British Pathé have a large archive of news reels and some of them are available online. One of the more captivating ones is called By Comet to Johannesburg. The De Havilland Comet was the world’s first jet aircraft and it entered service with BOAC in 1952. It was British designed and built which meant the United Kingdom was naturally extremely proud of it.
This short video is a wonderful look at flying back in the early 1950s. There are views of all the many stops en route, a plummy British narrator and views of the exterior, interior, flight deck and cabin service on board the Comet.
The main thing I noticed from this is that flying hasn’t changed all that much since the dawn of the jet era. Videos like this will inspire me to create a video flight review some day I’m sure!
Thank you for watching and I hope you enjoyed it.
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Yes it is a wonderful account of a scary aircraft – 19 were built and 8 crashed! My father (Capt Phil Brentnall – who is 98 and well) was the Capt of the first flight! Remarkable history.
Stewart.brentnall@gmail.com
Yes, I read a book called Comets and Concordes by Peter Duffey. He was a pilot on the Comet 1 and mentions quite a few things about the aircraft that gives an indication of how dangerous it was. Fantastic to hear your father was the Captain on the first flight – that is brilliant! Pass on my regards! I bet he has excellent stories!