker in the UK?

Somewhere in the loft I have a very similar shot taken with my newly acquired telephoto lens (bought on Kenyatta Avenue). A little cropping might give the "low-level" aspect but I agree the "waving base" was at the first storey level. On the other hand it could have been taken by an EAA employee at ground level. Whatever it is certainly a reminder of some happy days. Mzuri sana and all that.

Seem to remember there were a couple of levels but don't take that as gospel, over 50 years back. !!!

Bought some Tusker in Tesco just up the road about a year back.

A depressing pic I found somewhere of the 3 original EAA Comets in various stages of dismemberment.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2696/3...9eed7543_c.jpg

Tusker is available from the South American River site, or from an excellent duka in Raynes Park, if you're in the area. I don't think Tescos do it any more.

Have seen this picture before. Think it is of the original three EAAC Comets wearing their post colonial registrations. Sad to see their end but should be remembered those three a/c had received intensive use over more than ten years. Backbone of the long distance fleet until the VC10s appeared. They of course were only just "run in" by the time EAAC collapsed in 1977. The RAF then went on to squeeze another nearly 35 years of life out of them. Well used a/c, or what??

Zooming in would suggest that they are, from L to R: 5X-AAO, 5Y-AAA and 5H-AAF.

Judging from the various aerofoils missing, it looks like they are still being used as Christmas trees, with the breaker's axe to follow at a later stage.

We had one more Comet here in the US: N999WA (not sure of the pre-US pedigree...N number deregistered)

It's gone now after sitting in KORD for many years. There's quite an interesting story of it's life here but I'm not authorized (or qualified) to tell it. Maybe someone will come along...

It was a former Mexicana aircraft.

Go on, just the bare essentials ... :O

Dave,

It was an ignominious end for a grand airplane that flew in to KORD. I couldn't do the story justice.

Not trying to be coy but the story deserves proper telling. You'd just accuse me of making it up anyway. ;-)))

https://www.flickr.com/photos/paul-t...-fqXGpD-7busnE

Dan-Air bought most of the retired Comets at scrap price, not only to put them into service but to use them for parts. Most were flown back to Lasham for stripping, others were dismantled at their last base. I believe that photo of the three EAA hulks will be at Lasham.


Actually there were three US-registered Comets, the three former Mexicana 4Cs, sold when retired as N777WA, N888WA and N999WA. They did indeed then follow convoluted but separate lives through various obscure owners, never really being used. 777 ended up at a zoo back in Mexico and was broken up a few years back, 888 is the one now at Seattle, and 999 was derelict at O'Hare for some 20 years but scrapped in the 1990s.

I'm not quite clear how they got onto the US register given that the flight deck/forward section is also the design used on the original Caravelles (it was designed, and the first few were actually built under subcontract, by De Havilland), which the FAA rejected when United ordered their 20 Caravelles, on the grounds of insufficient visibility for the crew, and Sud had to re-engineer it with larger windows. Looking at the photo of the aircraft at Seattle, above, I can sort of see the FAA's point.