Fly Past: Like a gannet

Aug 15 2008 By Barry Dix

G-ARCP

An aviation icon it may have been, but there was no getting away from the fact that a Comet was an ungainly-looking bird on the ground.

But, like a gannet strutting awkwardly on a rocky cliff face, it was a different matter when it took to the air. Suddenly they were in their true element and the grace, power and majestic lines were revealed as they left terra firma below.

If you wonder what I'm babbling about, look at this photo of a BEA Comet 4B scurrying out for take-off at Heathrow in the early 1960s. It's not exactly a pretty sight, yet, minutes later as it blasted skywards, rattling the window panes of West Middlesex and with that cumbersome nosewheel tucked out of sight, it would have provided a magnificent aerial spectacle.

The appalling tragedies which befell early Comets, after the initial pride and jubilation at Britain inaugurating the first jet passenger service, led to many cancelled orders and the loss of much of the plane's pioneering status.

Fly Past

Aug 8 2008

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But de Havilland persevered, redesigning the square-shaped cabin windows responsible for the crashes, and relaunching the Comet in time for it to beat the 707 into service on the North Atlantic run.

Other versions were offered, including the 4B, with its stretched fuselage seating up to 99 passengers.

In this form it was bought by BEA - the airline's first jet  and went into service in 1960 on the route between London and Tel Aviv.

In the familiar old colours seen here, the Comets were popular and profitable and became a familiar sight everywhere from Paris and Moscow to Stockholm and Gibraltar.

When the latter destination became the subject of acrimonious political exchanges between the UK and Spanish dictator General Franco, it was BEA Comets which had to operate in and out of the vastly-diminished airspace around 'the Rock'.

It was a testing time for the crews. With RAF Hunter fighters for protection, one Comet had to descend to a point within 200 metres of the prohibited flying zone in Algeciras Bay. Then later, on take-off, it found itself in the company of two Spanish Air Force jets, which closed in at 400mph, before escorting it on its way. On a lighter note, comedienne Dora Bryan was left unimpressed by her journey home from Gibraltar after a holiday in the mid-1960s.

Terrible weather prevented the BEA Comet from landing so she and 85 fellow passengers were driven about 150 miles by coach to Seville, where the plane was waiting for them. They eventually arrived back in London 40 hours late.

She said: "We were told the battery had run flat. I ask you, the battery running flat on a Comet."

What had happened was that the Comet stood idle at Seville for 24 hours - an airport not used by the type so there was no ground equipment to start its engines.
The Comet in this photo is G-ARCP, delivered in 1961 and, like most of the BEA Comet 4Bs, transferred to BEA Airtours when it was set up at Gatwick in 1970, whisking thousands of holidaymakers to Mediterranean holiday spots over the next couple of years. The oil crisis of 1972 saw Airtours bid adieu to the fuel-guzzling Comets but several, including Charlie Papa, went on to serve with Dan Air in similar high-density package charter roles.

Re-registered as G-BBUV, our Comet survived until 1979 when it was dismantled at Lasham Airfield, Dan Air's maintenance base.