The Aviation Historian — January 2018

16 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 22

jetliner’s arrival in Sydney with the headline,

“MASCOT CROWD HOSED TO LET COMET

SCREAM IN”, going on to explain how “several

men in the crowd threw punches at police when

they attempted to stop them going near the

’plane”. The report continues:

“People tried to clamber on to the ’plane’s

wings, and trapped passengers and crew in

[it] for 25 minutes. As the Comet taxied to the

terminal, scores of people rushed across its path

... a fire truck turned a hose on a crowd of 5,
gathered around the ’plane, to clear them from
the engines, which were dripping kerosene.
“The crowd booed and cheered when the
hose was turned on. Mr H. Fraser, the airport
manager, said the hoses were used because of
the risk of fire... he said that he saw hundreds
of people in the crowd smoking — ‘the whole
thing might have blown up’.”
The jetliner’s reception at Melbourne’s
Essendon Airport was rather more restrained
when it arrived at 1655hr on Monday the 5th, a
mere 2,000 spectators turning out to welcome
the Comet to the capital of Victoria. The people
of Canberra also caught a glimpse of the Comet
when it appeared from behind Mount Ainslie on
its way from Sydney, circling the nation’s capital
three times before banking away to continue its
“leisurely 500 m.p.h. flip” to Melbourne.
Over the next few days the Comet was used
for promotional flights in Melbourne, Perth and
Sydney; carrying up to 50 passengers per flight
the aircraft and its crew impressed executives

and pilots from Australian National Airways,

Trans-Australia Airlines and Qantas, as well as

representatives from the Australian Department

of Civil Aviation.

On Monday, December 12, it was on to New

Zealand and the first landing of a jet-powered

aircraft at Auckland, where 50 guests, including

representatives from TEAL, were taken for a

“once round North Island” flight. The following

day the Comet departed Auckland for the long

sector over the Pacific to Honolulu, with a

refuelling stop at Nadi in Fiji.

ALOHA HAWAII!

From Nadi to Hawaii, where the Comet arrived

in the afternoon of December 13, was the

longest part of the trip, involving a flight of 6hr

56min covering some 3,178 miles (5,115km),

and was the first time the Comet had ventured

RIGHT John Cunningham answers questions from a

reporter in New Zealand, this time while sitting in the

Comet’s cockpit. After a disastrous previous year, it

was vital that de Havilland grasp the nettle and do

everything it could to re-establish the public’s faith in

the Comet, and none worked harder than Cunningham.

On December 5 the Comet flew to Melbourne’s Essendon Airport, where it is seen

here, the aircraft touching down at 1655hr following a wide circuit encompassing the

city and part of Port Phillip Bay. Aboard were more than 30 members of the press, all

of whom submitted glowing reports about the aircraft to their respective publications.

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BAE SYSTEMS DH9223D