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Aviation History
1958
1958-1- - 0567.PDF
10 October 1958 571 After a record crossing from New York, G-APDB lands at London to complete the first transatlantic jet service. By Comet 4 to New York WE should have had the intelligence to realize that somethingwas very much up, from the curious title of the flight("Pre-inaugural proving") and the manner in which Freddie Gillman and his B.O.A.C. public-relations staff weresearching desperately for us twelve hours before take-off. Again, when we heard vague hints at London Airport on that Thursdaymorning that menus had already been printed for the first com- mercial flight London - New York and dated Saturday, October 4,we should have collected our wits and realized that the undercover battle between P.A.A. and B.O.A.C. was as good as won. There, in the crowded little Monarch lounge on the North Side,were B.O.A.C. managing director Basil Smallpeice and D.H. managing director Aubrey Burke—both booked to fly with us toNew York on flight CPF 001. More evidence that this was not just a Press jolly. But there was no official comment from anyone.It took us something like five-and-a-half hours between London and Gander to discover that Comet 4 G-APDB would be one ofthe winners in the biggest aviation Autumn Double yet. By the time we had landed at Gander it was clear from the carefullyworded phrases of every B.O.A.C. man aboard—including the managing director—that it needed only the final clearance fromthe Port of New York Authority (and a clutch of fare-paying passengers to make it legal) for the first-ever pure-jet passengerservice across the Atlantic to begin. So Gander's cable office had the biggest rush in its history as the national Press queued to getoff their stories. We had reported to Victoria at 0900, regarding with barelyconcealed sneers the peasantry about to fly in fan-propelled aero- planes. But coach after coach left before we were called. We hadcoffee, wondered about the delay. Take-off, due at 1100, had been put back. Some small aileron snag, we gathered later, anda short test flight needed after it had been put right. It was just before 1226 that we taxied out and just on 1230when Captain Tom Stoney turned onto the runway and started rolling. Sixty seconds later we were over Windsor and climbinglike a fighter. At 1246 we were over Filton. By the time we reached the Irish Sea we were at 32,000ft—ground speed465 m.p.h. with a 20 kt headwind. We tried to get clearance to 36,000ft, but opposing traffic at 37,000 kept us down.The traffic was a B-47 on its way to Britain. Over weather- ship Juliet (she reported seeing us) we were in good radiocommunication with Shannon, Gander and London. By that time the B-47 had been cleared down to 31,000ft and up we wentto 35,000, waiting for clearance to 39,000. Tom Stoney gave our E.T.A. at Gander as 1800 hr (1430 Gander time). He was twominutes out. We finished lunch at 1530 B.S.T. Fifteen minutes later we were somewhere near weather-ship Charlie, 900 milesfrom Gander and 1,450 from London. And Delta Bravo was going like a bomb. Gander we reachedin 5 hr 28 min. We had flown 2,360 miles at an average speed of 430 m.p.h. Maximum height was 39,000ft, outside tempera-ture — 57 deg C. Refuelling took us 1 hr and 17 min (45 min allowed as schedule).Gander was its usual dreary self and glad we were to get back into the Comet. But for the 1,140 miles to Idiewild we had tomix it with 115 m.p.h. headwinds, which brought our ground speed down to 335 m.p.h. So we took 3 hr 25 min for that last Seen on board the "pre-inaugural" service are, left, Capt. Tom Stoney,Mr. Basil Smallpeice, Stewardess Barbara Jupp. Right, cockpit scene between Gander and New York, Capt. Stoney in the foreground. THIS is a first-hand account, by a special correspondent, of the pre-inaugural proving flight to New York made by B.O.A.C. Comet 4 G-APDB. On page 602 appears "Diary of a Fast-moving Week," RogerBacon comments on page 60S, and a leading article is on page 569. leg. The only incident on the flight was an unlucky accidentto Peggy Thorne, one of our two stewardesses. Somebody had left an inspection hatch open in the forward galley and down shewent, grazing a leg badly. But she was on her feet for that memorable return flight on Saturday. For the 3,500 miles from London to New York our flying timewas 8 hr 53 min—elapsed time, 10 hr 32 min. We arrived relaxed and exhilarated—and feeling very patriotic. Off we went to our hotel—the new International at Idiewild;and very good it is, too. Mr. Smallpeice dated us for lunch next day, promised to tell us what he could about the talks. We went tobed after carving a neat little 707 out of our cake of courtesy soap and sticking pins in it. Sure enough, next day Mr. Smallpeice promised a statement at7.30 p.m. But there was victory in the air and I'm certain that not a single British newspaperman had failed to file, hours before,a story giving the news of the Autumn Double as hard as he could. And somehow they got hold of the name of a U.S. business-man who'd booked his seat way back in 1952. It was an enthusiastic crowd of B.O.A.C. men and women—British and American—who gathered in the Speedbird Club in B.O.A.C.'s new Fifth Avenue offices that evening. And whenthe managing director announced that Idiewild had given the go-ahead to jetliners the bar steadily began to run out of beer. Here are the rules laid down for pure-jet operation in general: — (1) When weather and winds permit, jets must take-off from runways 25and 22, which face south-west and take aircraft over Jamaica Bay during initial climb.(2) If they can't take-off over water, runways 13 Right, 31 Left and 7 may be used so long as turns are made as soon as possible awayfrom communities and the minimum altitude over any community is 1,200ft. Power must be cut back before reaching the first populatedarea. (3) No other runways may be used without prior permission.(4) Take-offs between 2200 hr and 0700 hr must be confined to the two runways leading over the water. Pan American at once objected to these rules. Said the airline,in effect: "They mean preferential treatment for the Comet." And it was suggested that B.O.A.C.'s initial Comet passengercrossings would be merely "token flights." Mr. Smallpeice then went on record as saying that "Any suggestions that conditionsare not reasonable are not only without foundation but also show considerable lack of good sportsmanship." Finally, it was interesting to see at London Airport—when wearrived back by Stratocruiser on Sunday morning—painter's ladders up against a big PanAm hoarding which was shoutingsomething about "First Atlantic jet service."
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