Have you ever travelled by Comet?

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Apparently, I have, on the De Havilland kind. This is me, my grand-folks and my mother. Mum and I are off to England from Brisbane on it. I'm glad to see that it had round windows.....

[deanm (Dean)]

I did - unaccompanied on my 11th birthday in 1974, RAF Tengah, Singapore to the infamous (and now closed) Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong.

There were only three passengers, including me!

Amazing low, steep turns during landing.

I clearly remember leaning into the aisle to look along the aircraft - & seeing the fuselage flex!

Dean

[leon]

Nice one Chris, I see that those windows are fairly well spaced apart, probably not as cramped in there as would be today.

Leon

[iceman (Mike)]

Loving your family photos , Chris!

[TrevorW]

Actually that was one of the planes I was looking for for another post but couldn't recall the name

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Leon - the round window design was the result of a re-engineering exercise after a few earlier Comets fell out of the sky, you might remember. The square window frames of the original design promoted the first known cause of metal fatigue at the corner of the windows - resulting in pretty explosive decompression when they went.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Loving your family photos , Chris!

Thanks Mike, that's nice of you to say. I have thousands... I'll try and keep it down LOL Anyone for slides?

[sheeny (Al)]

Closest I've been is a Ford Meteor...

Al.

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Originally Posted by sheeny

Closest I've been is a Ford Meteor...

Al.

Are they formed when Comets fall out of the sky??

[cfranks (Charles)]

I first came out to Aus (from England) Jan 1961, on a contract with EMI Electronics, on a DH Comet. A bit cramped as I recall but very
(relatively) quiet.
Charles

[gary]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Apparently, I have, on the De Havilland kind. This is me, my grand-folks and my mother. Mum and I are off to England from Brisbane on it. I'm glad to see that it had round windows.....

Hi Chris,

That's cool but also validates the idea it is a total waste of time taking children
on any fancy means of transport which in later years they will have zero recollection of.

The water tank they built was the biggest that had ever been built for such a test.

[LewisM]

Chris, are you sure that's Brisbane, and not Gatwick (or early Heathrow).

Not seeing a few things I know were at Brisbane back then (I have HUNDREDS of slides and photos as well - old man was a TAA pilot, and Mum was an Ansett hostie.)

Here's Dad just after his retirement (Singapore Airline B777 training Captain) - traditional tie cut and all. He didn't retire long... now back in Jetstar NZ as an A320 captain

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Hi Lewis

I'm pretty sure it'd be Brisbane, but could be entirely wrong of course. It certainly isn't outside of Australia if it has my grandparents in the photo. I wonder if it could be Sydney though...

Originally Posted by LewisM

Chris, are you sure that's Brisbane, and not Gatwick (or early Heathrow).

Not seeing a few things I know were at Brisbane back then (I have HUNDREDS of slides and photos as well - old man was a TAA pilot, and Mum was an Ansett hostie.)

[LewisM]

It COULD actually be Brisbane... but I still think there should have been some TAA maintenance hangers JUST visible in the background (at the very end of the old runway, which is now near the beginning of the NEW runway